Catal ee 4 ¥ na i 7 7 ch ate Bicien — ee i eo on a rs “Si ’ . -_ " 7 a = 7 SOS, £22 ipplement to a June 17 1897 Nature ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE ipplement to Nature, ‘Ne 17, 1807 Supplement Nature eV EEK LY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE VO@UME LV NOVEMBER 1896 to APRIL 1897 “ To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH ’ A IUIV/ 1, ~. #Pondon NEON NoeAN DCO; Limrt ED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY . rat p Sons, Limrrep, Supplement to Nat | June 17, 1897 INDEX A-BIRDING on a Bronco, Florence A. Merriam, 387 Abbadie (A. T. d’), Death of, 494; Obituary Notice of, 510 Abbe (Prof. Cleveland), St. Medard’s Day and Rain, 258 Abbott (Charles C.), Notes of the Night, and other Outdoor Sketches, 77 Abbott (W. J. L.), the Cromer Forest Bed worked Flints, 300 Abegg (R.), Dielectric Constants at Low Temperatures, 309 Abney (Capt. W. de W., F.RS.), Apparatus for giving Diagrams of Efficiency of Photographic Shutter, 119 ; Photo- graphy in Colours, 318 Absorption of Light, the Atmospheric, W. E. Plummer, 235 Acceleration, Rev. Edward Geoghegan, O.J.L., 271 Acetylene, the Explosive Properties of, Prof. A. Smithells, 42; Laboratory use of, A. E. Munby, 486; Thos. Fletcher, 535 Achrometer, the, A. M. Bloch, 96 Acoustics: Musical Tubes, R. T. Rudd, 165 ; Kinematic Model of Hertz-wave Transmission, Dr. S. P. Thompson, 525 Perception of Sound Direction and Distance, Dr. A. A Gray, 599 Acquired Characters, Prichard and, Wilfred Mark Webb, 342 ; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 342 Actinometric Observations on Mount Blanc, MM. Crova and Houdaille, 143 Aerodrome, Prof. Langley’s, gor Aerodynamics: Sailing Flight, S. E. Peal, 271 Aeronautics: Ascent by Kites, Lieut. H. D. Wise, 327; the International Aerostatic Ascents, 398; Prof. Langley’s Aerodrome, 401 Affinities of Hesperornzs, the, Prof. O. C. Marsh, 534 Africa: the Tsetse Fly, Surgeon-Major Bruce, 47; African Rinderpest, Sir John Kirk, K.C.B., F.R.S., 53; Dr. Koch’s Reports on Rinderpest, 450; Return of Lieut. Hourst’s Niger Expedition, 133; Big Game Preserve established in British Central Africa, 182; the Geodetic Survey of South Africa, Sir C. W. Wilson, F.R.S., 226; the Fish of Lake Tanganyika, J. E. S. Moore, 258; Geography of Africa, Edward Heawood, 364; Natural History of North Nyasa, Alexander Whyte, 398; Travels in West Africa, Mary H. Kingsley, 416; Manikaland, J. E Farnum, 515; Deposits of Nile Basin, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., 548; Szg¢//aria and Glossopter?s in South Africa, A. C. Seward, 550; David Draper, 550 Agafonoff (S.), Absorption of Ultra-violet Light by Crystals, 350; Comparison between absorption by Crystalline Media of Luminous Rays and Roéntgen Rays, 623 Agamennone (Dr. G.), Earthquake of April 16 in N.W. Asia Minor, 182 Agriculture: Note on Plasmodiophora brassice, Prof. M. C Potter, 33; Sparrows and Wheat, F. G. Brook-Fox, 33; Sugar-Cane Growth in Queensland, 60; the Book of the Dairy, W. Fleischmann, 122; Death and Obituary Notice of Prof. Emil von Wolff, 134; the Parasitic Diseases of Poultry, Fred. V. Theobald, 196; Reduction of Nitrates in Arable Earth, 383; Papilionaceous Plants and Nitragen, Prof. W. Somerville, 399; the Value of Irrigation Canals in India, 404; Algee, Bacteria and Free Nitrogen, P. S. Kossovich, | 428; Agricultural Teaching at Oxford, Robert Warington, F.R.S., 449; Prof. W. Somerville’s Manurial Trials, 471; the Cultivation of Oats, 496; Effect of Electricity on Plants, A. S. Kinney, 514; Use of Fungus for destroying Locusts, Dr. W. A. Soga and H. P. Browne, 514; Report of Observ- ations of Injurious Insects and Common Farm Pests during the Year 1896, with Methods of Prevention and Remedy, Eleanor A. Ormerod, 557; Agricultural Experiments in Plots and Pots, 595; Farm and Garden Insects, Prof. Wm. Somerville, 605 Aguiar (A. d’), Examination of White Wines for Coal-tar Dyes, 431 Ainsworth (W. F.), Death of, 108 Air: Electrification of, by Rontgen Rays, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 199; On the Conductive Effect produced in Air by Rontgen Rays and by Ultra-violet Light, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 343 ; Compressed Air Illness or so-called Caisson Disease, E. Hugh Snell, 411 ; Frictional Effect of Trains on Air, Prof. F. E. Nipher, 454; Liquefaction of, by Self-intensive Refrigeration, Dr. W. Hampson, 485 Airy (Sir George Biddell, Astronomer Royal), Autobiography of, 145 Aitken (R. G.), Double Star Measures, 280 Alaska, Reindeer in, Sheldon Jackson, 39; Severe Winter Weather in, Sheldon Jackson, 39; Gold in, Prof. C. D. Walcott, 298 Alcohol as Disinfectant for Surgical Instruments, Dr. Robert Randolph, 60 ; the Extraction of Alcohol-producing Ferment from Yeast, Dr. E. Buchner, 442; Toxicity of Alcohol, M. Picaud, 600 Alden (Dr. C. Method, 59 Alexander (Thos. ), Equilibrium of a Cylindrical Shell, 366 Algze, Histology of the Blue-green, Prof. Zacharias, 21 Algze, Polymorphism of the Green, and the Principles of their Evolution, Prof. Chodat, 20 Algebra: Lehrbuch der Algebra, Heinrich Weber, 25, 481 ; the Symbols of applied Algebra, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 246, 293, 317; C. S. Jackson, 293, 366 Algol Variable + 17° 4367 W Delphini, the, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 260 Allen (John A.), Tables for Iron Analysis, 77 Alloys of Copper and Zinc, G. Charpy, Dr. T. K. Rose, 130 Alloys: Fourth Report to Research Committee, Prof. Roberts- Austen, 377 z Alps: Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present, W. A. Baillie-Grohman, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S ; Aus den Alpen, R. von Lendenfeld, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. ; Chamounix and the Range of Mont Blanc, Edward Whymper, Prof. T-. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 al Alps: The Japanese, Mountaineering and Exploration in the. Rev. Walter Weston, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Alps : The New Zealand, Climbs in the, E. A. Fitzgerald, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Alterations of Personality, Alfred Binet, 389 Alternations of Generations in Plant Life, on the, Right Hon. Sir Edw. Fry, F.R.S., 422 America: The Princeton Sesquicentennial, Dr. Wm. H. Hale, 43; Bulletin of American Mathematical Society, 46, 188, 309, 380, 524, 574; American Journal of Science, 91, 188, 308, 406, 476; Leonid Meteors in America, 137; Artesian Basins in North, Gibb Maitland, 182 ; American Journal of Mathematics, 308; Researches on the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States, Henry C. Mercer, 459; the Dinosaurs of North America, Othniel Charles Marsh, 463; Glaciers of North America, Israel C. Russell, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S , 556; Grasses of North America, W. J. Beal, 557; Survey of the Tides and Currents in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 595 Amherst (Hon. Alicia), a History of Gardening in England, 75 B H.), the United States Army Identification vi L[hdex Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1807 Amsterdam Academy of Sciences, 192, 431, 455, 527, 551 Anatomy: Text-Book of Comparative Anatomy, Dr. Arnold Lang, 4; Use of X-Rays in Research, Ch. Remy and G. Contremoulins, 48; Death of Dr. L. J. Sanford, 205 ; Death of Dr. Luigi Calori, 231 ; Death of Dr. Josef von Gerlach, 277; Death of Dr. Salvatore Trinchese, 348; Experiments on Distribution of Posterior Root-Fibres of Spinal Nerves, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 356; Cata- leptoid Reflexes in Monkey, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 357; New Method of Preparing Specimens, N. Melnikoff- Rasvédenkoff, 359; Results of Staining Brain by Chrome- Silver Method, 359; Reciprocal Innervation of Antagonistic Muscles, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 381 Anderson (Henry J. C.), Whirlwind on ‘* Rydal Water,” 5 André (G.), Arabinose, 24; Estimation and Transformation of Pyrophosphoric Acid, 95; Estimation of Pyrophosphoric Acid, 383 Andrews (G, F.), the ‘‘ Spinning” Activities of Protoplasm in Echinoderm Eggs, 615 Andrews (Thomas, F.R.S.), the Loss of Strength in Iron and Steel by Use, 418 Anemometers, Robinson and Pressure-Tube, compared, C. E. Peek, 372 Aneroids, Temperature-Coefficent of, L. H. Siertsema, 431 Angot (Alfred), the Aurora Borealis, 173 Animal Life possible in the Absence of Bacteria, Is, G. Nuttall and H. Thierfelder, 238 Animals at Work and Play; their Activities and Emotions, C. J. Cornish, 52 Annable (H.), Formation of Substituted Oxytriazoles from Phenylsemicarbazide, 310 Annales of St. Petersburg Central Physical Observatory, 591 Anniversary of the Foundation of the Naples Zoological Station, the Twenty-fifth, H. M. Vernon, 586 Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society, the, 111 Anode and Kathode, Réntgen Rays and Phenomena of the, Edward P. Thompson, 386 Anodes, Heating of, in X-Ray Tubes, Walter Chamberlain, 198 ; A. A. C. Swinton, 225 Anthropology: Die Formen der Familie und die Formen der Wirthschaft, Prof. Grosse, Edward B. Tylor, F.R.S., 51; the Mouthe Cave, M. Riviere, 55 ; Drawings on Rocks of La Mouthe Cave, M. Riviere, 575 ; the United States Army Identification Method, Dr. C. H. Alden, 59; Ancient Assyrian Bow found in Egypt, Henry Balfour, 71: Tailed Men in Indo-China, Paul d’Enjoy, 82 ; Ethnography of New Georgia, Lieut. B. T. Somerville, 143; Anthropological Institute, 143, 189 ; the Anthropological History of Southern Russia, M. Zaborowski, 184 ; the Symbolic Use of Wampum, Horatio Hale, 189 ; the Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic of the Neolithic Troglodytes, M. Ed. Piette, 229 ; on Certain Vestigial Characters in Man, Dr. Walter Kidd, 236; the Svaslika, S. E. Peal, 248; Death of Horatio Hale, 257; Selection in Man, Dr. John Beddoe, 260; Intermediate Links between Man and Lower Animals, Dr. Munro, 263 ; Marriage Observances of American Aborigines, W. J. McGee, 302; the Successive Adoption of the Mechanical Powers, Dr. O. T. Mason, 469; Kyz-Kiyik, the Wild Men of Tibet, P. K. Kozloff, 541 Anti-Toxin, a New Diphtheria, Dr. Smirnow, 597 Antiquity of certain Curved Knives, the, Dr. Otis T. Mason, 534 Appleyard (Mr.), Electrical Trevelyan Rockers, 23 Appleyard (Rollo), Liquid Coherers and Mobile Conductors, 525 Applied Bacteriology, T. H. Permain, C. G. Moore, Dr. A. A. Kanthack, 413 Archeology: Remarkable Find of Chud Implements near Perm, M. Sergueeft, 82 Archibald (Douglas), the Long Period Weather Forecasts of India, 85 Architecture, Naval: Institution of Naval Architects, 571 ; Water-Tube Boilers in Powerfa/ and Terrible, A. J. Durston, 571; Application of Compound Steam Turbine to Marine Propulsion, Hon. Charles Parsons, 571 Artesian ‘‘ Basins” in North America, Gibb Maitland, 182 Arctic: Dr. Nansen’s Narrative, 11; the Early Life of Nansen, W. C. Broégger, Nordahl Rohlfsen, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 201; Nansen’s Arctic Expedition, 352; Fridtjof Nansen’s “Farthest North,” Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 393; the North Polar Problem, Dr. Nansen, 495; the Geology of Greenland, Prof. R. S. Tarr, 13; the Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land, Prof. Ralph Copeland, 29; Arthur Montefiore- Brice, 52 ; Reindeer and Severe Winter Weather in Alaska, Sheldon Jackson, 39; the Polar Limit of True Forest Land, K. Roder, 349; Lieut. Peary’s projected New Polar Expedi- tion, 371; Lieut. Peary’s Plan to reach the North Pole, 564; Arctic Sea Ice as a Geological Instrument, R. S. Tarr, 476; Scientific Kite-work in Arctic Regions, Dr. Harvey, 598 Arendsee, Depth of the, Dr. W. Halbfass, 234 Argon: Uniform Distribution in Atmosphere of, Th. Schloesing, 48; the Spectra of, J. Trowbridge and J. W. Richards, 308 ; Argon and Nitrogen in Blood, P. Regnard and Th, Schlcesing, 383; Argon in Plants, Dr. G. Tolomei, 399 Armstrong (Dr. Henry E., F.R.S.), Osmotic Pressure and Tonic Dissociation, 78; the Direct Synthesis of Optically Active Proteid-like Substances, 341; the Need of Organising Scientific Opinion, 409, 433 ; 3’-Bromo-8-Naphthol, 165 Aryan Medical Science, a Short History of, H.H. Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, 221 Ashworth (J. R.), Discharge of Electricity by Phosphorus, 225 Asia, Sven Hedin’s Explorations in Central, 58, 589 ; Mongolia and the Mongols, A. Pozdnéeff, 603 Asphalt, Origin of, Stanislas Meunier, 239 Asphalt Springs of El Menito, the, Baron H. Eggers, 470 Assyrian Bow found in Egypt, Ancient, Henry Balfour, 71 Aston (E.), Oxidation Products of ay-Dimethyl-e’-Chloro- pyridine, 623 Astronomy: Our Astronomical Column, 14, 41, 61, $4, 110, 137, 163, 183, 208, 235, 260, 279, 303, 329, 352, 373, 401, 421, 447, 472, 498, 516, 544, 566, 592, 616; Strassburg Observatory, 14; Himmel und Erde, 15, 208 ; Elements of Astronomy, Sir Robert Ball, F.R.S., 28; Mars, 41; Prof. Schiaparelli, 516 ; Mars in August last, Prof. V. Cerruli, 14; Mists on Mars, M. Flammarion, 235; the Canals of Mars, Herr M. Teoper- berg, 280; Origin of Mars’ Canals, Dr, J. Joly, F.R.S., 3353 the Polar Cap of Mars, 303 ; Observations of Mars at Meudon, M. Perrotin, 401; the Ellipticity of the Disc of Mars, Prof. W. Schur, 421; Comet Perrine, 1896, December 8, 208, 279; Ephemeris for Comet Perrine, Prof. H. Kreutz, 41; Prof. Holden, 42 ; Otto Knopf, 110 ; Sunspots, Comets, and Climate Variations, Herr Johannes Unterweger, 42 ; the Leonids, 42, 84; the Leonid Meteor Shower, W. F. Denning, 54, 153; Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 54; C. T. Whit- mell, 54; Leonids of November 15 (a.m.), 1896, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 173; Leonid Meteors in America, 137 ; Hypothesis of Successive Transmission of Gravity, Prof. J. McMahon, .46; Celestial Mechanics, Prof. W. E. Brown, 46; Disaggregation of Comets, O. Callandreau, 47; Partial Impact of Celestial Bodies, Prof. A. W. Bickerton, 61 ; the Companions of Procyon and Sirius, 62; the Satellite of Procyon, Isaac W. Ward, 153; the Companion to Procyon, Prof. Schaerberle, 498; the Period of Sirius’ Companion, 329; Brisbane Astronomical Society, 62; Bulletin de la Société Astronomique de France, 62, 592; a New Specu- lation on the Past and Future Temperature of the Sun and Earth, 77; Stars with Peculiar Spectra, Mrs. Fleming, 84; Death of Dr. Benjamin Gould, 108; Obituary Notice of, 132 ; the Astrophysical Journal, 110; Planetary Notes, 111; a Companion to @ Scorpii, Dr. T. J. J. See, 111 ; a New Spec- troscopic Binary in Puppis, 137; the Spectrum of ¢ Puppis, 352; Relative Motion of Stars in the Line of Sight, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 137; Formule for Computing Wave-Lengths, 137 ; Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy, Astronomer Royal, 145; Diagrams of Terrestrial and Astronomical Objects and Phenomena, R. A. Gregory, 149; Death and Obituary Notice of Johan August Hugo Gyldén, 158; Bureau des Longitudes, 163 ; the System of the World, 163 ; Companion to the Observatory, 163; Death and Obituary Notice of Sidney Waters, 181 ; Mountain Observatories, 183 ; Observa- tions of Saturn, Herr A. Anton Wonaszek, Herr L. Brunner, 183; Karlsruhe Meridian Observations, 183 ; the Western Aus- tralia Government Observatory, 183; Solar Motion as Gauge of Stellar Distances, Prof. Simon Newcomb, 191; Hindu Astronomy, W. Brennand, W. T. Lynn, 193; Astronomical Society of France, 208; Shooting Stars of January 2, Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., 225; W. F. Denning, 247 ; the Total Solar Eclipse of August 9, 1896, M. Deslandres, 235; the Total Solar Eclipse of August 8, 1896, 447; Results with Prismatic Camera during 1896 Eclipse, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 263 ; Russian Observations of the Corona of August 9, 1896, Baron Nicolas Kaulbars, 298; the Melbourne Ob- Supplement to rie June 17, 1897 L[ndex Vil sservatory, 235; the Wonderful Universe, Agnes Giberne, 246 ; Celestial Eddies, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 249; Arthur Mee’s Amateur’s Almanac, 260; the Algol Variable + 17° 4367 W Delphini, Prof. S. C. Pickering, 260; Comet ‘Notes, 261; the Universal Meridian, 261; an Introductory ‘Treatise on the Lunar Theory, Prof. E. W. Brown, 266; Double-Star Measures, R. G. Aitken, 280; Oxy- gen in the Sun, Herren Runge and Paschen, 303; ‘Lewis Jewell, 447; the Question of Carbon in Bright | Line Stars, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 304, 341; Dr. William Huggins. F.R.S., 316; Tables for Finding | Latitude Variations, Prof. S. C. Chandler, 329; the Trifid Nebula, Prof. Pickering, 329; Heat Rays of Great Wave- Length, H. Rubens, E. F. Nichols, 329; Cours ‘d’Astronomie, M. B. Baillaud, 339; the Period of Rotation of Jupiter’s Spots, A, A. Nyland, 352; the Orbit of Jupiter’s Fifth Satellite, Dr. Fritz Cohn, 421 ; Observations of Jupiter’s Fifth Satellite, Prof. J. M. Schaeberle, 566; the Spectro- scopic Binary a’ Geminorum, A. Belopolsky, 352; Prizes in Astronomy, 373; Double-Star Measures, 373 ; Lunar Photo- | ‘graphs, Camille Flammarion, 373; Periodical Comets, 401; | the Rotation of Venus, Percival Lowell, 421; Death of | Wilhelm Do6llen, 443; Drawings of Mercury, Percival Lowell, 447 ; the Planet Mercury, Percival Lowell, 617; | Prominence Photography, 447 ; the Chemistry of the Stars, | 447; Iron Lines in Hottest Stars, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 452; Coudé Mountings for Reflecting Telescopes, 472; Three Brilliant Stellar Systems, Prof. T. J. J. See, | 498; Double-Star Measures, 516; Belgian Observatory Annual, 516; Bis an’s Ende der Welt! Astronomische | Causerien, Prof. F. J. Studniéka, 532; Mr. Isaac Roberts on Long Exposure Photographs, 544; Vanadium in Scandi- | navian Rutile, Prof. B. Hasselberg, 544 ; Columbia University | Observatory’s Publications, 544 ; Prof. Harold Jacoby on the | Reduction of Stellar Photographs and on the Permanence of the Rutherfurd Photographic Plates, 544; Relationship | between the Masses and Distances of the Four Outer Planets, G. E. Sutcliffe, 559; Harvard College Observatory Report, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 566; the International Unification of Time, 567; a Meteorite from New Mexico, Warren M. Foote, 572; a Study of the Sky. Herbert A. Howe, 580 ; Reflector and Portrait Lens in Celestial Photography, Dr. Max Wolf, 582; Death of Dr. Edward von Haerdtl, 589 ; | Obituary Notice of, 592; Refraction and the Apparent Diurnal Movements of Stars, Dr. A. A. Rambaut, 592; | Astronomy: Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., Late Savilian Pro- fessor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford ; Memoirs | of his Life, Ada Pritchard. 601 ; Peculiar Stellar Spectra, 616 ; Nova Aurige, Prof. W. W. Campbell, 617 Astrophysics : Relative Temperature in Geissler Tubes, R. W. Wood, 274: the Astrophysical Journal, 110 Atlantic, Northern, Deep-Sea Fishes of the, 559 Atmosphere, Les Gaz del’, M. H. Henriet, 533 Atmosphere, the Gases of the, William Ramsay, F.R.S., 435 Atmospheric Absorption of Light, the, W. E. Plummer, 235 Attraction, Central, Lecture-room Demonstration of the Orbits | of Bodies under the Action of a, R. W. Wood, 620 Aurora Borealis, the, Alfred Angot, 173 Austen (Prof. Peter T.), Notes for Chemical Students, 77 Australasia : Sir William Macgregor’s Recent Journey across New Guinea, and Re-ascent of Mount Victoria, J. P. Thomp- son, 157 Australia: Western Australia Government Observatory, 183; the Horn Expedition to Central, 581; in the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral Seas, Pro!. Richard Semon, W. Saville-Kent, 227 ; Glaciation in, Rev. J. M. Curran, 240; the Australian Snow Country, John Kummer, 301 Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land, the, Prof. Ralph Copeland, 29 ; Arthur Montefiore Brice, 52 Autvbiographical Sketch of James Croll, J. C. Irons, 362 Axe-heads as Currency, Dr. A. Gotze, 591 Ayrton (Prof.), Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy, 403 | Babylonian Tablets, &c., Cuneiform Texts from, in the British Museum, L. W. King, 243 Bacteriology : the Geological Work of Bacteria, Dr. B. Renault, 40; Death of Dr. R. Kerry, 81; Bacterial Water Purifica- tion, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 163 ; Influenza Bacilli in Central Nervous System, A. Pfuhl and K. Walter, 182; Capacity of Bacillus Radicicola of growing on Foreign Culture Media, Messrs. Stutzer, Barri and Maul, 206; the Bacteria which we breathe, eat, and drink, Dr. A. A. Kanthack, 209: the Vitality of Cholera Vibrios, Herr Wernicke, 2333 Is Animal Life possible in the absence of Bacteria? G, Nuttall and H. Thierfelder, 238 ; the Oyster Question, Prof. W. A. Herd- man, F.R.S., 293 ; Oysters and Copper, W. F. Lowe, 366, 415; Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 366; Diphtheria Bacilli in Milk, Prof. Schottelius, 301; a Text-book of Bacteriology, E. M. Crookshank, Dr, A. A. Kanthack, SR33 Behaviour of Bacteria towards Chemical Reagents, T. Paul and B. Kronig, 328 ; the Plague Bacillus, Dr. Roux, 370; Dr. Yersin and Plague Virus, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 378; the Bacillus of Yellow Fever, Dr. G, Sanarelli, 370; Papilion- aceous Plants and Nitragen, 399; Prof. W. Somerville, 399 ; Influence of Diet and Starvation on effects of certain Micro- bial Toxines, J. Teissier and L. Guinard, 408; Applied Bacteriology, T. H. Permain, C. G. Moore, Dr. A. A. Kanthack, 413; Bacteria, Alge and Free Nitrogen, P. S. Kossovich, 428; Bacteria of the Sputa and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth, Filandro Vincentini, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., 437; Dr. Koch’s Reports on Rinderpest, 450; the James Forrest Lecture, Dr. G. Sims Woodhead, 517 ; Death of Dr. de Marbaix, 562; Koch’s Recent Researches on Tuberculin, Dr. G, Sims Woodhead, 567 ; Action of Currents of High Frequency on Virulence of Streptococcus, Louis Dubois, 576 ; Widal’s Bacteriological Diagnosis of Typhoid Fever, 590 Baghot-De La Bere (Kinard B.), the New Poultry Guide for British Farmers and others, 485 Bahnson (Kristian), Death of, 276 Bailey (G. H.), the Tutorial Chemistry, Part I., Non-Metals, 195; First Stage Inorganic Chemistry, 532 Baillaud (M. B.), Cours d’Astronomie, 339 Baillie-Grohman (W. A.), Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present, 102 Baker (Bethune), Orotava, 142 Baker (J. L.), Action of Diastase on Starch, 358 Baker (R. T.), Manna on Blue Grass, 383 Baldwin (Prof. J. Mark), Organic Selection, 558 Balfour (Arthur J.) on Science and Industry, 85 Balfour (Henry), Ancient Assyrian Bow found in Egypt, 71 Ball (J.), Influence of Dissolved Metallic Salts on rate of Solu- tion of Zinc in Dilute Acids, 166 Ball (Sir Robert, F.R.S.), Elements of Astronomy, 28 Ballard (Dr. Edward), Death and Obituary Notice of, 299 Ballistics: the Measurement of Pressures in the Bore of Guns, Rev. F. Bashforth, 460 Yellow Butterfly-catching Spider from | Balmokand, the Priceless Gem, 233 Baly (E. C.), Passage of Electricity through Gases, 309 Bancroft (W. D ), Chemical Potentials of Metals, 110 Banks (Right Hon. Sir Joseph, P.R.S.), Journal of the, during Captain Cook’s First Voyage in H.M.S. Zudeavour, 1768-71, Sir Joseph D. Hooker, 73 Bar-Hebraeus (Mar Gregory John), Maphrian of the East, the Laughable Stories collected by, E. A. Wallis Budge, 98 | Baretge (M.), Effects of Oil at Sea, 360 Barfield (T. C.), Model Drawing and Shading from Casts, 52 Barlow (William), a Mechanical Cause of Homogeneity of Structure and Symmetry, 477 ; Barnes (C. R.), Analytical Keys to the Genera and Species of North American Mosses, 389 Barr(L.), Melting-points of Metals, 110 Barrett (Chas. G.), the Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Barrett (Rosa M.), Cultivation of Woad, 79 222 | Barry (J. Wolfe, F.R.S.), Abstract of the Presidential Address before the Institution of Civil Engineers on November 3, by, 1 Barton {Dr.), Absorption of Electrical Waves along Wires by Terminal Bridge, 70 1 Barus (C.), Interferential Induction Balance, 406 ; Excursions of Telephone Diaphragm, 476 Barus (Dr. Carl‘, the Practical Treatment of Magnets, 614 | Bashforth (Rev. F.), the Measurement of Pressures in the Bore of Guns, 460 : : Basins, Artesian, in North America, Gibb Maitland, 182 Bastin (Dr. E. S.), Death of, 613 Bather (F. A.), the Inheritance of Specific Characters, 29 Batrachians, Sciagraphs of British, and Reptiles, J. Green and J. 1. Gardiner, 539; G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 539 Baubigny (H1.), Estimation of Antimony in Peroxide State, vill Index Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1807 479; High Temperature Action on Antimony Peroxide, 504 ; Separation of Chlorine and Bromine, 624 Bauer (Dr. L. A.), Vertical Earth-Air Currents, 327 : Baumann (Dr. E. A. G.), Death of, 81; Obituary Notice of, 109 Baur (Prof. Franz), Death of, 348 Baxter (G. H.), Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease, 154 Bazin Roller Boat, the, 109, 379 Beal (W. J.), Grasses of North America, 557 Bean (Tarlton H.), Oceanic Ichthyology, 560 Beare (Prof. T. H.), the Value of the Steam Jacket, Experi- ment on Locomotive Engine, 44 Beattie (Dr. J. C.), Electrification of Air by Rontgen Rays, 199; on the Conductive Effect produced in Air by Rontgen Rays and by Ultra-Violet Light, 343; on Electrical Equili- brium between Uranium and an Insulated Metal in its Neighbourhood, 447; on Apparent and Real Diselectrifica- tion of Solid Dielectrics produced by Réntgen Rays and by Flames, 472; on the Influence of Rontgen Rays in respect to Electric Conduction through Air, Paraffin, and Glass, 498 Beazley (C. R.), the Dawn of Modern Geography, 555 Becker (G. F.), Rock Differentation, 308 Becquerel (H.), Uranic Rays, 119, 454; Law of Discharge in Gas of Electrified Uranium, 599 Beddoe (Dr. John), Selection in Man, 260 Beecher (C. E.), Classification of Trilobites, 476 Beensch (L.), Relation between Optically Active and Inactive Forms of Methylmannoside, 303 Beer (Walter), Monier System of Construction, 278 Bees : Drunken Habits of Humbie Bees, J. Ll. Williams, 300 ; Immunity from Bee Stings, T. A. G. Strickland, 397 Beetroot Disease, the, Paul Vuillemin, 72 Belgium Observatory Annual, 516 Belopolsky (A.), the Spectroscopic Binary a! Geminorum, 352 Bemmelen (A. A. Van), Death of, 348, 589 Bendire (Major C. E.), Death of, 417 Benham (Dr. W. B.), Morphology of the Cerebral Convolu- tions, with special reference to the Order of Primates, 619 Bennett (A. R.), a Convection Scope and Calorimeter, 359 Berget (Alphonse), Photographic Study of Expansion of Liquids, 71 Bergonié (J.), Application of Radioscopy to Intrathoracic Lesions, 239 Bermuda Islands, Suggested Reef-Boring at the, W. K. Morrison, 5; Suggested Reef-Boring at the Bermudas and elsewhere, W. Saville-Kent, ror ; Changes of Level in the, Prof. R. S. Tarr, 311; Rough Notes and Memoranda Relating to the Natural History of the Bermudas, J. L. Hurdis, 604 Berry (Dr. Richard), the Czcal Foss, 238 Berthelot (M.): Arabinose, 24; Estimation and Transforma- tions of Pyrophosphoric Acid, 95, 383 ; Helium, 311 ; Specific Heats of Elementary Gases, 311; Science et Morale, 337 5 the Copper Age in Chaldea, 407; Electric Absorption of Nitrogen by Carbon Compounds, 503; Apparatus for Gas Recognition by Spectrum Analysis, 503 Besson (A.): Action of Hydrogen Compounds on Thionyl Chlorides, 120 ; Action of Hydrogen Sulphide and Selenide on Phosphoryl Trichloride, 312; Pyrosulphuryl Chloride, 431 3 Chlorobromides of Tin, 551; a New Oxide of Phos- phorus, 576 Betche (E.), New Plants in New South Wales, 239 Bevan (E. J.), Carbohydrates of Barley Straw, 93 Bevan, Cross and, Cellulose: an Outline of the Chemistry of the Structural Elements of Plants with Reference to their Natural History and Industrial Uses, 241 Bhaduri (Jyotibhushan), the Decomposition of Aqueous Sodium Hypochlorite Solutions at Boiling-Water Temperature, 84 Bibliographies, Recent, 235 : Bickel (Adolph), Action of Bile on Nervous System, 551 Bickerton (Prof. A. W.), Partial Impact of Celestial Bodies, 61 Bidwell (Shelford, F.R.S.): Diselectrification by Phosphorus, 6, 155 ; Subjective Colour Phenomena, 367 Biedermann’s Electro- Physiologie, 99 Biernacke (V.), Aluminium Amalgam, 92 Big Game Preserve established in British Central Africa, 182 Binary in Puppis, a New Spectroscopic, 137 Binet (A.): Influence of Psychic Processes on Blood Pressure, 264; Alterations of Personality, 389; Influence of Brain- Work on Blood-Pressure, 399; Influence of Music on Respiration, &c., 590 Biology: Death of Dr. H. N. Martin, F.R.S., 113; Quiver Lake (Illinois) Biological Station, 81 ; Evolution and Phylo- geny of Gasteropod Molluscs, Prof. A. E. Verrill, 190; Biological Inaction of Rontgen Rays, Prof. Stefano Capra- nica, 326; La Déterminisme Biologique et la Personnalité Consciente, Felix le Dantec, 557 ; Deathand Obituary Notice of Edward Drinker Cope, 587; the ‘‘ Spinning” Activities of Protoplasm in Echinoderm Eggs, G. F. Andrews, 615 ; Marine Biology, the Opening Ceremony of the Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, 43; Microscopic Marine Organisms in the Service of Hydrogranhy, Prof. P. T. Cleve, 89 ; Recent Work on the Madreporarian Skeleton, Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 126; Biological Lectures delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s Holl in the Summer Session of 1895, 170; Influence of Living Organ- isms on Oxygen and Carbonic Acid in Sea-Water, Marten Knudsen, 191; the Eggs of the Pearly Nautilus, Dr. A. Willey, 326; Embryonic Series of Bdellostomum, Bashford Dean, 371; the Green Pigment of Thalassema, Prof. Sher- rington and Dr. Noél Paton, 400; Marine Organisms and the Conditions of their Environment, Dr. John Murray, F.RS., 500; Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres, George Murray and V. H. Blackman, 510; the Twenty-fifth Anni- versary of the Foundation of the Naples Zoological Station, H. M. Vernon, 586 Birds: Cat and Bird Stories, 100; Snow Buntings, J. R. Dakyns, IOI ; A-Birding on a Bronco, Florence A. Mer- riam, 387; the Flight of Gulls in the Wake of Steamers, F. W. Headley, 390; a Dictionary of Birds, Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., 505 ; Early Arrival of the Swift, Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., 508 Bis an’s Ende der Welt !_ Astronomische Causerien, Prof. F. J. Studniéka, 532 Bison, the European, Herr Buchener, 12 Blackman (F. F.), Carbon Dioxide and Reduced Vitality in Plants, 526 Blackman (W. H.), Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres, 510 Blackmore (Edward), the British Mercantile Marine, 438 Blaine (R. G.), Hydraulic Machinery, 556 Blanc (G.), Action of Aluminium Chloride on Camphoric Anhydrides. 71, 4543 Isolauronolic Acid, 527 Bland (W.), Notes of Lessons on Elementary Botany, 507 Blandford (Mr.), Formalin as a Preventive of Mould, 142 Bliss (J.), Immunity from Snake-bites, 486 Bloch (A. M.), the Achromatometer, 96 Blount (B.), and A. G. Bloxam, Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, 267 Boat, the Bazin Roller, 109, 379 Bodenstein (Max), the Reversible Decomposition of Hydriodic Acid Gas, 401 Bog-Slide of Knocknageeha, the, in the County of Kerry, Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole, 254 Bog-Slides and Debacles, G. Henry Kinahan, 268 Bohm (A.), Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen ein- schliesslich der Mikroskopischen Technik, 74 Bohr (Christian), Absorption of Nitrogen by Blood, 431 Bois-Reymond (Prof. Emil), Death of, 204; Obituary Notice of, Prof. J. Burdon-Sanderson, F.R.S., 230 Bokorny (Dr.), the Nutrition of Green Plants, 351 Bolam (Dr.), Electrolysis of Potassium Ethyl-Sulphone- Acetate, 431 Bolksttino della Societa Sismologica Italiana, 214, 476 Bolton (H.), Mollusca from Lancashire Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures, 143 Bombay, the Plague in, 159, 258, 496; Failure of Yersin Serum, 540 Bombay, Fifty Years’ Meteorological Observations at, 234 Bombycine Moths of America, North of Mexico, Monograph of the, A. S. Packard, 536 Bone (W. A.), Direct Union of Carbon and Hydrogen, 93 Bones, Sesamoid, F. J. Reid, 225 Bonney (Prof. T. G., F.R.S.), Geological Note on Sections near Top of Furka Pass, 93; Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present, W. A. Baillie-Grohman, 102; Aus der Alpen, R. von Lendenfeld, 102 ; Chamounix and the Range of Mont Blanc, Edward Whymper, 102 ; Climbs in the New Zealand Alps, E. A. Fitzgerald, 102; Mountaineering and Explora- tion in the Japanese Alps, Rev. Walter Weston, 102; Report on the Coral Reef at Funafuti, 373; Pioneer Work in the New Zealand Alps, 458; Glaciers of North America, 556 Supplement to ee || June 17, 1897 Lndex 1X Books on Science, Forthcoming, 474 Borneo (British North), the Natives of Sarawak and, H. Ling Roth, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 128 Boscovich’s Theory of Atomic Configurations in Gas Molecules, Lord Kelvin, 238 Boswell (Henry), Death and Obituary Notice of, 370 Botany: Death and Obituary Notice of Lucien Trécul, 11 ; Best Sugar-cane for Leeward Island Cultivation, F. Watts and F. R. Shepherd, 12; Sugar-cane raising from Seed, J. H. Hart, 12 ; Botany at the British Assuciation, 19 ; Peasblossom, Caroline Pridham, 28; New Researches on Tubercles of Leguminose, C. Naudin, 48 ; Tournefort and the Latitudinal and Altitudinal Distribution of Plants, W. Botting Ifemsley, F.R.S., 52; Composition of Phantx melanocarfa Fruits, Aimé Girard, 71; New South Wales Linnean Society, 72, 191, 240; Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, P.R.S., during Captain Cook’s First Voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768-71, Sir Joseph D. Hooker, 73; Termites and Fungus, J. H. Hart, 81; the Growth of Diatoms, E. C. Whipple, 83; Colouring Matter of Wallflower and Haw- thorn, A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel, 93 ; Linnean Society, 94, 166, 189, 310, 334, 502, 526, 598; Oxalate of Lime Raphides in Hyacinth Bulbs, Dr. Morris, 94; Oxalate of Lime Raphides in Richardia ethiopica Bulbs, J. Y. Johnson, 334; the Spectrum of Chlorophyll, A. Etard, 95; Air Analysis by dgarécus agramentarius, T. L. Phipson, 95; Death of Dr. G. W. Child, 108; Obituary Notice of A. Trécul, 108; MHoney-Birds and Cingalese Loranthus Seeds, F. W. Keeble, 109 ; Osmotic Pressure in Germinat- ing Grains, L. Maquenne, 120; Zuphrasta salisburgensis in Treland, F. Townsend, 142; Journal of Botany, 142, 309, 406, 574 ; Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, 142, 406 ; Action of Ammonium Nitrate on Asferge/lus niger, C. Tanret, 143 ; Die Morphologie und Physiologie des Pflanzlichen Zellkernes, Prof. Dr. A. Zimmermann, 147 ; the Arrangement of Branches of Trees, Thomas Swan, 155 ; the Horn Expedition to Central Australia, 185 ; Natural Selection and Origin of Species in Plants, Rev. George Henslow, 189 ; Position of Boughs in Summer and Winter, Agnes Fry, 198; Calcium populneum a Pure Fungus, P. A. Dangeard, 207 ; Remarkable Degra- dation of Ovule in Parasitic Plants, R. van Tieghem, 207 ; New Plants in New South Wales, J. H. Maiden and E. Betche, 239; Alkaloids in Orchids, Dr. de Droog, 260; Colour in Flowers and Insects, Prof. F. Plateau, 300; Cotton and Insects, L. O. Howard, 301; Influence of Food on Respiratory Quotient of Moulds, C. Gerber, 312; the Manna of the Bible, M. J. Teesdale, 349; Manna on Blue Grass, R. T. Baker and H. G. Smith, 383; the Origin of Manna, B. Timothy, 440; Changes in Tentacle Gland-cells of Sun- dew after feeding with White of Egg, Lily Huie, 350; the Nutrition of Green Plants, Dr. :Bokorny, 351; Death and Obituary Notice of Henry Boswell, 370; the Discovery of another Connecting Link between Flowering and Flowerless Plants, 396; Argon in Plants, Dr. G. Tolomei, 399; a Vege- table Lipase, E. Gerard, 407 ; on the Alternations of Genera- tions in Plant Life, Right Hon. Sir Edw. Fry, F.R.S., 422; Death of Prof. George Ville, 443; Insects and Flower- Scent, Prof. F. Plateau, 444; an Introduction to Structural Botany, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 457; Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie, Dr. G. Haberlandt, 457; First Records of British Flowering Plants, William A. Clarke, 460; Lorigine des Saccharomyces, MM. Klocker and Sch6nning, 469; the True Grasses, Eduard Hackel, 484; Death of Dr. Robert Hogg, 495; Death of Lorenzo N. Johnson, 495; Portraits of Linnzeus, W. Carruthers, F.R.S., 502; Notes of Lessons on Elementary Botany, W. Bland, 507; Stipules, Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., 526; Origin of Transmission Tissue in Coniferous Leaves, W. C. Worsdell, 526; Injection of Intercellular Spaces in Leaves of E/odea, F. Darwin and D. F. M. Pertz, 526; Carbon Dioxide Production and Reduced Vitality in Plants, F. F. Blackman, 526; the Leaves of Bennettites, A. C. Seward, 527; the Dahlia, its History and Cultivation, 533; Grasses of North America, W. J. Beal, 557; Evolution of Cyclamen Jlatifolium and Garden Cineraria, W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, F.R.S., 598 ; India- rubber and Gutta-percha and their Sources, John R. Jackson, 610; Death of Dr. E. S. Bastin, 613 Bouchard (Ch.), Composition of Gases evolved from Bagnoles de Arne Mineral Water, 167 ; Application of Réntgen Rays to Pulmonary Tuberculosis, 191; Radioscopy applied to Diagnosis of Thoracic Diseases, 239 Boudouard (M.), Yttrium Earth in Monazite Sands, 95 ; Cerium Sulphate in Monazite Sands, 479 - Bouffard (M.), the Oxydase of Wines, 551 Boughs in Summer and Winter, Position of, Agnes Fry, 198 Boulenger (G. A., F.R.S.), Sciagraphs of British Batrachians and Reptiles, J. Green and J. H. Gardiner, 539 Boulger (G. S.), Elementary Geology, 123 Bournemouth, the Climate of, in Relation to Disease, especially Phthisis, A. Kinsey-Morgan, 316 Bow found in Egypt, Ancient Assyrian, Henry Balfour, 71 Bower (Prof., F.R.S.), on the Enumeration of Spore-Mother- Cells and Spores as a Basis of Comparison of Ferns, 21 Boyd (R. Nelson), Petroleum, its Development and Uses, 169 Bozward (J. Lloyd), the Earthquake of December 17, 178 Bradford (Edward), an Outline of Psychology, 121 Brain, the Primate, Dr. W. B. Benham, 619 Brandes (G.), Visibility of Rontgen Rays, 524 Braun (E.), Directed Electric Surface Conductivity, 214 Braun (F.), Demonstration of Course of Variable Currents, 524 Braun (Ernest), Electrical Vibrations of Mercury, 581 Bravais’ Formule for Regression, &c., in case of Skew Cor- relation, Significance of, G. H. Yule, 452 Bredt (Herr), New Synthetical Method of Preparing Carboxylic Acids, 207 Breitenlohner (Dr. J.), Death of, 589 Brennand (W.), Hindu Astronomy, 193 Bright (Charles), Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing, 553 Bright Line Stars, the Question of Carbon in, J. Norman Tockyers F.R.S., 304, 341; Dr. William Huggins, F.R.S., 31 Brighton, Motor Cars Journey to, 57 Brisbane Astronomical Society, 62 British Association, the: G Section of the, Prof. H. S. Hele- Shaw, 5; Botany at the British Association, 19 ; Section K (continued): Mr. Francis Darwin, F.R.S., on the Ascent of Water in Trees, 19; Prof. Vines, F.R.S., on Experiments on the Suction Force of Branches, 20; Prof. Bretland Farmer on the Present Position of Cell-division Problems, 20 ;’ Miss Ethel Sargent on the Heterotype Divisions of Zilzun martagon, 20; Prof. Magnus on some Recent Observations on the Chytridiaceous Genus Urophlyctis, 20; Mr. Vaughan Jennings on Corallorhiza innata, R.Br. and its associated Fungi, 20; Mr. Coppen Jones on the so-called Tubercle Bacillus, 20; Mr. W. G. P. Ellis on the Life-history of a Fungus which is the Cause of a Parasitic Disease in the Liverwort (Ped/za epiphylla), 20: Prof. Chodat on the Poly- morphism of the Green Algz and the Principles of their Evolution, 20; Prof. Zacharias on the Histology of the Blue- Green Alge, 21; Mr. Lang on some Peculiar Cases of Apogamous Reproduction in Ferns, 21 ; Prof. Bower, F.R.S., on the Enumeration of Spore-Mother-Cells and Spores as a Basis of Comparison of Ferns, 21 ; Prof. Casimir de Candolle on Latent Life in Seeds, 21; Prof. Trail, F.R.S., on the Floral Deviations in some Species of Po/ygoruz, 21 ; Miss Lily Huie on the Changes in the Tentacle of Drosera rotundifolia produced by feeding with Egg Albumen, 22; Dr. Morris on the Effect produced in certain Animals in the West Indies by feeding on the Young Shoots of the Wild Tamarind or Jumbai Plant (Zewcena glauca, Benth.), 22; Mr. Scott Elliot on the Influence of Habitat upon Plant Habit, 22; Dr. Wilson on Hybridisation in Passion Flowers and Albucas, 22 British Association: Toronto Meeting, 1897, Alan Mac- Dougall, 127 ; Local Arrangements, Prof. A. B. Macallum, 319 British Butterflies, J. W. Tutt, 536 British Butterflies and Moths, the Larve of, William Buckler, 460 British Flowering Plants, First Records of, William A. Clarke, 460 British Islands : the Lepidoptera of the, Chas. G. Barrett, 222 ; the Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the, J. T. Cunningham, W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 361; the Hemiptera- Homoptera of the, James Edwards, 389 British Mercantile Marine, the, Edward Blackmore, 438 British Museum, Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, as in the, L. W. King, 243 British North Borneo, the Natives of Sarawak and, H. Ling Roth, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 128 British Patent Law, Hubert Haes, 149 Broca (M.), the Baldness produced by Rontgen Rays, 232 x Index iP upplenient to Nature, June 17, 1807 Brook-Fox (F. G.), Sparrows and Wheat, 33 Brooke (A.), Identity of Laurent’s Amarone and Tetraphenyl- azine, 478 Brogger (W. C.), the Early Life of Nansen, 201 Brough (Bennett H.), Colliery Working and Management, 148 Brown (Prof. Crum), Electrolysis of Potassium Ethyl-Sulphone- Acetate, 431 Brown (Prof. E. W.), Theory, 266 Brown (J.), the Departure of Swallows, 6 Brown (J.), Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates, 294 Brown (H. T.), Rotation of Maltose and Soluble Starch, 310 Brown (Prof. W. E.), Celestial Mechanics, 46 Browne (H. P.), Use of Fungus for destroying Locusts, 524 Browning (P. E.), Estimation of Vanadium by Organic Acids, 92 Bruce (Surgeon-Major), the Tsetse Fly, 47 Brunner (Herr L.), Observations of Saturn, 183 Brush (G. J.), Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, with an Introduction on Blowpipe Analysis, 292 Bryan (Mr.), Absorption of Electrical Waves along Wires by Terminal Bridge, 70 Bryology: Analytical Keys to the Genera and Species of North ‘American Mosses, C. R. Barnes, 389 Buchener (Herr), the European Bison, 12 Buchner (Dr. E.), the Extraction of an Alcohol-producing Fer- ment from Yeast, 442 Buckler (William), the Larvze of British Butterflies and Moths, 460 Buddhist Praying Wheel, the, William Simpson, 171 Budge (E. A. Wallis), the Laughable Stories collected by Mar Gregory John Bar-Hebrzeus, Maphrian of the East, 98; an Egyptian Reading Book for Beginners, 218 ; some Aceount of the Collection of Egyptian Antiquities in the possession of Lady Meux, of Theobald’s Park, Waltham Cross, 218 Budgett (J. S.), the American Lung Fish, 278 Budischovsky (E.), the Monazite Sands, 527 Buflam (W. Arnold), the Tears of the Heliades ; or, Amber as a Gem, John R. Jackson, 194 Buka (Dr. F.), Death of, 277 Bullard (C.), Study of Correlated Variation in Swine, 471 Bulletin of American Mathematical Society, 46, 188, 309, 380, 524, 574 Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, 438 Bulletin de la Société Astronomique ce France, 62, 592 Bullets, Flying, 79 Bulman (H. F.), and R. and Management, 148 Burch (George J.), the Earthquake of December 17, 1896, 180; Prof. Hermann’s Theory of the Capillary Electrometer, an Introductory Treatise on the Lunar A. S. Redmayne, Colliery Working 214 Burdon Sanderson (Prof. J., F.R.S.), Obituary Notice of Emil du Bois- Reymond, 230 Bureau des Longitudes, 163 Burnie (Beckit), Thermo-Electric Qualities of Liquid Metals, 439 Burning Charcoal, on Electrical Properties of Fumes proceeding from Flames and, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. Magnus Maclean, 592 Burr (Mr.), Colour-variation in Grasshoppers, 526 Burri (Herr), Capacity of Bacillus Radicicola of growing on Foreign Culture Media, 206 Burroughs (John), a Year in the Fields, 387 Buttertield (Mr.), Series of Phégaléa pedaria, 526 Butterflies; the Larvze of British Butterflies and Moths, William Buckler, 460; on the Colours and Colour-Patterns of Moths and Butterflies, Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, 618; British Butterflies, J. W. Tutt, 536 Cabot and Vasco de Gama, Edward Salmon, 541 Cady (W. G.), Volume Measurements of Air-Thermometer Bulb, g2 Cailletet (L.), High Air Collection, 479 Cain (J. G.), Direct Union of Carbon and Hydrogen, 93 Caisson Disease, Compressed Air Illness, or so-called, E. Hugh Snell, 411 Cajori (Florian), a History of Elementary Mathematics, with Hints on Methods of Teaching, 219 Callandreau (O.), Disaggregation of Comets, 47 | Calori (Dr. Luigi), Death of, 231 Cambridge Natural History, the, Vol. ii., Worms, 607 Cambridge Philosophical Society, 94, 167, 359, 453) 479; 526 Cambridge University, the Resources and the Needs of, 612 Camera and the Pen, the, J. C. Hepworth, 268 Cameron (A. C. G.), Cultivation of Woad, 155 Campbell (Prof. W. W.), Nova Aurigze, 617 Campredon (Louis), Phosphorus in Coal and Coke Ash, 168 Camus (L.), Estimation of Lipase in Blood, 359 Canada: Annual Report of the Geological Survey of, 124; Gold discovered in, William Ogilvie, 540 Canals, Irrigation, the Value of, in India, 404 Canals of Mars, the, Herr M. Teoperberg, 280 Cancer : Wart-Wort (Chelidonium majus) Sap as Remedy for, Dr. Denisenko, 60; C. Leeson Prince, 155 ; Modifications of Nutrition in Cancerous Subjects, MM. Simon Duplay and Savoire, 168 Candolle (Prof. Casimer de) on Latent Life in Seeds, 21 Canney (Dr. L.), Winter Climate of Egypt, 215 Cantlie (Dr.), Rats and the Plague, 258 Cannizzaro (Prof.), Celebration of his Jubilee, Dr. A. Miolati, 203 Capellini (Prof. Giovanni), 205 Capranica (Prof. Stefano), Biological Inaction of Rontgen Rays, 326 Carbon, the Question of, in Bright Line Stars, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 304, 341 5 Dr. William Huggins, F.R.S., Heyden Memorial conferred on, 316 Carnot (A.), the Formation of Sedimentary Phosphate of Lime Deposits, 71 Casella (L. P.), Death of, 613 Caste System in India, a Plea Balmokand, 233 Cat and Bird Stories, 100 Caucasus, the Exploration of the, Douglas W. Freshfield, 440, 535, 580 Geen (M.), a Viviparous Ephemerid (Chico psts diptera), 48 Causse (H.), a New Derivative of Phenylisindazol, 480 Cave, the Mouthe, M. Riviere, 55, 575 Cazeneuve (P.), the Decolorising Ferment of Wines, 576 Cecil (Henry), the Swallows, 53 Celestial Bodies, Partial Impact ef, Prof. A. W. Bickerton, 61 Celestial Eddies, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 249 Cell in Development and Inheritance, the, Edmund B. Wilson, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 530 Cell-Division Problems, on the Present Position of, Prof. Bretland Farmer, 20 Cellulose, an Outline of the Chemistry of the Structural Elements of Plants with reference to their Natural History and Industrial Uses, Cross and Bevan, 241! Cerebral Convolutions, Morphology of the, Andrew J. Parker, Dr. W. B. Benham, 619 Central Asia, Sven Hedin’s Travels in, 58, 589 Chadwick (W. I.), Radiography, 198 Chaldea, the Copper Age in, M. Berthelot, 407 Chaldean Civilisation, Early, L. W. King, 243 Chamberlain (Walter), the Heating of Anodes in X-Ray Tubes, 198 Chambers (George F.), the Story of the Weather, 413 Chamounix and the Range of Mont Blanc, Edward Whymper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Chandler (Prof. S. C.), Tables for finding Latitude Variations, 329 Changes in Faun Cockerell, 462 Charabot (Eug.), French Essence of Roses, 71 Characters, Acquired, Prichard and, Wilfred Mark R. Meldola, F.R.S., 342 Characters, Specific, Prof. T, D. A. Cockerell, 414 Charpentier (Aug.), Changes of Colour in Flashes of Light of Short Duration, 407 Charpy (G.), the Alloys of Copper and Zinc, 130 Charrin (M.), Protective Power of Serum influenced by Nerve- Lesion, 264 Chassagne-Dansac Colour Photograph Process, the, 564 Chattaway (F. D.), Constitution of Nitrogen Iodide, 92; Hy- drolysis of Perthiocyanic Acid, 623 ; Chauveau (A.), Physiology of Muscular Action, 263; Energy Changes in Living Muscle, 503 Cheirostrobus, a New Fossil Cone, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 333 for the Revival of the Primitive, due to Man’s Agency, Prof. T. D. A. ®, Webb, Prof. Supplement to Valea June 17, 1897 Index XI Chelidonium majus as a Cure for Cancer, Dr. Denisenko, 60; C. Leeson Prince, 155 Chemistry: Death of Dr. Eugen Sell, 11; New Hydrazine Sugar Derivatives, E. Davidis, 14 ; Arabinose, MM. Berthelot and G. André, 24; Luciferase, R. Dubois, 24 ; Redetermin- ation of Atomic Weight of Magnesium, Prof. Richards and Mr. Parker, 41; Preparation of Potassium Percarbonate by Electrolysis of Solution of Potassium Carbonate, E. J. Con- stans and A. von Hansen, 41; the Explosive Properties of Acetylene, Prof. A. Smithells, 42; Laboratory Use of Acety- lene, A. E. Munby, 486; Thos. Fletcher, 535 ; Determina- tion of Ratio of two Specific Heats of Acetylene, G. Maneu- vrier and J. Fournier, 335 ; Nesww Method of Storing Acety- lene, Georges Claude and Albert Hess, 527; Uniform Distribution in Atmosphere of Argon, Th. Schleesing, 48 ; Argon and Nitrogen in Blood, P. Regnard and Th. Schlce- sing, 383; Argon in Plants, Dr. G. Tolomei, 399 ; French Essence of Roses, J. Dupont and J. Guerlain, 48; Eug. Charabot and G. Chiris, 71 ; a Short Catechism of Chemistry, A. J. Wilcox, 52; the Oxidation of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide, Prof. Victor Meyer, 61; Action of Aluminium Chloride on Camphoric Anhydride, G. Blanc, 71, 454; Aluminium Amalgam, V. _ Biernacki, 92; Method of Separating Aluminium from Iron, F. A. Gooch and F. S. Havens, 188 ; Chemical Method of Valuing Wheat Flours, E. Fleurent, 71; Notes for Chemical Students, Prof. Peter T. Austen, 77; Tables for Iron Analysis, John A. Allen, 77; Death of Dr. E. A. G. Baumann, 81 ; Obituary Notice of, 109; Death of Dr. Eugen Sell, 81 ; the Decomposition of Aqueous Sodium Hypochlorite Solutions at Boiling Water Temperature, Jyotibhushan Bhaduri, 84; Ex- periments on Densities of Oxygen and Nitrogen, 84; Chemical Society, 92, 142, 165, 310, 358, 406, 478, 502, 526, 622; Estimation of Vanadium by Organic Acids, P. E. Browning and R. J. Goodman, 92 ; Determination of Oxygen in Air and Aqueous Solutions, D. A. Kreider, 92; Consti- tution of Nitrogen Iodide, F. D. Chattaway, 92; Carbo- hydrates of Barley Straw, C. F. Cross, E. J. Bevan, and C. Smith, 93; Direct Union of Carbon and Hydrogen, W. C. Bone and J. C. Cain, 93; Economical Preparation of Hydroxylamine Sulphate, E. Divers and T. Haga, 93; Reduction of Nitrosulphate. E. Divers and T. Haga, 93; Physiological Action of Amido-sulphonic Acid, O. Loew, 93 ; Effect of Heat on Aqueous Solutions of Chrome Alum, M. D. Dougal, 93 ; Colouring Matter of Wallflower and Hawthorn, A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel, 93 ; Halogen Derivatives of Camphor, J. E. Marsh and J. H. Gardner, 93; Sulpho- camphylic Acid, W. H. Perkin, jun., 93; Oxalate of Lime Raphides in Hyacinth Bulbs, Dr. Morris, 94; Oxalate of Lime Raphides in Richardia ethiopica Corms, J. Y. John- son, 334; Estimation and Transformations of Pyrophosphoric Acid, MM. Berthelot and G. André, 95; Yttrium Earths in Monazite Sands, P. Schutzenberger and M. Boudouard, 95 ; Neutrality of Salts with Reference to Coloured Indicators, H. Lescceur, 95; Analysis of Air by Agarecus atramentarius, T. L. Phipson, 95; Properties of Glucina, P. Lebeau, 95; an Iodide of Molybdenum, M. Guichard, 95, the Spectrum of Chlorophyll, M. Etard, 95 ; Action of Sulphuric Acid and Todine on Iodic Acid, 95 ; Organic Material of Tulle-Hauts Mineral Water, F. Garrigou, 96; Studies in Chemical Dynamics, J. H. van ’t Hoff, 98; Chemical Potential of Metals, W. D. Bancroft, 110; Revised Atomic Weight of Zinc, T. W. Richards and E. F. Rogers, 110; Lucium no Element, W. Crookes, 110; Measurements of Electrolytic Dissociation of some Organic Acids at Different Temperatures, H. Euler, 110 ; Action of Hydrogen Compounds on Thionyl Chlorides, A. Besson, 120; Effect of Pressure on Rate of Inversion of Sugar by Weak and Strong Acids, O. Stern, 136 ; Sulphocamphoric Acid, A. Lapworth and F. S. Kipping, 142; Compound of Camphoric Acid and Acetone, W. J. Pope, 142; Mercury Hyponitrites, P. C. Ray, 142; Inter- action of Mercurous Nitrite and Alkyl Iodides, P. C. Ray, 142; Identity of Dextrose from different Sources, C. O'Sullivan and A. L. Stern, 142 ; Heat of Formation of Silver Amalgam, Ag,Hg,, F. T. Littleton, 142; Action of Alkyl Todides on Silver Malate, T. Purdie and G. D. Landor, 142; Estimation of Nitric Acid in Seine, Yonne and Marne, M. Schloesing, 143 ; Molecular Entropy, Georges Darzens, 143 ; Absorption of Nitric Oxide by Ferrous Bromide, V. Thomas, 143; Action of Potassium Permanganate on Polyhydric Alcohols, L. Perdrix, 143; Action of Ammonium Nitrate on Aspergillus niger, C. Tanret, 143; Constitution and Colour, A. G, Green, 165; Derivatives of a-hydrindone, C. Revis and F, S. Kipping, 165; 3'-Bromo-8-Naphthol, H. FE. Armstrong and W. A. Davis, 165; Morphotropic Relations of B-Naphthol Derivatives, W. A. Davis, 166; Tertiary Benzenoid Amines, C. de B. Evans, 166; Influence of Dis- solved Metallic Salts on Rate of Solution of Zinc in Dilute Acids, J. Ball, 166; Composition of Gases evolved from Bagnoles de !’Orne Mineral Water, Messrs. Ch. Bouchard and Desgrez, 167; Lithium Nitride, M. Guntz, 167, 207; Estimation of Phosphorus in Coal and Coke Ash, Louis Campredon, 168 ; Ozone and Phosphorescence, Maurice Otto, 168 ; Use of Grisometer in Medico-legal Examination for Carbon Monoxide, 168; a Treatise on Petroleum, Boverton Redwood, 169; Le Pétrole, l’Asphalte et le Bitume, au point de vue géologique, A. Jaccard, 169 ; Petroleum ; its Development and Uses, R. Nelson Boyd, 69 ; Composition of Hawaiian Soils, A. B. Lyons, 188 ; Chemical and Physiological Reactions of Synthesised Proteid-like Substances, Dr, J. W. Pickering, 188; Selenic Anhydride, René Metzner, 191 ; Sulphides of Cobalt and Nickel, C. Chesneau, 191 ; 1 : 3 di-bromo-propylene, R. Lespieau, 191; Influence of Living Organisms on Oxygen and Carbonic Acid in Sea Water, Marten Knudsen, 191; Decolorisation in Wines, J. Laborde, 191; Oxidation and Decolorisation o- Wines, M. V. Martinand, 480; the Decolorising Ferments of Wines, P. Cazeneuve, 576; the Oxydase of Wines, M. Bouffard, 551; the Tutorial Chemistry, Part I., Non-Metals, G. H. Bailey, 195; Elementary Non-Metallic Chemistry, S. R. Trotman, 195; Celebration of Prof. Cannizzaro’s Jubilee, Dr. A. Miolati, 203; Death of Dr. Emil Wolff, 205 ; New Synthetical Method of Preparing Carboxylic Acids, MM. Bredt and Kallen, 207 ; the Davy-Faraday Research Labor- atory, 208; Death of Theodore Wormley, 231; Action of Lithium on Carbon and some Carbon Compounds, M. Guntz, 239; Action of Phosphorus on Platinum, A. Granger, 239 ; Reduction of Wolfram by Carbon in Electric Furnace, Ed. Defacqz, 239; Hexadiinediol, R. Lespieau, 239 ; Synthesis of Hauksite, A. de Schulten, 239; Cellulose, Cross and Beyan, 241 ; the Theory of Solutions, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 253; Alkaloids in Orchids, Dr. de Droog, 260; Action of Ammonium on Tellurium Chloride, René Metzner, 263 ; Absorption of Sulphuretted Hydrogen by Liquid Sulphur, A. H. Pélabon, 264; Chemistry for Engineers and Manu- facturers, B. Blount and A. G. Bloxam, 267; Death of Dr. F, J. Mouat, 277; Death of Dr. T. J. Wormley, 277; Density of Ozone, Marius Otto, 287; Relation between Optically Active and Inactive Forms of Methyl-Mannoside, Prof. Emil Fischer and L. Beensch, 303; Experiment with Gold, M. C. Lea, 308; Gold in Natural Salts and Seaweed, A. Liversidge, 407; Action of Phosphorus on Gold, A. Granger, 479; the Extraction of Gold by Chemical Methods, Dr. T. K. Rose, 448; Attempt to separate Constituents of Cleveite Gas by Diffusion, A. Hagenbach, 309; Specific Rotation of Maltose and Soluble Starch, H. T. Brown, G. H. Morris, and J. H. Millar, 310; Action of Oxidising Agents on Cobaltous Salts in presence of Alkali Bicarbonates, R. G. Durrant, 310; Formation of Substituted Oxytriazoles from Phenylsemicarbazide, G. Young and H. Annable, 310; Enantiomorphism, W. J. Pope and F. S. Kipping, 310; Enantiomorphic Forms of Ethylpropylpiperidonium Iodide, C. de B. Evans, 502; Helium, M. Berthelot, 311; Velocity of Reduction of Chromic Acid by Phosphorous Acid, G. Viard, 312; Action of Hydrogen Sulphide and Selenide on Phosphoryl Trichloride, A. Besson, 312; Chemical Inaction of Rontgen Rays, A. de Hemptinne, 327; Behaviour of Bacteria towards Reagents, T. Paul and B, Kronig, 328; Action of Carbon Monoxide and Dioxide on Aluminium, MM. Guntz and Masson, 335; Phosphides of Chromium and Manganese, A. Granger, 335; a Superior Homologue of Urea, O. de Coninck, 335; Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal College of Chemistry, 340; Properties of Highly-purified Oxygen and Chlorine, W. R. Shenstone, 358; Action of Diastase on Starch, A. R. Ling and J. L. Baker, 358; Derivatives of Maclurin, A. G. Perkin, 358; the Rarer Elements in Common Ores and Minerals, W. N. Hartley and H. Ramage, 358; Structural Isomerism and Rotatory Power, P. A. Guye and J. Guerch- gorine, 359; Constitution of Antipyrin-Phenol Combin- ations, G. Patein, 359; Estimation of Lipase in Blood, MM. Hanriot and L. Camus, 359; a Vegetable Lipase, A. E. man 4 Supplement to Nature, x Index [ June 17, 1897 Gerard, 407; Non-identic Lipases, M. Hanriot, 576; Estimation of Pyrophosphoric Acid, MM. Berthelot and G. André, 383; Reduction of Nitrates in Arable Earth, R. P. Dehérain, 383; Ammoniacal Chlorides of Silver, J. Jarry, 383; New Method of preparing Primary Amines, Marcel Delépine, 383; the Manna of the Bible, M. J. Teesdale. 349; the Origin of Manna, B. Timothy, 440; Manna on Blue Grass, R. T. Baker and H. G. Smith, 383; the Rever- sible Decomposition of Hydriodic Acid Gas, Max Boden- stein, 401; the Gaseous Constituents of Mineral and Natural Water, W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and M W. Travers, 406 ; Oxidation of Nitrogen Gas, Lord Rayleigh, 406 ; the Stilbene Series, J. J. Sudborough, 406 ; Methylcamphorimine, M. O. Forster, 406; Action of Cuprous Oxide on Solutions of Silver Nitrate, Paul Sabatier, 407 ; Inorganic Chemical Preparations, T. H. Thorpe, 414; Interesting Case of Equilibrium, M. Pélabon, 420; Interesting Reaction of Magnesium Nitride, E. Szarvasy, 4205 Hypoiodous Acid and Hypoiodites, R. L. Taylor, 4313 New Method for producing Transparent Crystals, Ch. de Watteville, 431 5 Pyrosulphuryl Chloride, A. Besson, 431; the Examina- tion of White Wines for Coal-Tar Dyes, A. d’Aguiar and W. da Silva, 431 ; the Gases of the Atmosphere, William Ramsay, F.R.S., 435; the Extraction of an Alcohol-producing Ferment from Yeast, Dr. E. Buchner, 442 ; the Chemistry of the Stars, 447; Chitosamine, Prof. Lobry de Bruyn and W. Alberda van Ekenstein, 455; Tabellen fiir Gasanalysen, Prof. Dr. G. Lunge, 460; the Pigment of Lepidoptera Scales, A. G. Mayer, 469 ; Urates in the Hair, J. B. Smith, 470 ; Iodo- metric. Estimation of Molybdenum, F. A. Gooch, 476; Production of Pyridine Derivatives from Ethylic 8-Amido- crotonate, J. N. Collie, 478; Substitution Derivatives of Sodamide, A. W. Titherley, 478; Rubidamide, A. W. Titherley, 478 ; Identity of Laurent’s Amarone and Tetra- phenylazine, H. L. Snape and A. Brooke, 478 ; Oxidation of Phenylstyrenyloxytriazole, G. Young, 478; Apiin and Apigenin, A. G. Perkin, 4785 Cerium Sulphate in Monasite Sands, MM. Schutzenberger and Boudouard, 479 ; Estimation of Antimony in Peroxide state, H. Baubigny, 479; Action of Free Bases on Salts, Albert Colson, 479; a New Derivative of Phenylisindazol, H. Causse, 480 ; Action of Tannin on Pyridine and Piperidine, O. de Coninck, 480 ; Death of Prof. John Pierce, 495; Influence of Hydriodic Acid on Hexa- methylene Ring, Herr Zalinsky, 4973 Normal and _Iso- pentanes, S. Young and G. L. Thomas, 502; Freezing-point Curves of Zinc Alloy, C. T. Heycock and F. A. Neville, 502 ; Cobalt Oxides and Cobaltites, A. H. McConnell and E. S. Hanes, 502; New Synthesis in Sugar Group, H. J. H. Fenton, 502; Pinophanic Acid, W. S. Gilles and F. F. Renwick, 502; Synthesis of Citric Acid, W. T. Laurence, 502; Electric Absorption of Nitrogen by Carbon Compounds, M. Berthelot, 503; High Temperature Action on Antimony Peroxide, H. Baubigny, 504; Anethol Derivatives, G. Darzens, 504; Vorlesungen tiber Bildung und Spaltung von Doppelsalzen, Prof. J. H. Van’t Hoff, 507; the ‘Additional Colouring Matter of Fucus vestcelosus, Clarence Waterer, 508 ; the Pasteur Memorial Lecture of the Chemical Society, Prof. Percy Frankland, F.R.S., 518; the Atomic Weights of Carbon, A. Scott, 526; New Series of Mixed Sulphate of Vitriol Group, A. Scott, 526; Synthesis of Camphoronic Acid, W. H. Perkin, jun., and J. F. Thorpe, 526; Velocity of Urea Formation in Aqueous Alcohol, J. Walker and S. A. Kay, 526; Action of Alkyl Haloids on Aldoximes and Ketoximes, W. R. Dunstan and E. Goulding, 526; Latent Heats of Evaporation and Law of Van der Waals, George Darzens, 527 ; Action of Nickel on Ethylene, Paul Sabatier and J. B. Senderens, 527 ; the Monazite Sands, G. Urbain and E. Budischovsky, 527; 4 Reaction of Carbon Monoxide, A. Mermet, 527 ; Isolauronolic Acid, G. Blanc, 527; Decrease of Vapour-tension determined by Magnitude 3f Molecules of Solvent, Prof. Van der Waals, 527 3 First Stage Inorganic Chemistry, G. H. Bailey, 532 ; Detection of Potassium Compounds by Flame Test, S. G. Newth, 543; Reaction of Ferric Chloride, Potassium Chlorate, and Hydro- chloric Acid, Messrs. Noyes and Wason, 543 ; Fatty Material in Abydos Tombs, C. Friedel, 551; Transformation of Diamond into Graphite in Crookes’ Tube, Henri Moissan, 551 ; Chlorobromides of Tin, A. Besson, 551; the Combina- tion of Sulphur and Hydrogen, H. Pélabon, 551; Action of Bromine and Hydrobromic Acid on Ethyl Acetate, Boleslas Epstein, 551 ; Native Iron Carbonate, L. de Launay, 551; Nitro Group of Nitramines, Prof. Franchimont, 551; Special Points in Melting Curve, Prof. van der Waal, 551; the Story of the Chemical Elements, M. M. Pattison Muir, 5573 Crystalline Iron Carbide, Henri Moissan, 565 3 New Oxide of Phosphorus, A. Besson, 576 3 Action of High Temperature on Metallic Sulphides, A. Mourlot, 576 ; Formation of Am- monium Cyanide, Denis Lance, 600 ; Hydrolysis of Perthiocyanic Acid, F. D. Chattaway and H. J. Stevens, 623; Oxidation Products of ay-dimethyl-a-chloropyridine, E. Aston and J. N. Collie, 623 ; Separation of Chlorine and Bromine, H. Baubigny and P. Rivals, 6245 Separation of Nickel, Cobalt, and Iron, and of Cobalt and Aluminium, E. Pinerua, 624 Chesneau (G.), Sulphides of Cobalt and Nickel, 191 Chevalier (Rev. S.), Atmospheric Pressure : Variations over Siberia and Eastern Asia during January and February 1890, 446 Child (Dr. G. W.), Death of, 108 Chinese Yeast, C. E. Stromeyer, 463; Prof. Italo Giglioli, 508 Chiris (G.), French Essence of Roses, 71 Chodat (Prof.), on the Polymorphism of the Green Alge, and the Principles of their Evolution, 20 Cholera, the Effects of Inoculation for, Surgeon-Captain Hare, 134 Cholera, Vaccination in India against, Dr. Funck, 444 Cholera Vibrios, the Vitality of, Herr Wernicke, 233 Chree (Dr. Charles), Responsibility in Science, 152; Applica- tion of Physics and Mathematics to Seismology, 164 ; the Earthquake of December 17, 178 Chud Implements, Remarkable Find near Perm of, M. Sergueff, 82 Chudzinski (Théophile), Quelques Observations sur les Muscles Peauciers du Crane et de la Face dans les Races Humaines, 246 Cicatrisation, a New Theory of, L. Ranvier, 239; 454 Cineraria, Origin of the Cultivated, R. Irwin Lynch, 341 Clarke (William A.), First Records of British Flowering Plants, 460 Claude (Georges), New Method of Storing Acetylene, 527 Claypole (Dr. E. W.), Stone Axe of Glacial Period found in Ohio, 350 Clayton (H. Helm), the Use of Kites for Meteorological Observations in the Upper Air, 150; the Origin of the Stratus- Cloud, and some suggested Changes in the International Methods of Cloud Measurement, 197 ; Velocity of Duck measured by Triangulation, 278 Cleve (Prof. P. T.), Microscopic Marine Organisms in the Ser- vice of Hydrography, 89 Climate Variations, Sunspots, Comets and, Herr Johannes Unterwegen, 42 Climate of Bournemouth in Relation to Disease, especially Phthisis, the, A. Kinsey-Morgan, 316 Clothes Moths and Cold Storage, Dr. L. O. Howard, 327 Clouds: the Origin of the Stratus-Cloud, and some suggested Changes in the International Methods of Cloud Measurement, H. Helm Clayton, 197; the Photographic Observation of Clouds, 322 ; Stereoscopic Studies of Clouds, John-Tennant, 486 ; Cloud Observations, A. L. Rotch, 614 Club, a New Scientific, Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., 559 Clue to the Ages, the, Ernest Judson Page, 580 Coal-Dust, Colliery Explosions and, Donald M. D. Stuart, 597 Coast Lines, Telegraphy without Wires and the Guarding by Electric Cable of, Charles A. Stevenson, 197 Cobb (J. A.), Measurements of Crabs, 155 Cobwebs, Wine and, 564 Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres, George Murray and V. H. Blackman, 510 Cockerell (Prof. T. D. A.), Specific Characters, 414 ; Definite Variations, 439; Changes in Faun due to Man’s Agency, 462; the Function of Disease in the Struggle for Existence, 534 Cocoons, Jumping, Dr. D. Sharp, 65 Coehn (Alfred), the Destruction of Carbon Anodes in Electro- lysis of Oxygen-evolving Electrolytes, 616 Cohn (Dr. Fritz), the Orbit of Jupiter's First Satellite, 421 Colard (M.), Longitudinal Tension of Kathode Rays, 191 Cold Storage, Clothes Moths and, Dr. L. O. Howard, 327 Cole (Prof. Grenville A. J.), the Bog-Slide of Knocknageeha, in the County of Kerry, 2543 Geology of Slieve Gallion, 453 Supplement to ennes:| June 17, 1897 In dex Xill Collett (Robert), Résultats des Campagnes Scientifiques accomplies sur son Yacht par Albert I., Prince Souverain de Monaco, 559 Collie (J. N.), Production of Pyridine Derivatives from Ethylic 8-amidocrotonate, 478 ; Oxidation Products of ay-dimethyl a'-chloropyridine, 623 Colliery Explosions and Coal-Dust, Donald M. D. Stuart, 597 Colliery Surveying, T. A. O’Donahue, 438 Colliery Working and Management, H. F. Bulman and R. A. S. Redmayne, Bernett H. Brough, 148 Colour Phenomena, Subjective, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 367 Colouring Matter of Puces vesiculosus, the Additional, Clarence Waterer, 508 Colours of Certain Fishes, Nocturnal and Diurnal Changes in the, and of the Squid (Zo/igo), with Notes on their Sleeping Habits, A. E. Verrill, 451 Colours, Photographic Reproduction of, 422 Colours, Photography in, Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Captain W. de W. Abney, F.R.S., 318 Colours and Colour Patterns of Moths and Butterflies, on the, Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, 618 Colson (Albert), Action of Free Bases on Salts, 479 Columbia University Observatory’s Publications, 544 Comets: Comet Perrine, 208, 279; Ephemeris for, Prof. H. Kreutz, 41 ; Prof. Holden, 42 ; Otto Knopf, 110; Sunspots, Comets, and Climate Variations, Herr Johannes Unterweger, 42; Disaggregation of Comets, O. Callandreau, 47 ; Comet Notes, 261 ; Periodical Comets, 401 Companion to the Observatory, 16 Comparative Anatomy, Text-book of, Dr. Arnold Lang, 4 Compressed Air Illness ; or so-called Caisson Disease, E. Hugh Snell, 411 Compressibility of Salt Solutions, Prof. Tait, 431 Conductive Effect produced in Air by Rontgen Rays and by Ultra-violet Light, on the, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 343 Conductors, Patterns produced by Charged, on Sensitive Plates, James I’Anson, 269 ; J. Brown, 294; Fernando Sanford, 485 Conductorless X-Ray Bulbs and Tubes, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, F.R.S., 294 Coninck (O. de), a Superior Homologue of Urea, 335; Action of Tannin on Pyridine and Piperidine, 480 Connecting Link between Flowering and Flowerless Plants, the Discovery of another, 396 Constam (E. J.), Preparation of Potassium Percarbonate by Electrolysis of Solution of Potassium Carbonate, 41 Constitution and Function of Gases, the; the Nature of pedinee and the Law of Radiation, Severinus J. Corrigan, 386 3 Construction, the Monier System of, Walter Beer, 278 Contejean (Charles), Death of, 495 Contremoulins (G.), Use of X-Rays in Anatomical Researches, 48 ; Radiography of Sott Parts of Men and Animals, 359 Conway’s (Sir Martin), Crossing of Spitzbergen, 306 Cooke (T.) and Sons, on the Adjustment and Testing of Tele- scopic Objectives, 221 Cope (Prof. E. D.), Death of, 562 ; Obituary Notice of, 587 Copeland (Prof. Ralph), the Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land, 29 Copper Age in Chaldea, the, M. Berthelot, 407 Copper, Oysters and, W. F. Lowe, 366, 415; Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 366 Copper and Zinc, the Alloys of, G. Charpey, Dr. T. K. Rose, 130 Coral Reefs: Prof. Sollas’ Coral Reef Expedition, 12; Report on the Coral Reef at Funafuti, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Prof. Sollas, F.R.S., 373 ; the Coral Reef at Funafuti, Prof. Sydney J. Hickson, F.R.S., 439; Foundation of Coral Reefs, Rear-Admiral W. J. L. Wharton, C.B., F.R.S., 390; Formation of Coral Reefs, Capt. W. Usborne Moore, 463 ; Dr. John Murray, on, 551 Corals: Recent Work on the Madreporarian Skeleton, Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 126; the Classification of Madreporaria, Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 280 1 Corallorhiza innata, R.Br., and its Associated Fungi, Vaughan Jennings, 20 Cornelius (Dr. K. S.), Death of, 81 ; 133 Cornish (C. J.), Animals at Work and Play ; their Activities and Emotions, 52 Cornish (Vaughan), Short Studies in Physical Science, 507 Corona of August 9, Russian Observations of the, Baron Nicholas Kaulbars, 298 Correlations, Spurious, Note on, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 429 Correlation, Significance of Bravais’ Formule for Regression, &c., in Case of Skew, G. U. Yule, 452 Corrigan (Severinus J.), the Constitution and Function of Gases, the Nature of Radiance and the Law of Radiation, 386 Cotton and Insects, L. O. Howard, 301 Cotton Manufacture, Relative Humidity and, A. J. Henry, 398 Coudé Mountings for Reflecting Telescopes, 472 Courmelles (F. de), New Kathodic Apparatus, 600 Courtier (J.), Influence of Music on Respiration, &c., 590 Crabs, Measurements of, H. Thompson, Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 30; J. T. Cunningham, ror; J. A. Cobb, 155; H. Thompson, 224 Crags and Craters, Rambles in the Island of Réunion (Bourbon), W. D. Oliver, 365 Crapper (Ellis H.), Practical Electrical Measurements, 507 Crater Lake, Oregon, J. S. Diller, 470, 477 Crawford (J. H.), Summer Days for Winter Evenings, 387 Creighton (Dr. Charles), the Physiology of Glycogen, 303 Critic Criticised, a, Prof. John Trowbridge, the Reviewer, 248 Critical Point Theory, the, P. de Heen, 614 Croll (James), Autobiographical Sketch of, J. C. Irons, 362 Crooke (W.), the Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India, 577 Crookes (Mr.), Lucium no Element, 110 Crookes (Dr. William, F.R.S.), the Diamond Mines of Kim- berley, 519 Crookshank (E. M.), a Text-book of Bacteriology, 313 Crova (M.), Actinometric Observations on Mount Blanc, 143 Cross (C. F.), Carbohydrates of Barley Straw, 93 Cross and Bevan, Cellulose : an Outline of the Chemistry of the Structural Elements of Plants, with reference to their Natural History and Industrial Uses, 241 Crystallisation according to Rule, Lord Kelvin, 382 j Crystals, Absorption of Ultra-violet Light by, V. Agafonoff, 350 Crystals, New Method for producing Transparent, Ch. de Watteville, 431 Crystals : a Mechanical Cause of Homogeneity of Structure and Symmetry, William Barlow, 477 F a Crystals, Liquid, Dr. Lehmann’s, Prof. H. A. Miers, BABES. 222 Gulteaen of Woad, W. H. Wheeler, 79; Rosa M. Barrett, 79; A. C. G. Cameron, 155; H. Franklin Parsons, 198 Cumming (L.), the Pound as a Force, and the _Expression of Concrete Quantities generally, 126; the Distance of the Visible Horizon, 198 Ae Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, &c., in the British Museum, L. W. King, 243 r Cunningham (J. T.), Measurements of Crabs, ror ; the Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, 361; the Discovery of the Larva of the Common Eel, 467 Curious Purple Patches, 155 2 Curran (Rev. J. M.), Glaciation in Australia, 240 Current Subjects, New Thoughts on, Rev. J. A. Dewe, 507 Currents in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Survey of the Tides and, 9 ; Curved Knives, the Antiquity of certain, Dr. Otis T. Mason, 534; W. F. Sinclair, 581 Cylindrical Shell, Equilibrium of a, Thos. Alexander, 366 Cytology : Die Morphologie und Physiologie des Pflanzlichen Zellkernes, Prof. Dr. A. Zimmerman, 147; the Cell in Development and Inheritance, Edmund B, Wilson, Prof. E- A. Schafer, F.R.S., 530 Dahlia, the. its History and Cultivation, 533 Dairy, the Book of the, W. Fleischmann, 122 Dakyns (J. R.), Snow Buntings, 101 Dangeard (P. A.), Calécéum populnewm a pure Fungus, 207 Dansac-Chassagne Colour Photograph Process, the, 564 - Dantec (Felix Le), La déterminisme biologique et la Personnalite Consciente, 557 Dark Light, M. Perrigot, 624 f ' Darwin (Charles): the Letters of, Francis Darwin, F.R.S. , 196; Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection, Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S., Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S., 289 Darwin (Francis, F.R.S.), on the Ascent of Water in Trees, 19; a Visit to an English Woad Mill, 36; the Letters of XiV L[hdex Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 Charles Darwin, 196; Injection of Intercellular Spaces of Elodea Leaves, 526 Darzens (Georges), Molecular Entropy, 143; Anethol Deriva- tives, 504; Latent Heats of Evaporation and Law of Van der Waals, 527 Davenport (C. B.), Study of Correlated Variation in Swine, 471 David (Prof.), Remarkable Radiolarian Rock from Tamworth, New South Wales, 72; Paleozoic Radiolaria in New South Wales, 191 Davidis (E.), New Hydrazine Sugar Derivatives, 14 Davidoff (M. von), Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen einschliesslich der Mikroskopischen Technik, 74 Davies (Benjamin), Extension of the Visible Spectrum, 33 Davis (W. A.), 3/-Bromo-8-Naphthol, 165; Morphotropic Relations of B-Naphthol Derivatives, 166 Davison (Dr. Charles), Distribution of Accessory Shocks of Great Japanese Earthquake of 1891, 93; the Earthquake, 179; the Pembroke Earthquake of 1892-3, and their con- nection with Faults, 311 Davy (Humphry), Poet and Philosopher, T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 217 Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, the, 208 Dawson (Sir J. William, F.R.S.), Relics of Primeeval Life, 484 Day (H. D.), Residual Viscosity and Thermal Expansion, 92 Dead, Marriage of the, Kumagusu Minakata, 224 Deaf Mutism, Dr. J. K. Love, 550 Dean (Bashford), Embryonic Series of Adedlostomum, 371 Debacles, Bog Slides and, G. Henry Kinahan, 268 Deecke (Dr. W.), Death of, 277 Deep-Sea Fishes of the Northern Atlantic, 559 Defacqz (Ed.), Reduction of Wolfram by Carbon in Electric Furnace, 239 Definite Variations, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 439 Degrees in Science, Durham, 295 Dehérain (P. P.), Reduction of Nitrates in Arable Earth, 383 Delépine (Marcel), New Method of Preparing Primary Amines, 282 Demerliac (R.), Variations of Melting-point with Pressure, 287 Denisenko (Dr.), Wart-wort (Chelzdonzum majus) Sap as remedy for Cancer, 60 Denning (W. F.), the Leonid Meteor Shower, 1896, 54, 1533 Shooting Stars of January 2, 247 Desgrez (M.), Composition of Gases evolved from Bagnoles de VOrne Mineral Water, 167 Deslandres (M.), Total Solar Eclipse of August 9, 1896, 235 Dewe (Rev. J. A.), New Thoughts on Current Subjects, 507 Diamond Mines of Kimberley, the, Dr. William Crookes, IPRS 55 Sue) Diamond, Transformation into Graphite in Crookes’ Tube of, Henri Moissan, 551 Diatoms, the Growth of, G. C. Whipple, 83 Dictionary of Birds, a, Prof. Alfred Newton, 505 Dielectrics, Capacity and Residual Change of Dielectrics as Affected by Temperature and Time, J. Hopkinson, F.R.S., and E, Wilson, 381 Diller (J. S.), Crater Lake, Oregon, 470, 477 Dines (W. H.), Relations between Cold Periods and Anti- cyclones in England, 623 Dinosaurs of North America, the, Othniel Charles Marsh, 463 Diphtheria Anti-toxin, a New, Dr. Smirnow, 597 Diphtheria Bacilli in Milk, Prof. Schottelius, 301 Disease, Oyster Culture in Relation to, Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 105, 154; G. H. Baxter, 154 Disease, Wasted Records of, Chas. E. Paget, 414 Disease, the Function of, in the Struggle for Existence, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 534 Diselectrification by Phosphorus, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 6, 155; Profs. Elster and Geitel, 155 Diselectrification of Solid Dielectrics produced by Rontgen Rays and by Flame, on Apparent and Real, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smoland, Dr. J. C. Beattie, 472 Dissociation into Ions, the Theory of, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 150; W. C. D. Whetham, 151, 606; E. F. Herroun, 152 Diurnal Movements of Stars, Refraction and the Apparent, Dr. A. A. Rambaut, 592 Divers (E.), Economical Preparation of Hydroxylamine Sul- phate, 93; Reduction of Nitrosulphates, 93 Dolbear (Prof. A. E.), Mechanical Conceptions of Electrical Phenemena, 65 Dollen (Wilhelm), Death of, 443 Dolman (Frederick), Dr. Nansen: the Man and His Work, 507 Dongier (R.), Variation of Accidental Double Refraction of Quartz with Direction of Compression, 263 Donkin (Bryan), the Value of the Steam-Jacket Experiment on Locomotive Engine, 44; Heat Transmission from Surface Condensation through Metal Cylinders, 44 Doppel-salzen, Vorlesungen iiber Bildung und Spaltung von, Prof. J. H. Van ’t Hoff, 507 Dorn (E.), Visibility of Rontgen Rays, 524 Double-Star Measures, 373, 516; R. G. Aitken, 280 Dougal (M. D.), Effect of Heat on Aqueous Solutions of Chrome Alum, 93 Dowsett (Alfred), Death and Obituary Notice of, 81 Draper (David), S¢g7//aria and Glossopterés in South Africa, 550 Drawing, Model, and Shading from Casts, T. C. Barfield, 52 Dreyer (Friedrich), Studien zu Methodenlehre und Erkennt- nisskritik, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 1 Droog (Dr. de), Alkaloids in Orchids, 260 Dresera rotundifolia, Miss Lily Huie on the Changes in the Tentacle of, produced by Feeding with Egg Albumen, 22 Drude (P.), the Theory of Stationary Electric Waves along Wires, 309 Drummond (Prof. Henry), Death and Obituary Notice of, 468 Dublin Academy, 95 Dublin Royal Society, 190, 335; 453 Dubois (Louis), Action of Currents of High Frequency on Virulence of Streptococcus. 576 Dubois (R.), Luciferase, 24 Ducks, Velocity of, Measured by Triangulation, Helm Clayton, 278 Dunstan (Prof. Wyndham R., F.R.S.), the Work of the Scientificand Technical Department{ofsthe Imperial Institute, 64 Dunstan (W. R.), Action of Alkyl Haloids on Aldoxines and Ketoxines, 526 Duperray (C.), Optical Properties of Glass Cylinder in Rapid Rotation in Magnetic Field, 161 Duplay (Simon), Modifications of Nutrition in Cancerous Subjects, 168 Dupont (J.), French Essence of Roses, 48 . Durham, North-east, Geology of, D. Woolacott, 605 Durham Degrees in Science, 295, 343 Durham Science Degrees, Rev. Henry Palin-Gurney, 318 Durrant (R. G.), Action of Oxidising Agents on Cobaltous Salts in presence of Alkali Bicarbonates, 310 Durston (A. J.), Water-Tube Boilers in Powerful and Terrible, 571 Dust, Red, of Doubtful Origin, J. M. Yates, 508 Dutto (Dr. U.), Observations with Dr. Arsonval’s Calorimeter on Marmots, &c., 60 Dynamics: Studies in Chemical Dynamics, J. H. van °t Hoff, 98; the Force of a Pound, Prof. John Perry, ERS zoe Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 223; Prof. A. M. Worthington, F.R.S., 247; Dr. T. W. Wright, 270; Acceleration, Rev. Edward Geoghegan, O.J L., 271; on Mass, Dr. M. F. O'Reilly, 317 ; Dynamical Units, M. F. Jackson, 3175 Prof. Geo. Fras. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 389, 439; the Force ofa Ton, 365, 415; Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 365 Earth, a New Speculation on the Past and Future Temperature of the Sun and, 77 Earth, the Gravitation Constant and the Mean Density of the, Dr. Franz Richarz and Dr. Otto Krigar-Menzel, 296 Earth and its Story, the, a First Book of Geology, Prof. Angelo Heilprin, 316 Earthquakes : Earth Tremors at Edinburgh between August 25 and September 6, Thomas Heath, 4; Icelandic Earthquake recorded at Paris. Th. Moureaux, 4; Earthquake in Sweden, 160; the Earthquake of December 17, Dr. Charles Chree, 178; J. Lloyd Bozward, 178; Dr. C. Davison, 179 ; George J. Burch, 180; Earthquake at Kishm, 276; Earthquake in Epirus, 299 ; Earthquakes and Faults, Dr. Charles Davison, 311; Two Unfelt Earthquakes, Prof. John Milne, F.R.S., 390; Thomas Heath, 439; Prof. G. Gerland, 558 Ebert (Prof. H.), Guide pour le Soufflage du Verre, 388 ; Mag- _ netic Fields of, Force, 579 Eclairage aux Gaz, aux Huiles, aux Acides, Gras, &c., Prof. J. Lefévre, 388 Supplement to ate June 17, 1897 Index XAG Eclipses: Total Solar Eclipse of August 9, 1896, 447; M. Deslandres, 235 Eddies, Celestial, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 249 Edinburgh: Earth Tremors at Edinburgh between August 25 and September 6, Thomas Heath, 4; the New Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 88 ; Edinburgh Royal Society, 190, 263, 334, 382, 431, 503, 550, 599; Edinburgh Mathematical Society, 503, 575 Education: the Newest German Polytechnic, Sir Philip Magnus, 34; the Work of the Scientific and Technical De- partment of the Imperial Institute, Prof. Wyndham R. Dunstan, F.R.S., 62 ; Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, Isabel Maddison, Helen W. Thomas, Emma S. Wines, 100; the Position and Work of the Central Technical College, 284 ; the Ziirich Federal Polytechnic School, 537; the Resources and Needs of Cambridge University, 612 Edwards (James), the Hemiptera-Homoptera of the British Islands, 389 Eel, Common, the Discovery of the Larva of the, J. T. Cunning- ham, 467 Eel, the Electric, J. J. Quelch, 508 Effect of Electrical Discharge on Photographic Plate, James TPAnson, 581 Eggers (Baron H.), the Asphalt Springs of El] Menito, 470 Egoroff (N.), Partial Polarisation of Luminous Rays under Influ- ence of Magnetic Field, 575 Egypt: Ancient Assyrian Bow found in Egypt, Henry Balfour, 71; Winter Climate of Egypt, Dr. L. Canney, 215; an Egyptian Reading Book for Beginners, E. A. Wallis Budge, 218 ; some Account of the Collection of Egyptian Antiquities in the possession of Lady Meux, of Theobald’s Park, Waltham Cross, E. A. Wallis Budge, 218 ; Plan to Generate Electricity at,the Nile Cataracts, 562; Recherches sur les Origines de Egypte, J. de Morgan, 578 Ekenstein (W. Alberda van), Chitosamzne, 455 El Menito, the Asphalt Springs of, Baron H. Eggers, 470 Electric Eel, the, J. J. Quelch, 508 Electricity : Diselectrification by Phosphorus, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 6; Profs Elster and Geitel, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 155 ; Discharge of Electricity by Phosphorus, J. R. Ashworth, 225; Hertz’s Miscellaneous Papers, 6 ; the Origin of Anti-kathodic Rays, P. De Heen, 13; Measuring Electro- lytic Conductivity by Continuous Currents, Prof. W. Stroud and J. B. Henderson, 23; Trevelyan Rockers, Mr. Apple- yard, 23; the X-Rays produced by a Wimshurst Ma- chinese 1; ea borer) 30)>) a eCorrection, 9 79is, _ Pro- duction of X-Rays, Dr. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 100; Influ- ence of Temperature and Pressure on Discharges by Roéntgen Rays, Jean Perrin, 119; Property of Rontgen Rays of inducing in Gases Power to discharge Electrified Bodies, Prof. E. Villari, 135 ; Electrostatic Dispersion of Réntgen Rays, Prof. Uno Panichi, 135; the Heating of Anodes in X-Ray Tubes, Walter Chamberlain, 198; Electrification of Air by Kontgen Rays, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 199 ; Dissociation of Neutral Elec- tricity produced in Gases by Rontgen Rays, Jean Perrin, 232; Annulment by Ozonation of Discharging Power created by Rontgen Rays in Air, Prof. E. Villari, 326; Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Kathode, Edward P. Thompson, 386; on the Conductive Effect produced in Air by R6ntgen Rays and by Ultra-Violet Light, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 343; Influence of Rontgen Rays on Explosive Distance of Electric Spark, M. Guggenheimer, 407; Discharge of Rontgen Rays, Jean Perrin, 454; a Powerful and Efficient Means of Driving X-Ray Tubes, Charles L. Norton, Ralph R. Lawrence, 460; on Apparent and Real Diselectrification - of Solid Dielectrics produced by Rontgen Rays and by Flame, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, Dr. J. C. Beattie, 472; on the Influence of Rontgen Rays in respect to Electric Conduction through Air, Paraffin, and Glass, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, and Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 498; the Effect of Réntgen Rays on Solid and Liquid Insulators, Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 606; Varying Electrostatic Stresses of Glass of Roéntgen Lamp, J. L. Thomas, 590; Simple Method of Separating Alternating Discharges in Vacuum Tubes, R. Hildebrand, 47; Foundations of Electrodynamics, E. Wiechert, 47; Concurrent Observations of Viscosity and Conductivity of Gelatinous Salt Solution, A. Griffiths, 47 ; Electrostatic Deflection of Kathode Rays, G. Jaumann, 47 ; E. Wiedemann, and G. C. Schmidt, 524; Photo-Electric Residual Action of Kathode Rays, J. Elster and H. Geitel, 2; Longitudinal Tension of Kathode Rays, M. Colard, 191; the Kathode Rays, Prof. J. J. Thompson, 453 ; Ex- periments with Two Kathodes, J. F. Tollenaar, 455 ; some Experiments with Kathode Rays, A. A. C. Swinton, 568 ; New Kathodie Apparatus, F. de Courmelles and G. Seguy, 600; Method of Measuring Temperature of Incandescent Lamps, P. Janet, 48; Measurement of Force acting on Non- Electrified Dielectric Liquids in Electric Field, H. Pellat, 48 ; Starting of Niagara Falls Machinery, 58 ; Mechanical Conceptions of Electrical Phenomena, Prof. A. E. Dolbear, 65 ; Absorption of Waves along Wires of Terminal Bridge, Mr. Bryan and Dr. Barton, 70; Interference Refractometer for Electric Waves, O. Wiedeburg, 92; Index of Water- Refraction for Electric Waves, Prof. D. Mazzotto, 300; the Theory of Stationary Electric Waves along Wires, P. Drude, 309 ; Effect of Capacity on Stationary Electrical Waves in Wires, Prof. W. B. Morton, 575; Rotations in Constant Electric Field, G. Quincke, 92 ; Helmholtz’s Absolute Electro- Dynamometer, K. Kahle, 92; the Cadmium Standard Cell, W. Jaeger and R. Wachsmuth, 92; Aluminium Amalgam, V. Biernacki, 92; Influence of Magnetisation on Electro- motive Force, U. Lala and A. Fournier, 95; Biedermann’s Electro-Physiologie, 99; Chemical Potentials of Metals, W. D. Bancroft, 110; Measurements of Electrolytic Dissociations of Organic Acids, H. Euler, 110; the Uranic Rays, H. Becquerel, 119, 454; an Error in Electro-magnetism, M. Vaschy, 191; Telegraphy without Wires, and the Guarding of Coast Lines by Electric Cable, Charles A. Stevenson, 197; Directed Electric Surface Conductivity, E. Braun, 214; Polarisation Phenomena in Vacuum Tubes, C. A. Mebius, 214; Electro-capillary Light, O. Schott, 214: Prof. Hermann’s Theory of Capillary Elec- trometer, G. J. Burch, 214; Photography by Impact of Dust-laden Current of Air, P. De Heen, 279; Treatment of High-tension Accumulators, L. Zehnder, 309; Dielectric Constants at Low Temperatures, R. Abegg, 309; Passage of Electricity through Gases, E. C. Baly, 309; Method of comparing Oscillations of Pendulums, with Aid of Electric Spark, G. Lippemann, 311 ; Absolute Electrometer for small Forces, MM. Pérot and Fabry, 327; Vertical Earth-air Electric Currents, Dr. L. A. Bauer, 327 ; Effect of surround- ing Gas-pressure on Temperature of Crater of Electric Arc, W. E. Wilson, F.R.S., and G. F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 332, 514; M. Guillaume, 514; the Constitution and Functions of Gases, the Nature of Radiance and the Law of Radiation, Severinus J. Corrigan, 386; the Effect of Magnetisation on the Nature of Light emitted by a Substance, Dr. P. Zeeman, 347 ; Death of Galileo Ferraris, 348; Rain-making by, Dr. W. Hentschel, 349; Fog-dispersal by, A. McAdie, 350; Dissipation from Conductor into Air, A. Oberbeck, 380; Point Discharge Potentials in Air and Hydrogen, K. Wesen- donck, 381; Discharge Rays, M. W. Hoffmann, 381 + Platinised Electrodes and Determinations of Resistance, F. Kohlrausch, 381; Electric Moment of Tourmaline, W. Voigt, 381; Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy, Prof. Ayrton, 403; Interferential Induction Balance, C. Barus, 406 ; the Jacques Cell, Messrs. Liebenow and Strasser, 420 ; Thermo-Electric Qualities of Liquid Metals, Beckit Burnie, 430; Electrolysis of Potassium Ethyl-Sulphone-Acetate, Prof. Crum Brown and Dr. Bolam, 431; on Electrical Equilibrium between Uranium and an Insulated Metal in its Neighbourhood, Lord Kelvin, F,R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 447; Electricity and Cloud-Formation in Gases, J. S. Townsend, 4533 the Universal Electrical Dictionary, 459; Electrolysis a Cause of Damage to Pipes, 468; Electric Absorption of Nitrogen by Carbon Compounds, M. Berthelot, 503 + Spark Discharges and Hertz Oscillator, M. Swynge- dauw, 503; Action of Silent Discharge in Gases, Emile Villari, 503; Practical Electrical Measurements, Ellis H. Crapper, 507; Effect on Plants of, A. S. Kinney, 514; De- monstration, of Course of Variable Currents, F. Braun, 524 ; Les Piles Electriques, Ch. Fabry, 5333 Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing, H. D. Wilkinsoa, Charles Bright, 553; Plan to Generate Electricity at the Nile Cataracts, 562 E Alternating Currents in Concentric Conductors, W. A. Price, 575; a Galvanometer Support, W. A. Price, 575 > Partial Polarisation of Luminous Rays under Influence of x vi In dex Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 Magnetic Field, N. Egoroff and N. Géorgiewsky, 575; New Cadmium Lamp for producing Interference Fringes, Maurice Hamy, 576; Electric Variation of High Atmospheric Regions in Fine Weather, G. le Cadet, 576; Action of Currents of High Frequency on Virulence of Streptococcus, Louis Dubois, 576; Effects of Electrical Discharge on Photographic Plates, James T’Anson, 5813; Electrical Vibrations of Mercury, Ernest Braun, 581; on Electrical Properties of Fumes Pro- ceeding from Flames and Burning Charcoal, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. Magnus Maclean, 592; Law of Discharge in Gas of Electrified Uranium, Henri Becquerel, 599; Das Wesen der Electricitat und des Magnetismus auf Grund eines Einheitlichen Substanzbegriffes, J. G. Vogt, 604; the Destruction of Carbon Anodes in Electrolysis of Oxygen- Evolving Electrolytes, Alfred Coehn, 616 Elger (T. G.), Death of, 299 Eliot (J.), the Hot Winds of Northern India, 40 Elliott (Prof., F.R.S.), Segar’s Theorem, 407 Elliot (Mr. Scott), on the Influence of Habitat upon Plant- Habit, 22 Ellipticity of the Disc of Mars, the, Prof. W. Schur, 421 Ellis (W. G. P.), on the Life-History of a Fungus which is the Cause of a Parasitic Disease in the Liverwort (Pe//a epiphylla), 20 Elster (Prof. J.), Photo-electric Residual Action of Kathode Rays, 92; Diselectrification of Phosphorus, 155 Embryology: Grundriss der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Mens- chen und der Saugethiere, Dr. Oscar Schultze, 292; the Embryology of the Nautilus, Arthur Willey, 402 Emtage (W. T. A.), Light, 77 ; Encyclopédie Scientifique des Aide-Mémoires : les Piles Elec- triques, Ch. Fabry, 533; les Machines Thermiques, Prof. Aimé Witz, 533; les Gaz de l’Atmosphére, M. H. Henriet, 533 Engineering ; some Engineering Advances in Sixty Years, J. Wolfe Barry, F.R.S., 17; the Value of the Steam Jacket : Experiment on Locomotive Engine, Prof. T. H. Beare and Bryan Donkin, 44; Heat-Transmission from Surface Con- densation through Metal Cylinders, Lieut.-Colonel English and Bryan Donkin, 44; Breakdown of Stationary Engines, Michael Longridge, 45 ; the Motor-Car Show, 81 ; the Bazin Roller Boat, 109, 379; Fascine Training and Protection Works, 156; Trial of Hon, Charles Parson's Steam Turbine Engine as applied to Marine Propulsion, 181 ; Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, B, Blount and A. G. Bloxam, 267; the Mechanics of Pumping Machinery, Dr. Julius Weisbach, Prof. Gustav Herrmann, 364; Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 44, 377; the Loss of Strength in Iron and Steel by Use, Thomas Andrews, F.R.S., 418 ; a History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire, W. H. Wheeler, 436; the Mond Gas-producing Plant, H. A. Humphreys, 497 ; Hydraulic Machinery, R. G. Blaine, 556; Plan to Generate poe, at the Nile Cataracts, 562; the Simplon Tunnel, 17 England, a History of Gardening in, Hon. Alicia Amherst, 75 English Woad-Mill, a Visit to an, Francis Darwin, F.R.S., Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 36 English (Lieut.-Colonel), Heat-Transmission from Surface Con- densation through Metal Cylinders, 44 Enjoy (Paul d’), Tailed Men in Indo-China, 82 Entombment, Final, of Pasteur, the, 204 Entomology : Prestwichia aquatica, F. Enock, 47 ; Aberration of Tephrosia bistortata and Zygena exulans, Mr. Tutt, 47 ; the Tsetse Fly, Surgeon-Major Bruce, 47 ; Entomological Society, 47, 70, 142, 167, 333, 382, 430, 479, 526, 599; a Viviparous Ephemerid (Chleopss diptera), M. Causard, 48 ; Jumping Cocoons, Dr. D. Sharp, 65; AZélampias from Dauphiné Alps, Mr. Tutt, 70; the Beetroot Parasite, Paul Vuillemin, 72; Termites and Fungus, J. H. Hart, 81; the Ceylon Coccidz, Ernest Green, 142; Yellow Butterfly- catching Spider from Orotava, Bethune-Baker, 142; Bristle- eating Moth, Prof. Meldola, 142; Formalin as Preventive of Mould, Mr. Blandford, 142; the Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Chas. G. Barrett, 222 ; Household Insects of United States, L. O. Howard and C. L. Marlatt, 233; the Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burmah, 245; Drunken Habits of Humble Bees, J. Ll. Williams, 300; Insects and Colour in Flowers, Prof. F. Plateau, 300 ; Cotton and Insects, L. O. Howard, 301; Clothes Moths and Cold Storage, Dr. L. O. Howard, 327; the Hemiptera- Homoptera of the British Islands, James Edwards, 389 ; the Colours of the Brazilian Diamond Beetle Scales, Dr. Garbasso, 444; Insects and Flower Scents, Prof. F. Plateau, 444; the Pigment of Lepidoptera Scales, A. G. Mayer, 469 ; the Introduction of Beneficial Insects into the Hawaiian Islands, R. C. L. Perkins, 499 ; the Larvz of British Butter- flies and Moths, William Buckler, 460 ; the Prothoracic Gland of Dicranula virula, O. H. Latter, 479; Antennophorus uhlmanni and Lasius méxtus, Charles Janet, 504; Series of Phigalia pedaria, Mr. Butterfield, 526 ; Colour-variation in Grasshoppers, Mr. Burr, 526; Report of Observations of Injurious Insects and Common Farm Pests during the year 1896, with Methods of Prevention and Remedy, Eleanor A. Ormerod, 557 ; Silk Covering of Tephrosia bistortata Ova, Mr. Tutt, 599; Farm and Garden Insects, Prof. Wm. Somerville, 605; Four Dermestidee become Vegetarians, 615 ; on the Colour and Colour-Patterns of Moths and Butterflies, Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, 618 Enock (F.), Prestwechta aquatica, 47 Epirus, Earthquake in, 299 Epistemology of Natural Science and Mr. Karl Pearson, the, Prof. Paul Volkmann, 342; Prof. Karl Pearson, FE. RSs 343 Epstein (Boleslas), Action of Bromine and Hydrobromic Acid on Ethyl Acetate, 551 Equilibrium of a Cylindrical Shell, Thos. Alexander, 366 Essays of George John Romanes, 340 Etard (A.), the Spectrum of Chlorophyll, 95 Ethnography : Description of the Ethnographical Researches of v. A. Sierochevsky on the Yakouti, 97 ; Ethnography of New Georgia, Lieut. B. T. Somerville, 143 Ethnology: the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, UrS.AS; 9; the Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, H. Ling Roth, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 128 ; Death of Kristian Bahnson, 276; Researches on the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern Uniced States, Henry G. Mercer, 459; Curved Knives, Dr. Otis T. Mason, 5343 W. F, Sinclair 581; Recherches sur les Origines de Egypte, J. de Morgan, 578; Mongolia and the Mongols, A. Pozdnéetf, 603. Etruscology: Death of Dr. W. Deecke, 277; the Magnetisa- tion of Etruscan Vases, Dr. G. Folgheraiter, 418 Ettingshausen (Baron Constantin), Death and Obituary Notice of, 370 Euler (H.), Measurements of Electrolytic Dissociations of Organic Acids, 110 Evans {C. de B.), Tertiary Benzenoid Amines, 166 ; Enantio- morphic Forms of Ethylpropylpiperidonium Iodide, 502 Evans (R. C. T.), Immunity from Snake Bite, 367 Evaporation and Van der Waal’s Law, Latent Heats of, George Darzens, 527 Everman (B. W.), Spawning Habits of Redfish and Chinook Salmon, 161 Evolution : the Inheritance of Specific Characters, F. A. Bather ; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 29 ; Specific Characters, Prof ae D. A. Cockerell, 414; the Utility of Specific Characters, Rev. John T. Gulick, 508; Measurements of Crabs, H. Thompson, 30, 224; Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 305 J. T. Cunningham, tor; J. A. Cobb, 155; the Letters of Charles Darwin, Francis Darwin, F.R.S., 196; on Certain Vestigial Characters in Man, Dr. Walter Kidd, 236; Inter- mediate Links between Man and Lower Animals, Dr. Munro, 263 ; Is Natural Selection the Creator of Species? Duncan Graham, 365 ; Definite Variations, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 439 ; the Cell in Development and Inheritance, Edmund B. Wilson, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 530 3 Organic Selection, Prof, J. Mark Baldwin, 558; the Clue to the Ages, Ernest Judson Page, 580; Rate of Racial Change that accompanies Different Degrees of Severity in Selection, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 605 Examinations, Technical, Report on, 22 Exhibition, Annual, of New York Academy of Sciences, 589 Existence, the Function of Disease in the Struggle for, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 534 Experience: a Chapter of Prolegomena, Rey. Wilfrid Rich- mond, 4 Experimental Science, the ‘Lincei” and, Signor Todaro, 138 Bxploration of the Caucasus, the, Douglas W. Freshfield, 440 Explosions, Colliery and Coal-dust, Donald M. D. Stuart, 597 Explosive Properties of Acetylene, the, Prof. A. Smithells, 42 Explosives : Obituary Notice of Alfred Nobel, 232 Supplement to eo June v7, 1807 Ludex XV Extraction of an Alcohol-producing Ferment from Yeast, the, Dr. E. Buchner, 442 Extraction of Gold by Chemical Methods, the, Dr. T. K. Rose, 448 Fabry (Ch.), Absolute Electrometer for Small Forces, 327 ; Measurement of Coefficient of Viscosity of Air, 383; Les Piles Electriques, 533 Family, the Formation of the, Prof. Ernst Grosse, Edward B. Tylor, F.R.S., 51 Farm and Garden Insects, Prof. Wm. Somerville, 605 Farmer (Prof. Bretland), on the Present Position of Cell-division Problems, 20 Farnum (J. E.), Manikaland, 515 ‘*Farthest North,” Fridtjof Nansen’s, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 393 Fascine Training and Protection Works, 156 Fault, a Gigantic Geological, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 581 Faune, Changes in, due to Man’s Agency, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 462 Faye (H.), True and False Waterspout, 383 ; the Mount Etna Observatory, 599 Fens: a History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire, W. H. Wheeler, 436 : Fenton (H. J. H.), New Synthesis in Sugar Group, 502 Ferment, the Extraction of an Alcohol-producing, from Yeast, Dr. E. Buchner, 442 Fernando Po, D. E. Bonelli, 205 Ferns, on the Enumeration of Spore-mother-cells and Spores as a Basis of Comparison of, Prof. Bower, F.R.S., 21 ; on some Peculiar Cases of Apogamous Reproduction in, Mr. Lang, 21 Ferraris (Galileo), Death of, 348 Ferriére (Emile), Le Cause Premiére d’aprés les données Expérimentales, 533 Fibres, Synaptic, L. Ranvier, 454 Field Columbian Museum: Collecting Expeditions, 471 Fire, Siemens’ Domestic Gas, Sir H. T. Wood, 6 Fischer (Prof. Emil), Relation between the Optically Active and Inactive Forms of Methylmannoside, 30 Fishes : the Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, J. T. Cunningham, W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 361 ; Nocturnal and Diurnal Changes in the Colours of certain Fishes and of the Squid (Zo/zgo), with Notes on their Sleeping Habits, A. E. Verrill, 451; the Discovery of the Larva of the Common Eel, J. T. Cunningham, 467 ; Deep-sea Fishes of the Northern Atlantic, 559 Fitzgerald’s (Mr.) Ascent of Mt. Aconcagua, 277 Fitzgerald (E. A.) Climbs in the New Zealand Alps, 102 Fitzgerald (Prof. Geo. Fras., F.R.S.), Effect of Surrounding Gas-Pressure on Temperature of Crater of Electric Arc, 332, 514; Dynamical Units, 389, 439 Flames and Burning Charcoal, on Electrical Properties of Fumes proceeding from, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. Magnus Maclean, 592 Flammarion (Camille), Mists on Mars, 235; Lunar Photo- graphs, 373 Fleischmann (W.), the Book of the Dairy, 122 Fleming (Mrs.), Stars with Peculiar Spectra, 84 Fletcher (Thos.), the Laboratory use of Acetylene Gas, 535 Fleurent (E.), Chemical Method of Valuing Wheat Flour, 71 Flight, Sailing, S. E. Peal, 271 Flight of Gulls in the Wake of Steamers, the, F. W. Headley, 390 Flints, Worked, from Cromer Torest Beds, W. J. L. Abbott, 300 Fleuriais (Admiral), Gyroscopic Horizon, E. Guyon, 47; A. Schwerer, 48 Floating Mercury on Water, C. Stromeyer, 53 Flowering and Flowerless Plants, the Discovery of another Connecting Link between, 396 Flowers, How to Study Wild, Rev. Geo. Henslow, 222 Fluids: Decrease with Diminishing Volume of 4 in Equation of, Prof. van der Waals, 192; Capillary Ascent between Two Concentric Cylindrical Tubes, Dr. Verschaffelt, 192 Flying Bullets, 79 Fog-dispersal by Electricity, A. McAdie, 350 Folgheraiter (Dr. G.), Method of Estimating Ancient Magnetic Dip by Means of Baked Clay, 40; Terrestrial Magnetism in pias Epoch, 206 ; the Magnetisation of Etruscan Vases, 41 Folk-lore: the Laughable Stories collected by Mar Gregory John Bar-Hebreeus, Maphrian of the East, E. A. Wallis Budge, 98; the Buddhist Praying Wheel: a Collection of Material bearing upon the Symbolism of the Wheel and Circular Movements in Custom and Religious Ritual, William Simpson, 171; Marriage of the Dead, Kumagusu Minakata, 224; St. Medard’s Day and Rain, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 258; the Legendary History of Funafuti, Ellice Group, Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., 353 the Popular Religion and Folk- lore of Northern India, W. Crooke, 577 Fomm (L.), Wave-length of Rontgen Rays, 47; Fomm’s Experiments on Wave-Length of X-Rays, D. G. Tiddens, 552 Foote (Warren M.), a New Meteorite, 309; a Meteorite from New Mexico, 572 Forbes (Dr. Henry O., F.R.S.), Sir William MacGregor’s Journey Across New Guinea, 247 Force, Units of, C. S. Jackson, 198 Force, Magnetic Fields of, Prof. H. Ebert, 579 Force of One Pound, the, Thomas Wallace Wright, Prof. John Perry, F.R.S., 49, 176; Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 223; Prof. A. M. Worthington, F.R.S., 247; Dr. T. W. Wright, 270 Force of a Ton, the, 415; Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 395 Forde (H.C.), Death of, 417 Forest and Stream, the Story of, James Rodway, 246 Forest Land, the Polar Limit of True, K. Roder, 349 Forestry: Death of Prof. Franz Baur, 348; Death of Dr. Hermann von Nordlenger, 348 Formalin a Preventive. of Mould, Mr. Blandford, 142 Formation of the Family, the, Prof. Ernst Grosse, Edward B. Tylor, F.R.S., 51 Formule for Computing Wave-lengths, 137 Forrest, the James, Lecture; Bacteriology, Dr. Woodhead, 517 Forster (M. O.), Methylcamphorimine, 406 Fossil Cone, Chezrostrobus, a New, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 333 Foster (Pref. M., Sec.R.S.), Obituary Notice of Henry Newell Martin, 56 Foundations of Coral Reefs, Rear-Admiral W. J. L. Wharton, C.B., F.R.S., 390 , Fournier (A.), Influence of Magnetisation on Electromotive Forces, 95 " Fournier (J.), Determination of Ratio of Two Specific Heats of Acetylene, 335 France, Bulletin de la Societé Astronomique de, 62, 592 ; Astro- nomical Society of France, 208 Franchimont (Prof.), the Fusing-point of Organic Bodies, 192 ; Nitro Group of Nitramines, 551 ; Frankland (Prof. Percy, F.R.S.), the Pasteur Memorial Lecture of the Chemical Sociéty, 518 Frankland (Mrs. Percy), Bacterial Water Purification, 163 ; Dr. Yersin and Plague Virus, 378 , Franz (S. J.), Physical Conditions of Fatigue in Reading, 82 Franz Josef Land, the Austro-Hungarian Map of, Prof. Ralph Copeland, 29; Arthur Montefiore-Brice, 52 Freshfield (Douglas W.), the Exploration of the Caucasus, 440, 35, 580 FroRic.), Fatty Materials in Abydos Tombs, 55! Froc (Rev. L.), the Typhoon of July 22-25, 1896, 351 F Froud (Lieut. A. G.),a Case of Abnormal Magnetic Attraction, 127 Fruit-Culture for Amateurs, S. T. Wright, 340 Fry (Agnes), Position of Boughs in Summer and Winter, 198 Fry (Right Hon. Sir Edw., F.R.S), on the Alternations of Generations in Plant Life, 422 Fur and Feather Series, Red Deer, Natural History, Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 195 Fucus vesiculosus, the Additional Colouring Matter of, Clarence Waterer, 508 Fuel and Refractory Materials, A. Humboldt Sexton, 222 _ Funafuti, Ellice Group, the Legendary History of, ProkW. J- Sollas, F.R.S., 353 ; the Coral Reef at Funafuti, Prof. Sydney J. Hickson, F.R.S., 439; Report on the Coral Reef at Funafuti, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Prof. Sollas, Beno 5 G. Sims 73 é rind (Dr.), Anti-cholera Vaccination in India, 445 Fungus, Termites and, J. H. Hart, 81 Fungus, Calictzum popudneum a Pure, P. A. Dangeard, 207 Furneaux (W.), Life in Ponds and Streams, 265 XVI aloisian Algebra, Heinrich Weber, 481 Galton (Francis), Interplanetary Signalling, 39; Note on Spurious Correlation, 429; Rate of Racial Change that accompanies Different Degrees of Severity in Selection, 605 Galvanometers, &c., Apparatus for Eliminating Vibrations from, Prof. W. H. Julius, 83 Game, Big, Preserve established in British Central Africa, 182 Garbasso (Dr.), the Colours of the Brazilian Diamond Beetle Scales, 444 Gardening: a History of Gardening in England, Hon. Alicia Amherst, 75 Gardiner (J. H.), Sciagraphs of British Batrachians and Reptiles, 539 H Garaner (J .), Halogen Derivatives of Camphor, 93 Garrett (T. A.), a Nickel Stress Telephone, 574 Garrigou (F.), Organic Material of Tulle-Haut Mineral Water, 96 Gas Analysis: Tabellen fiir Gasanalysen, Prof. Dr. G. Lunge, 460; Les Gaz de ’ Atmosphere, M. H. Henriet, 533 Gas-producing Plant, the Mond, II. A. Humphreys, 497 Gas Fire, Siemens’ Domestic, Sir H. T. Wood, 6 Gases: Gases enclosed in Crystalline Rocks and Minerals, Prof. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S., 3813; the Constitution and Function of Gases ; the Nature of Radiance and the Law of Radiation, Severinus J. Corrigan, 386; the Gases of the Atmosphere, William Ramsay, F.R.S., 435 Gatke (Heinrich), Death of, 348 Gatty Marine Laboratory at St. Andrews University, the Opening Ceremony of the, 43 Geissler Tubes, Relative Temperatures in, R. W. Wood, 274 Geitel (Prof. H.), Photo-Electric Residual Action of Kathode Rays, 92; Diselectrification of Phosphotus, 155 aiGeminorum, the Spectroscopic Binary, A. Belopolsky, 352 Generations in Plant Life, on the Alternations of, Right Hon. Sir Edw. Fry, F.R.S., 422 Geodesy: the Triangulation of Java, Prof. J. A. C. Oudemans, 455 Geodetic Survey of South Africa, the, Sir C. W. Wilson, K.C.B., HARES 20226 Geoghegan (Rey. Edward), Acceleration, 271 Geography : Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land, Prof. Ralph Copeland, 29; Arthur Montefiore-Brice, 52; Annales de Géographie, No. 23, Bibliographie de Année, 1895, 51 ; Sven Hedin’s Travels in Central Asia, 58, 589; Izvestia of East Siberian Society, 92 ; Death of W. F. Ainsworth, 108 ; Return of Lieut. Hourst’s Niger Expedition, 133 ; Sir Wil- liam MacGregor’s Recent Journey across New Guineaand Re- ascent of Mount Victoria, J. P. Thompson, 157 ; Dr. Henry O. Forbes, 247; Fernando Po, D. E. Bonelli, 205; Death of Vivien de St. Martin, 231; the Pamir Country, MM. Olouf- senand Philipsen, 278 ; the Australian Snow Country, John Plummer, 301; Sir Martin Conway’s Crossing of Spitz- bergen, 306; Physical Conditions of Ocean East of Australia, Dr. John Murray, 334; Geography of Africa, Edward Hea- wood, 364 ; Travels in West Africa, Mary H. Kingsley, 416 ; the Caucasus, Douglas W. Freshfield, 440, 535, 580; Pioneer Work in the New Zealand Alps. Arthur E. Harper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 458; Lehrbuch der Erdkunde fiir hohere Schulen, Dr. Willie Ule, 459; the Asphalt Springs of El Menito, Baron H. Eggers, 470; Crater Lake, Oregon, J. S. Diller, 470, 477 ; Manikaland,]. E. Farnum, 515 ; Cabot and Vasco da Gama, Edward Salmon, 541; Roborovsky’s Tibet Expedition, P. K. Kozloff, 541; the History of Geo- graphy, C. R. Beazley, 555; Royal Geographical Society’s Annual Honour Award, 563; Mongolia and the Mongols, A. Pozdnéetf, 603 Geology ; Geology of Greenland, Prof, R. S. Tarr, 13; Vege- table Impressions in Old Volcanic Debris of Phira (Santorin) Island, A. Lacroix, 24 ; Geological Work of Bacteria, Dr. B. Renault, 40; the Formation of Sedimentary Phosphate of Lime Deposits, A Carnot, 71; the Formation of Zeolites, A. Lacroix, 71; Remarkable Radiolarian Rock from Tamworth, N.S.W., Prof. David, 72; Grundriss einer exacten Schop- fungs-Geschichte, Hermann Habenicht, 75 ; a New Specula- tion on the Past and Future Temperature of the Sun and Earth, 77 ; Missourite, W. H. Weed and L. V. Pirsson, 91 ; Amphibian Footprints from the Devonian, 92; Notes on Sections near Top of Furka Pass, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 93 ; Geological Studies of Sudbury Nickel District (Canada), Dr. T. L. Walker, 93; Geological Society, 93, 166, 189, 311, 358, 407, 478, 502, 549, 623; Suggested Index Supplement to Nature June 17, 1807 Reef-boring at the Bermudas and elsewhere, W. Saville- Kent, 101 ; Elementary Geology, G. S. Boulger, 123 : Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada, 124; Le Pétrole,. l’Asphalte et le Bitume, au point de vue Geologique, A. Jac- card, 169; Petroleum, a Treatise on the (seographical Dis- tribution and Geological Occurrence of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Boverton Redwood, 169; the Horn Expedition to- Central Australia, 185; another Possible Cause of Glacial Epoch, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 189; Paleozoic Radio- laria in New South Wales, Prof. David, 191 ; Subdivisions of Carboniferous Series in Great Britain, Dr. W. Hind, 215 3 Volcanic Bombs in Schalsteins of Nassau, Prof. E. Kayser, 215; Glaciation in Australia, Rev. J. M. Curran, 240; Bog-: Slides and Debacles, G. Henry Kinahan, 268 ; Rock Differen-- tiation, G. F. Becker, 308; the Pembroke Earthquakes of 1892-3 and their Connection with Faults, Dr. Charles Davison, 311; Changes of Level in Bermudas, Prof. R.S. Tarr, 311 ; the Earth and its Story, a First Book of, Prof. Angelo Heil- prin, 316; Death of Dr. E. A. B. Lundgren, 348; Glacial Phenomena of Varanger Fiord, Aubrey Strahan, 358; the Coral Reef at Funafuti, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., and Prof. Sollas. F.R.S., 373; Prof. Sydney J. Hick- son, F.R.S., 439; Foundations of Coral Reefs, Rear- Admiral W. J. L. Wharton, C.B., F.R.S., 390; Form- ation of Coral Reefs, Capt. W. Usborne Moore, 463 ;. Death of Dr. Bernhard Lundgren, 417 ; How Igneous Rocks intrude, Prof. I. C. Russell, 445 ; Geology of Slieve Gallion, Prof. G. A. J. Cole, 453; Crater Lake, Oregon, J. S. Diller, 470, 477 ; Arctic Sea Ice as Geological Instrument, R. S. Tarr, 476; the Rauenthal Serpentine, G. A. Raisin, 478; Two Granite Boulders from Betchworth Middle Chalk, W. P. D. Stebbing, 478; Coal-formation, W. S. Gresley, 479; the Hitchin Paleolithic Deposits and the Glacial Epoch, Clement Reid, 501; the Bonmahon Red Rocks, F. R. (es Reed, 502; Depth of Source of Larva, S. L. Lobley, 503; Deposits of Nile Delta, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R-S., 5483. Volcanic and other Rocks near Baluchistan, Afghan Frontier, Capt. A. H. McMahon, 549; S¢g//aria and Glossopterds in South Africa, A. C. Seward, 550; David Draper, 550 3. Glaciers of North America, Israel C. Russell, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 556; a Gigantic Geological Fault, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 581; Death of Dr. J. F. James, 589; Geology of North-east Durham, D. Woolacott, 605 ; Morte Slates of North Devon and West Somerset, Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., 623; the Glacio-Marine Drift of Vale of Clwyd, T. M. Reade, 623 Geometry: Death of Dr. F. Buka, 277 Geomorphology: Grundriss einer exacten Schépfungs-Ges- chichte, Hermann Habenicht, 76 Géorgiewsky (N.), Partial Polarisation of Luminous Rays under Influence of Magnetic Field, 575 Gérard (E.), a Vegetable Lipase, 407 Gerber (C.), Influence of Food on Respiratory Quotient of Moulds, 312 Gerlach (Dr. Josef von), Death of, 277 Gerland (Prof. G,), Unfelt Earthquakes, 558 Germany : the Newest German Polytechnic, Sir Philip Magnus, 34 Getting, Gold: a Practical Treatise for Prospectors, Miners and Students, J. C. F. Johnson, 315 : Gibbs (Prof. J. Willard), Semi-permeable Films and Osmotic Pressure, 461 Giberne (Agnes), the Wonderful Universe, 246 Gibier (Paul), New Method of collecting Venom of Serpents, 168 ; Gigantic Geological Fault, a, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 81 Giglioli (Prof. Henry A.), Heterocephalus glaber in North Somaliland, 440 Giglioli (Prof. Italo), Chinese Yeast, 508 . Gilchrist (T. C.), Dermatitis due to X-Rays, 541 Gilles (W. S.), Pinophanic Acid, 502 Ginestous (M.), a Red Rain at Bizerta, Tunis, 191 : Girard (Aimé), Composition of /’anéx melanocarpa Fruits, 71 Glacial Epoch, another Possible Cause of, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 18 Glacial Period, Stone Axe of, found in Ohio, Dr. E. W. Clay- pole, 350 Glaciation in Australia, Rev. J. M. Curran, 240 Glaciers of North America, Israel C. Russell, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 556 Supplement to Nae | June 17, 1897 Index XIX Glasgow, Lord Kelvin’s Laboratory in the University of, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 486 Glass-blowing: Guide pour le Soufflage du Verre, Prof. H. Ebert, 388 Glycogen, the Physiology of, Dr. Charles Creighton, 303 Gold: Gold in Sea-water, Prof. Liversidge, 162; E. Sonstadt, 166; Gold in Alaska, Prof. C. D. Walcott, 298; Gold Getting, a Practical Treatise for Prospectors, Miners and Students, J. C. F. Johnson, 315 ; Crystalline Structure of, R. Liversidge, 406 ; in Natural Salts and Seaweed, R. Liver- sidge, 407; the Extraction of Gold by Chemical Methods, Dr. T. K. Rose, 448; Gold Discovered in Canada, William Ogilvie, 540 Goldbach-Euler Theorem concerning Primes, on the, Prof. J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., 196, 269 Gooch (F. A.), Method of separating Aluminium from Iron, 188 ; Iodometric Estimation of Molybdenum, 476 Goode (George Brown), Oceanic Ichthyology, 559 Goodman (R. J.), Estimation of Vanadium by Organic Acids, 92 Gosling (A.), Volcanic Activity in Central America in relation to British Earthquakes, 502 Gottingen Royal Society, 192, 455 Gotze (Dr. A.), Axe heads as Currency, 591 Gould (Dr. Benjamin), Death of, 108; Obituary Notice of, 132 Goulding (E.), Action of Alkyl Haloids on Aldoximes and Ketoximes, 526 Grablovitz (Prof. G.), the Choice of Seismic Stations, 614 Graham (Duncan), Is Natural Selection the Creator of Species ? 365 Granger (A.), Action of Phosphorus on Platinum, 239; Phos- phides of Chromium and Manganese, 335 ; Action of Phos- phorus on Gold, 479 Grasses, the True, Eduard Hackel, 484 Grasses of North America, W. J. Beal, 557 Gravitation Constant and the Mean Density of the Earth, the, Dr. Franz Richarz and Dr. Otto Krigar-Menzel, 296 Gravity, Variations of Force of, Director Kelmert, 206 Gray (Prof. A., F.R.S.), Lord Kelvin’s Laboratory in the University of Glasgow, 486 Gray (Dr. A. A.), Perception of Sound- Direction and Distance, 599 Green (A. G.), Constitution and Colour, 165 Green (E. G.), a Mechanical Problem, 6 Green (Ernest), the Ceylon Coccidz, 142 Green (J.), Sciagraphs of British Batrachians and Reptiles, 539 Greene’s (Friese) Rapid Photographic Printing Machine at Berlin, 39 Greenhill (Prof. A. G., F.R.S.), the Force of a Ton, 365 Greenland, the Geology of, Prof. R. S. Tarr, 13 Gregory (Dr. J. W.), Affinities of the Echinothuridze, 189 Gregory (R. A.), Diagrams of Terrestrial and Astronomical Objects and Phenomena, 149 Gréhant (N.), Use of Grisometer in Medico-legal Examination for Carbon Monoxide, 168; Accidents from Heating with Hot Air, 575 Gresley (W. S.), Coal-formation, 479 Griffing (II.), Physical Conditions of Fatigue in Reading, 82 Griffiths (A.), Concurrent Observations of Viscosity and Electro- Conductivity of Gelatinous Salt Solution, 47; Resistance of Conducting Jelly, containing Iron Filings, in Magnetic Field, 47 Grosse (Prof. E.), Die Formen der Familie und die Formen der Wirthschaft, 51 Grote (A. Radcliffe), Die Saturniiden. 536 Guerchgorine (J.), Structural Isomerism and Rotatory Power, 359 Guerlain (J.), French Essence of Roses, 48 Giiggenheimer (M.), Influence of Réntgen Rays on Explosive Distance of Electric Spark, 407 Guichard (M.), an Iodide of Molybdenum, 95 Guide pour le Soufflage du Verre, Prof. H. Ebert, 388 Guillaume (C. E.), the Expansion of Nickel Steel, 335 Guillaume (M.), Effect of Surrounding Gas-pressure on Tem- peratures of Crater of Electric Arc, 514 Guinard (L.), Influence of Diet and Starvation on Effects of certain Microbial Toxines, 408 Gulf of St. Lawrence, Survey of the Tides and Currents in the, 595 Gulick (Rev. John T.), the Utility of Specific Characters, 508 Gulls, the Flight of, in the Wake of Steamers, F. W. Headley, 390 ‘ Gunnery: Projectiles de Campagne de Sicge et de Place, Fusées, E. Vallier, 388 Guns, the Measurement of Pressures in the Bore of Guns, Rev. F. Bashforth, 460 Guntz (M.), Lithium Nitride, 167, 207; Heat of Formation of, 48; Action of Lithium on Carbon and Compounds, 239 ; Action of Carbon Monoxide and Dioxide on Aluminium, 335 Gurney (Rev. Henry Palin), Durham Science Degrees, 318 Gutta-Percha, India-Rubber and, and their Sources, john R. Jackson, 610 t Guye (P. A.), Structural Isomerism and Rotatory Power, 359 Guyou (E.), Admiral Fleuriais’ Gyroscopie Horizon, 47 Gyldén (Prof. Hugo), Death of, 38; Obituary Notice of, 158 Habenicht (Hermann), Grundriss einer exacten Schdpfungs- Geschichte, 75 Haberlandt (Dr. G_), Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie, 457 Habitat, Mr. Scott Elliot on the Influence on Plant Habit of, 22 Hackel (Edward), the True Grasses, 484 Haddon (Prof. Alfred C.), the Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, H. Ling Roth, 128 ; the Saving of Vanishing Knowledge, 305 Haerdtl (Dr. Eduard von), Death of, 589; Obituary Notice of, Haes (Hubert), British Patent Law, 149 Haga (T.), Economical Preparation of Hydroxylamine Sulphate, 93; Reduction of Nitrosulphate, 93 Hagenbach (A.), Attempt to separate Constituents of Cleveite Gas by Diffusion, 309 Hair, Urates in the, J. B. Smith, 470 Halbfass (Dr. W.), Depth of the Arendsee, 234 Hale (Horatio), the Symbolic Use of Wampum, 189 ; Death of, 257 Hale (Dr. Wm. H.), the Princeton Sesquicentennial, 43 Halliburton (Prof. W. D., F.R.S.), Kirke’s Handbook of Physiology, 244 Hamburger (Mr. ), Influence of Respiration on Size and Shape of Blood Corpuscles, 431; Influence of Carbonic Acid on Blood Corpuscles, 551 Hampson (Dr. W.), Liquefaction of Air by Self-intensive Re- frigeration, 485 Hamy (Maurice), New Cadmium Lamp for producing Inter- ference Fringes, 576 Hanes (E. S.), Cobalt Oxides and Cobaltites, 502 Hanriot (M.), Lipase, a New Blood Serum Ferment, 71; Dis- tribution of Lipase in Organism, 96 ; Ustimation of Lipase in Blood, 359; Non-identic Lipases, 576 Hansen (A. von), Preparation of Potassium Percarbonate by Electrolysis of Solution of Potassium Carbonate, 41 Hare (Surgeon-Captain), the Effects of Inoculation for Cholera, 134 Harmer (S. F.), Casts of /gwanodon bernissertensis presented by King of the Belgians to Cambridge Museum of Zoology, 94 Harper (Arthur E.), Pioneer Work in the New Zealand Alps, 458 Hanis (Dr. D. F.), Reducing Power of Living Animal Tissues, 599 ; the Formation of Urobilin, 599 } Hart (J. H.), the Raising of Sugar-canes from Seed, 12; Termites and Fungus, 81 ; Decrease of Trinidad Rainfall, 302 Hartley (W. N.), Rarer Elements in Common Ores and Minerals, 358 Hartmann (L.), sure, 24 ; 4 Harvard College Observatory Report, Prof. EC. Pickering, 66 Haeeh (Dr.), Scientifle Kite-work in Arctic Regions, 598 Hasselberg (Prof. B.),,Vanadium in Scandinavian Rutile, 544 Hastings (Prof. C. S.), Telescope free from Secondary Colour, Distribution of Strains in Metals under Pres- IgI - Havens (F. S.), Method for Separating Aluminium from Iron, 188 Hawaiian Islands, the Introduction of Beneficial Insects into the, R. C. L. Perkins, 499 Haycraft (J. B.), Luminosity and Photometry, 525 | * Hayden Memorial Award conferred on Prof. Giovanni Capellini, 205 Harzes, Die Minerale des, Dr. Otto Luedecke, 246 Headley (F. W.), the Flight of Gulls in the Wake of Steamers, 399 Heat : Measurements of Low Temperatures, L. Holborn and XX Index [ee to Nature, June 17, 1897 W. Wien, 46; Temperatures Inside Vacuum Tubes, R. W. Wood, 46; Method of Measuring Temperatures of Incan- descent Lamps, P. Janet, 48 ; Heats of Formation of Lithium Hydride, M. Guntz, 48; Observations with D’Arsonval Calorimeter on Marmot, &c., Dr. U. Dutto, 60; Residual Viscosity and Thermal Expansion, H. D. Day, 92; Melting Points of Metals, S. W. Holman, R. R. Laurence, and L. Barr, 110; Heat of Formation of Silver Amalgam, Hg, Hg,, F. T. Littleton, 142; Variations of Melting Point with Pres- sure, R. Demerliac, 287; Absolute Thermal Conductivity of Air, E, Miiller, 309 ; Specific Heats of Elementary Gases, M. Berthelot, 311; Heat Rays of Great Wave-length, H. Rubens, E. F. Nichols, 329 ; Determination of Ratio of Two Specific Heats of Acetylene, G. Maneuvrier, J. Fournier, 335 3; a Convection Scope and Calorimeter, A. R. Bennett, 359; Thermo-Electric Qualities of Liquid Metals, Beckit Burnie, 430; Temperature-Coefficients of Aneroids, L. H. Siertsema, 431; Freezing Point Curves of Zinc Alloys, C. T. Ileycock and F. H. Neville, 502 ; High Temperature Action on Antimony Peroxide, H. Baubigny, 504 ; Effect of Sur- rounding Gas-pressure on Temperature of Crater of Electric Arc, Messrs. Wilson and Fitzgerald, 514; M. Guillaume, 514 ; Heat Rays of great Wave-length, E. F. Nichols and H. Rubens, 524 ; Thermometer for very Low Temperatures, F. Kohlrausch, 524 ; Heat-Indicating Paint, Dr. S. P. Thomp- son, 525; Latent Heats of Evaporation and Law of Van der Waals, George Darzens, 527 ; Die Principien der Warmelehre historisch-kritisch entwickelt, Prof. E. Mach, 529; Special Points in Melting-Curve, Prof. Van der Waals, 551; Con- stant Volume Air Thermometer, J. E. Murray, 551 ; Action of High Temperature on Metallic Sulphides, A. Mourlot, 576; the Critical Point Theory, P. de Heen, 614 Heating of Anodes in X-Ray Tubes, A. A. C. Swinton, 225 Heating with Hot Air, Accidents from, N. Gréhant, 575 Heath (Thomas), Earth Tremors at Edinburgh between August 25 and September 6, 4; Two Unfelt Earthquakes, 439 Heawood (Edward), Geography of Africa, 364 Hedin (Sven), Travels in Central Asia of, 58, 589 Heen (P. de), the Origin of Anti-kathodic Rays, 13; Photo- graphy by Impact of Dust-laden Current of Air, 279; the Critical Point Theory, 614 Heilprin (Prof. Angelo) the Earth and its Story : a First Book of Geology, 316 Hele-Shaw (Prof. Association, 5 Heliades, the Tears of the, or Amber as a Gem, W. Arnold Buffam, John R. Jackson, 194 Helium, M. Berthelot, 311 Hellmann (Dr.), the Oldest Meteorographs, 614 Helmholtz (H.),; Zwei Hydrodynamische Abhandlungen, 100 Hemiptera-Homoptera of the British ISlands, the, James Edwards, 389 Hemptinne (A. de), Chemical Inaction of Rontgen Rays, 327 Helmsley (W. Botting, F.R.S.), Tournefort and the Latitudinal and Altitudinal Distribution of Plants, 52 Henderson (J. B.), Measuring Electrolytic Conductivity by Con- tinuous Currents, 23 Henriet (M. H.), Les Gaz de I’ Atmosphére, 533 Henry (A. J.), Relative Humidity and Cotton Manufacture, 398 Henslow (Rev. George), Natural Selection and Origin of Species in Plants, 189 ; How to Study Wild Flowers, 222 Hentschel (Dr. W.), Rain-making by Electricity, 349 Hepworth (T. C.), the Camera and the Pen, 268 Herdman (Prof. W. A., F.R.S.), the Oyster Question, 293 ; the Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, 361 ; Oysters and Copper, 366 Heredity : the Inheritance of Specific Characters, F. A. Bather, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 29; Heredity of Acquired Characteristics, Leonard Hill, 160; Prichard and Acquired Characters, Wilfred Mark Webb, 342; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 342 ; the Utility of Specific Characters, Rev. John T. Gulick, 508 Hermann’s (Prof.) Theory of the Capillary Electrometer, G. J. Burch, 214 eenenn (Dr. Gustav), the Mechanics of Pumping Machinery, 304 Herroun (E. F.), the Theory of Dissociation into Ions, 152 Herschel (Prof. A. S., F.R.S.), Leonids of November 15, a.m. 1896, 173; the Rydberg-Schuster Law of Elementary Spectra, 271 Hertwig (Richard), the General Principles of Zoology, 149 H. S.), the G Section of the British Hertz (Heinrich), Miscellaneous Papers, 6 Hesperornis, the Affinities of, Prof. O. C. Marsh, 534 Hess (Albert), New Method of Storing Acetylene, 527 Fleterocephalus glaber in North Somaliland, Prof. Henry H. Giglioli, 440 Heycock (C. T.), Freezing-point Curves of Zinc Alloys, 502 Hicks (Dr. Henry, F.R.S.), Morte Slates of North Devon and West Somerset, 623 Hickson (Prof. Sidney J., F.R.S.), the Coral Reef at Funafuti, 439 Hildebrand (R.), Simple Method of separating Alternating Discharges in Vacuum Tubes, 47 Hill (Dr. A.), Results of Staining Brain by Chrome-Silver Method, 359 Hill (J. P.), Development and Succession of Teeth in Marsupials, 350 Hill (Leonard), Heredity of Acquired Characteristics, 160 Himmel und Erde, 15, 208 Hind (Dr. W.), Subdivisions of Carboniferous Period in Great Britain, 215 Hindu Astronomy, W. Brennand, W. T. Lynn, 193 Hindu Medicine, H.H. Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, 221 Histology : Histology of the Blue-Green Algze, Prof. Zacharias, 21; Handbuch der Gewebelehre der Menschen, A. Koelliker, 74; Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen, einschliesslich der mikroskopischen Technik, A. Bohm, M. von Davidoff, 74; Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere, Albert Oppel, 74; Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 74 Ifodgson (Brian Houghton), Life of, British Resident at the Court of Nepal, Sir William Wilson Hunter, 290 Hoff (Prof. J. H. van ’t), Studies in Chemical Dynamics, 98 ; Vorlesungen iiber Bildung und Spaltung von Doppel-salzen, 07 Hoftert (H. H.), the Use of very Small Mirrors with Paraffin Lamp and Scale, 382 Hoffmann (M. W.), Discharge Rays, 381 Hogg (Dr. Robert), Death of, 495 Holborn (L.), Measurement of Low Temperatures, 46 Holden (Prof. ), Comet Perrine, 42 Holman (S. W.), Melting Points of Metals, 110 Holmes (T. V.), the Work of Local Societies, 53 Honey-Birds and Cingalese Loranthus Seeds, F. W. Keeble, 109 Hooker (Sir Joseph D.), Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, P.R.S., during Captain Cook’s First Voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768-71, 73 Hopkinson (J., F.R.S.), Capacity and Residual Charge of Dielectrics as affected by Temperature and Time, 381 Horizon, the, Distance of the Visible, L. Cumming, 198 Horn Expedition, the, to Central Australia, 185 oh Horticulture; a History of Gardening in England, Hon. Alicia Amherst, 75; Origin of the Cultivated Cineraria, R. Irwin Lynch, 341; the Culture of Vegetables for Prizes, Pleasure, and Profit, E. Kemp Toogood, 557 Hot Air Heating, Accidents from, N. Gréhant, 575 Houdaille (M.), Actinometric Observations on Mont Blanc, 143 Hours with Nature, Rambramha Sanyal, 28 ‘ Hourst’s (Lieut.) Niger Expedition, Return of, 133 Howard (L. O.), Household Insects of United States, 233; Cotton and Insects, 301 ; Clothes Moths and Cold Storage, 327 Howe (Herbert A.), a Study of the Sky, 580 . Huggins (Dr. William, F.R.S.), Carbon in Bright-Line Stars, 16 ghee (Prof. D. E., F.R.S.) and the Early History of the Microphone, 496 ‘ Huie (Miss Lily), on the Changes in the Tentacle of Drosera rotundifolia produced by feeding with Egg Albumen, 22 ; Changes in Tentacle Gland-Cells of Sundew, 350 d Hull (Prof. Edward, F.R.S.), another Possible Cause of Glacial Epoch, 189; a Gigantic Geological Fault, 581 Human Incubators, 396 Human Nature, on, Arthur Schopenhauer, 460 Hummel (J. J.), the Colouring Matter of Wallflowers and Hawthorn, 93 Humphreys (H. A.), the Mond Gas-producing Plant, 497 Hunter (Sir William Wilson), Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson, British Resident at the Court of Nepal, 290 ’ Hurdis (J. L.), Rough Notes and Memoranda relating to the Natural History of the Bermudas, 604 Hutchinson (Rev. H. N.), Prehistoric Man and Beast, 314 Supplement to ie] June 17, 1807 Index XXi Hybridisation, Dr. Wilson on, in Passion Flowers and Albucas, 22 Hydraulics: Death of Prof. M. Klimm, 397; Hydraulic Machinery, R. G. Blaine, 556 Hydrography: Death of Admiral Sir G. H. Richards, 57 ; Microscopic Marine Organisms in the Service of Hydro- graphy, Prof. P. T. Cleve, 89 ; the Ocean Ranger Reef, Dr. John Murray, 3343; Physical Conditions of Ocean East of Australia, Dr. John Murray, 334; Princess Alice Bank dis- covered by Prince Albert of Monaco, 443 Hydrostatics : see Liquids and Physics ; Hygiene for Beginners, Ernest S. Reynolds, 196 Hygiene Diagramettes, W. H. Knight, 173 I’Anson (James), Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates, 269; Effect of Electrical Discharge on Photographic Plate, 581 Iceberg Distribution in Southern Oceans, 60 Icelandic Earthquake recorded at Paris, Th. Moureaux, 4 Ichthyology : Spawning Habits of Redfish and Chinook Salmon, B. W. Everman, 161; the Fish of Lake Tanganyika, J. E. S. Moore, 258 ; the American Lung-Fish, J. G. Kerr and J. S. Budgett, 278 ; Embryonic Series of Bdellostomum, Bashford Dean, 371 ; the Embryology of the Nautilus, Arthur Willey, 402; the Discovery of the Larva of the Common Eel, J. T. Cunningham, 467 ; Résultats scientifiques de la Campagne du Caudan dans le Golfe de Gascoigne, R. Koehler, 559; Oceanic Ichthyology, George Brown Goode, Tarlton H. Bean, 559; Deep-Sea Fishes of the Northern Atlantic, 559; Re- sultats des Campagnes scientifiques accomplies sur son Yacht par Albert 1°, Prince Souverain de Monaco, Robert Collett, 559; the Fauna of Lake Charkhal, 590 Identification Methods, the United States Army, Dr. C. H. Alden, 59 Iguanodon bernissertensis, Casts presented by King of the Belgians to Cambridge Museum of Zoology of, S. F. Harmer, 94 Immunisation: Koch’s Recent Researches on Tuberculin, Dr. G. Sims Woodhead, 567 Immunity from Snake-Bite, R. C. T. Evans, 367 ; Dr. Dawson Williams, 415; ]. Bliss, 486 Immunity from Bee-Stings, T. A. G. Strickland, 397 Immunity, Acquired, from Insect-Stings, Edward 5S. Morse, G. Macloskie, 533 Immunity from Mosquito Bites, W. F. Sinclair, 607 Imperial Institute, the Work of the Scientific and Technical Department of the, Prof. Wyndham R. Dunstan, F-.R.S., 62 Impressions of Out-door Nature, 387 Incubators, Human, 396 India: the Hot Wind of Northern, J. Eliot, 40; the Long- Period Weather Forecasts of, Douglas Archibald, 85; Rain- fall Forecasts in India, 161; Ancient Astronomy in India, W. Brennand, W. T. Lynn, 193; a Short History of Aryan Medical Science, H. H. Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, 221; a Plea for the Revival of the Primitive Caste System, Balmokand, 233; Indian Survey in 1895, 234; the Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burmah, 245; the Value of Irrigation Canals in India, 404; Anti-Cholera Vaccination in, Dr. Funck, 444; the Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India, W. Crooke, 577 India-rubber and Gutta-percha and their Sources, John R. Jack- son, 610 Indo-China, Tailed Men in, Paul d’Enjoy, 82 Industry, Mr. Balfour on Science and, 85 Influenza Bacilli in Central Nervous System, A. Pfuhl and k. Walter, 182 Inoculation of Cholera, the Effects of, Surgeon-Captain Hare, 134 Inorganic Chemical Preparations, T. H. Thorpe, 414 Inorganic Chemistry, First Stage, G. H. Bailey, 532 Insect Stings, Acquired Immunity from, Edward S. Morse, G. Macloskie, 533 Insects, the Introduction of Beneficial, into the Hawaiian Islands, R. C. L. Perkins, 499 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 44, 377 Institution of Naval Architects, 571 Insulators, the Effect of Rontgen Rays on Solid and Liquid, Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 606 Interference, Experiment on, John Wylie, 508 International Unification of Time, the, 567 Interplanetary Signalling, Francis Galton, 39 Ionic Dissociation, Osmotic Pressure and, Dr. Henry E. Arm- strong, F.R.S., 78 ? Ions, the Theory of Dissociation into, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 150; W. C. D. Whetham, 151, 606; E. F. Herroun, 152; Spencer Pickering, F.R.S., 223 Iron Analysis, Tables for, John A. Allen, 77 Irons (J. C.), Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, 362 Irrigation Canals, the Value of, in India, 404 Izvestia of East Siberian Geographical Society, 92 Jaccard (A.), La Pétrole, l’Asphalte et le Bitume, au point de vue géologique, 169 Jackson (C. S.), Units of Force, 198 ; the Symbols of Applied Algebra, 293, 366 Jackson (John R,), the Tears of the Heliades ; or, Amber as a Gem, W. Arnold Buffham, 194; India-rubber and Gutta- percha, and their Sources, 610 Jackson (Dr. M. J.), the Pound as a Force, and the Expression of Concrete Quantities generally, 126; Dynamical Units, 317 Jackson (Sheldon), Reindeer in Alaska, 39; Severe Winter Weather in Alaska, 39 Jacobi (C. G. J.), Ueber die Bildung und die Eigenschaften der Determinaten, 100; Ueber die Functional Determinanten, 100 Jacoby (Prof. Harold), Reduction of Stellar Photographs, 544 ; on the Permanence of the Rutherfurd Photographic Plates, 544 Jaeger (W.), the Cadmium Standard Cell, 92 James (Dr. J. F.), Death of, 589 Janet (Charles), Axtennophorus uhimanni and Lasius mixtus, 504 Janet (P.), Method of Measuring Temperature of Incandescent Lamps, 48 Japan: Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps, Rev. Walter Weston, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Jarry (R.), Ammoniacal Chlorides of Silver, 383 Jaumann (G.), Electrostatic Deflection of Kathode Rays, 47 Java, the Triangulation of, Prof. J. A. C. Oudemans, 455 Jee (H.H. Sir Bhagvat Sinh), a Short History of Aryan: Medical Science, 221 Jenner, National Memorial to, 547 Jennings (Vaughan), on Corallorhiza innata, R.Br., and its associated Fungi, 20 ' Jewell (L. E.), Spectroscopic Study of Water Vapour Distri- bution in Air, 258 Jewell (Lewis), Oxygen in the Sun, 447 7 Johnson (J. C. F.), Gold Getting ; a Practical Treatise for Prospectors, Miners, and Students, 315 : P ; Johnson (J. Y.), Oxalate of Lime Raphides in kichardia ethiopica, Corms, 334 Johnson (Dr. Lindsay), Opthalmoscopic Appearances of Fundus Oculi in Primates, 333 Johnson (Lorenzo N.), Death of, 495 Johnson (W. E.), Analytic Psychology, G. F. Stout, 121; an Outline of Psychology, Edward Bradford Titchener, 121 ; the Problem of the Sense Qualities, 295 Joly (Dr. J., F.R.S.), Origin of Mars Canals, 335 Jones (Coppen), on the so-called Tubercle Bacillus, 20 Jordan (David S.), the Condition of the Fur Seal, 350 Jourdain (S.), Cause of Rouget, 191 Journal of Botany, 142, 309, 406, 574 math s : Julius (Prof. W. H.), Apparatus for eliminating Vibrations from Galvanometers, &c., 83 Julius (Prof. V. A.), Is Maximum Vapour Pressure solely a Function of Temperature ? 455 Jumping Cocoons, Dr. D. Sharp, 65 USE. Jupiter: the Period of Rotation of Jupiter's Spots, A. A. Nyland, 352; the Orbit of Jupiter's Fifth Satellite, Dr. Fritz Cohn, 421; Prof. J. M. Schaeberle, 566 Kahle (K.), Helmholtz’s Absolute Electro-Dynamometer, 92 | Kallen (Herr), New Synthetical Method of Preparing Carboxylic Acids, 207 Kanthack (Dr. A. A.), the Bacteria which we breathe, eat, and drink, 209; a Text-Book of Bacteriology, E. M. Crook- shank, 313 ; Applied Bacteriology, 413 Karlsruhe Meridian Observations, 183 . } : Katanoff (Prof. N.), the Old Turkish Inscriptions in Mongolia, 262 XXil Index Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1807 Kathode Réntgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and, Edward P. Thompson, 386 Kathode Rays, some Experiments with, A. A. C. Swinton, Saufmann (A. A.), Land Tenure in Siberia, 92 Kaulbars (Baron Nicolas), Russian Observations of the Corona of August 9, 1896, 298 Kay (S. A.), Velocity of Urea Formation in Aqueous Alcohol, 526 Kayser (Prof. E.), Voleanic Bombs in Schalsteins of Nassau, 21 Keeble (F. W.), Honey-Birds and Cingalese Loranthus Seeds, 109 Kelmert (Director), Variations of Force of Gravity, 206 Kelvin (Lord, F.R.S.), Electrification of Air by Rontgen Rays, 199; Boscovich’s Theory of Atomic Configurations in Gas Molecules, 238; Osmotic Pressure, 273; Method for Measuring Vapour Pressures of Liquids, 273; Note on, 295; on the Conductive Effect produced in Air by Rontgen Rays and by Ultra-Violet Light, 343; Crystallisation according to Scale, 382 ; on Electrical Equilibrium between Uranium and Insulated Metal in its Neighbourhood, 447 ; on Apparent and Real Diselectrification of Solid Dielectrics produced by Roéntgen Rays and by Flame, 472; Lord Kelvin’s Laboratory in the University of Glasgow, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 486; on the Influence of Réntgen Rays in respect to Electric Conduction through Air, Paraffin, and Glass, 498; on Electrical Properties of Fumes proceeding from Flames and Burning Charcoal, 592 Kenngott (Dr. G. A.), Death of, 540 Kenyon (F. C.), the Union of Nerve Cells, 248 Kerr (J. G.), the American Lung-Fish, 278 Kerry (Dr. R.), Death of, 81 Kerry, the Bog-Slide of Knocknageeha, in the County of, Prof, Grenville A. J. Cole, 254 Kidd (Dr. Walter), on certain Vestigial Characters in Man, 236 Kieseritski (Prof. Gustav), Death of, 11 Kimberley, the Diamond Mines of, Dr. William F.R.S., 519 Kinematic Models, Dr. S. P. Thompson, 525 King (L. W.), Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, &c., in the British Museum, 243 Kingsley (Mary H.), Travels in West Africa, 416 Kinney (A. S.), Effect of Electricity on Plants, 514 Kinsey- Morgan (A.), the Climate of Bournemouth in Relation to Disease, especially Phthisis, 316 Kipping (F. S.), Sulpho-camphoric Acid, 142; Derivatives of a-Hydrindone, 165 ; Enantiomorphism, 310 Kirk (Sir John, K.C.B., F.R.S.), African Rinderpest, 53 Kirkes’ Handbook of Physiology, Prof. W. D. Halliburton, BARS, 244 Kishm, Earthquake at, 276 Kites: the Use of Kites for Meteorological Observations in the Upper Air, H. Helm Clayton, 150; Ascent by, Lieut. H. D. Wise, 327; Scientific Kite-work in Arctic Regions, Dr. Harvey, 598 ; Meteorological Use of, A. L. Rotch, 623 Klein (Dr. E., F.R.S.), Bacteria of the Sputa and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth, 437 Klimm (Prof. M.), Death of, 397 Klocker (M.), L’origine des Saccharomyces, 469 Kinahan (G, Henry), Bog-Slides and Debacles, 268 Knibbs (G. H.), Recent Determinations of Viscosity of Water by Efflux Method, 259 Knipping (E.), Storms of Western South Atlantic, 514 Knives, Curved, W. F, Sinclair, 581; the Antiquity of certain, Dr. Otis T. Mason, 534 Knocknageeha, the Bog-Slide of, in the County of Kerry, Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole, 254 Knopf (Otto), Ephemeris for Comet Perrine, 110 Knott (C. G.), Lunar Periodicities in Earthquake Frequency, 357 5 an Elementary Text-Book for University Classes, 557 Knowledge, 173 Knowledge, Vanishing, the Saving of, Prof. A. C, Haddon, 395 Knudsen (Marten), Influence of Living Organisms on Oxygen and Carbonic Acid in Sea Water, 191 Koch (Dr.), Reports on Rinderpest, 450 Koch’s Recent Researches on Tuberculin, Woodhead, 567 Koehler (R.), Résultats scientifiques de la Campagne du Caudan dans le Golfe du Gascoigne, 559 Crookes, Dr. G. Sims Koelliker (A.), Handbuch der Gewebelehre der Menschen, 74 Kohlrausch (F.), Platinised Electrodes and Determinations of Resistance, 381 ; the Coefficient of Expansion of Petroleum Ether, 470; Thermometer for very Low Temperatures, 524 Kolbe (Dr.), Death of, 495 Kossovich (P. S.), Can Algze assimilate Free Nitrogen ? 428 Kozloff (P. K.), Roborovsky’s Tibet Expedition, 541 Kreider (D. A.), Determination of Oxygen in Air and Aqueous Solutions, 92 Kreutz (Prof. H.), Ephemeris for Comet Perrine, 41 Krigar-Menzel (Dr. Otto), the Gravitation Constant and the Mean Density of the Earth, 296 Kronig (B.), Behaviour of Bacteria towards Reagents, 328 Kriiger (S.), Ellipsoidal Forms of Equilibrium of Revolving Liquid Body, 455 Kyz-Kiyik, the Wild Men of Tibet, P. K. Kozloff, 541 La Mouthe Cave, the, E. Riviere, 55; Drawings on Rocks of, E. Riviere, 575 Laboratories: the New Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 88; Opening of New Laboratories at University College, Liverpool, 183; the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, 208; a National Physical Laboratory, 368, 385; Lord Kelvin’s Laboratory in the University of Glasgow, Prof. A. Gray, F.R.S., 486; Laboratory Use of Acetylene, A. E. Munby, 486; Thomas Fletcher, 535 Laborde (J.), Decolorisation in Wines, 191 Lacroix (A.), Vegetable Impressions in Old Volcanic Débris of Phira (Santorin) Island, 24; the Formation of Zeolites, 72 ; Minerals formed from Lead Scoriz at Laurium, 144; Min- eralogy of Polycandros, 527 Lake Charkhal, the Fauna and Flora of, 590 Lake District, Rainfall in the, 342 Lake Tanganyika, the Fish of, J. E. S. Moore, 258 Lake Titicaca, Subsidence of, 159 Lakes, Depth of the Arendsee, Dr. W. Halbfass, 234 Lala (U.) Influence of Magnetisation on Electromotive Force, 95 Lamas, the Land of the, 603 Lance (Denis), Formation of Ammonium Cyanide, 600 Land Tenure in Siberia, A. A. Kaufmann, 92 Landor (G. D.), Action of Alkyl Iodides on Silver Malate, 142 Landslip at Rathmore, 205 Lang (Dr. Arnold), Text-Book of Comparative Anatomy, 4 Lang .(Mr.), on some Peculiar Cases of Apogamous Repro- duction in Ferns, 21 Langley’s (Prof.) Aerodrome, 401 Lapworth (A.), Sulphocamphoric Acid, 142 Larmor (Dr. J., F.R.S.), the Theory of Osmotic Pressure, 545 Larva of the Common Eel, the Discovery of the, J. T. Cunning- ham, 467 Larve of British Butterflies and Moths, the, William Buckler, 60 Latent Life in Seeds, Prof. Casimir de Candolle on, 21 Latter (O. H.), the Prothoracic Gland of Décranura vinula, 479 Latitudinal and Altitudinal Distribution of Plants, Tournefort and the, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 52 Latitude : Physical Causes of Variation, Prof. Simon Newcomb, IOI Latitude Variations, Tables for Finding, Prof. S. C, Chandler, 32 ous (L. de), Native Iron Carbonate, 551 Laurence (W. T.), Synthesis of Citric Acid, 502 Lawrence (Ralph R.), Melting Points of Metals, 110; a Powerful and Efficient Means of Driving X-Ray Tubes, 460 Le Cadet (G.), Electrical Variation of High Atmospheric Regions in Fine Weather, 576 Lea (M. C.), Experiment with Gold, 308 Lebeau (P.), Properties of Glucina, 95 Lecture-room Demonstration of Orbits of Bodies under the Action of a Central Attraction, R. W. Wood, 620 Leduc (A.), Compressibillty of Gases at Zero, 71 ; Experiments on Densities of Oxygen and Nitrogen, 84 Lefevre (Prof. Julien), L’Eclairage aux gaz, aux huiles, aux acids, gras, Kc., 388 Legendary History of Funafuti, Ellice Group, the, Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., 353 Lehmann’s (Dr.) Liquid Crystals, Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S., 22 Lehrbuch der Erdkunde fiir hGhere Schulen, Dr. Willi Ule, 459 Supplement to Natu al Index XXill June 17, 1897 Lemoine (M.), Application of Rontgen Rays to Paleontology, Sr Lendenfeld (R. von), Aus der Alpen, 102 Leonids, the, 42, 84; the Leonid Meteor Shower, 1896, W. F. Denning, 54; Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 54; C. T. Whitmell, 54, 153; Leonids of November 15, a.m. 1896, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 173 ; Leonid Meteors in America, 137 Lepidoptera: the Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Chas. G. Barrett, 222; British Butterflies, J. W. Tutt, 536; Mono- graph of the Bombycine Moths of America, North of Mexico, A. S. Packard, 536; Die Saturniiden, A. Radcliffe Grote, 536; New Works on the Classification of Lepidoptera, 536 Lescoeur (H.), Neutrality of Saits with reference to Coloured Indicators, 95 Lespieau (R.), 1:3 di-Bromo-propylene, 191 ; Hexadiinediol, 239 Levat (M.), Steel Tempering in Phenol, 143 Liebenow (Herr), the Jacques Cell, 420 Life Assurance Explained, William Schooling, 414 Life in Ponds and Streams, W. Furneaux, 265 Life and Work of Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., the, 601 Light : W..T. A. Emtage, 77 ; the Atmospheric Absorption of Light, W. E. Plummer, 235; the Effect of Magnetisation on the Nature of Light Emitted by a Substance, Dr. P. Zeeman, 3473; Dark Light, M. Perrigot, 624 Lighting : L’Eclairage aux gaz, 1x huiles, aux acides, gras, Kc., Prof. Julien Lefevre, 388 Lilium martagon, on the Heterotype Division of, Miss Ethel Sargant, 20 ‘* Lincei,” the, and Experimental Science, Signor Todaro, 135 Lincolnshire, South, a History of the Fens of, W. H. Wheeler, 436 Linebarger (C. E.), Viscosity of Mixtures of Liquids, 91 Ling (H. R.), Action of Diastase on Starch, 358 Linnean Society, 94, 166, 189, 310, 334, 430, 502, 526, 598 Linneeus, Portraits of, W. Carruthers, F.R.S., 502 Lippmann (G.), Method of Comparing Oscillations of Pendulums, with Aid of Electric Spark, 311 Liquefaction of Air by Self-intensive Refrigeration, Dr. W. Hampson, 485 Liquid Coherers and Mobile Conductors, Rollo Appleyard, 525 Liquid Crystals, Dr. Lehmann’s, Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S., 233 Liquid Body, Ellipsoidal Forms of Equilibrium of Revolving, S. Kriiger, 455 Liquids, Method for Measuring Vapour Pressures of, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273; Note on, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 295 Lister (Lord, P.R.S.), the Value of Pathological Research, 329 Littleton (F. T.), Heat of Formation of Silver Amalgam Ag,Hgg, 142 Tverpach Opening of New Laboratories at University College, 103 Liversidge (Prof, A.), Gold in Sea-water, 162 ; Crystalline Struc- ture of Gold, 406 ; Gold in Natural Salts and Seaweed, 407 Liverwort, Pellia epiphylla, on the Life-history of a Fungus which is the Cause of a Parasitic Disease in the, W. G. P. Ellis, 20 Lobley (J. L.), Depth of Source of Lava, 503 Lobry de Bruyn (Prof.), Chitosamine, 455 Local Societies, the Work of, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., T. V. Holmes, 53 Lockyer (J. Norman, F.R.S., Celestial Eddies, 249 ; Results with Prismatic Camera during 1896 Eclipse, 263 ; the Question of Carbon in Bright Line Stars, 304, 341; Iron Lines in Hottest Stars, 452 Lockyer (Dr. W. J. S.), the Leonid Meteor Shower 1896, 54 Locusts, use of Fungus for Destroying, Dr. W. A. Soga and H. P. Browne, 514 Lodge (Prof. Alfred), the Symbols of Applied Algebra, 293 Lodge (Prof. Oliver J., F.R.S.), Extension of the Visible Spectrnm, 33; Production of X-Rays, 100; the Pound as a Force, 124, 223 ; the Theory of Dissociation into Ions, 150 ; the Meaning of the Symbols in Applied Algebra, 246, 317 ; the Absence of Mechanical Connection between Ether and Matter, 477 Loew (O.), Physiological Action of Amido-Sulphonic Acid, 93 Long-Exposure Photographs, Isaac Roberts on, 544 ee Weather Forecasts of India, the, Douglas Archi- ald, o5 Longridge (Michael), Break-downs of Stationary Steam-Engines, 45 Love (Dr. J. K.), Deaf-Mutism, 550 Lowe (Dr. G. M.), Radiography, 154 Lowe (W. F.), Oysters and Copper, 366, 415 Lowell (Percival), the Rotation of Venus, 421 ; Drawings of Mercury, 447 ; the Planet Mercury, 617 Lubbock (Sir John, F.R.S.), Stipules, 526 Luedecke (Dr. Otto), Die Minerale des Harzes, 246 Luminosity and Photometry, J. B. Hayeraft, 525 Lunar Photographs, Camille Flammarion, 373 Lunar Theory, an Introductory Treatise on the, Prof. E. W. Brown, 266 Lundgren (Dr. E. A. Bernhard), Death of, 348, 417 Lung-fish, the American, T. G. Kerr and J. S. Budgett, 278 Lunge (Prof. Dr. G.), Tabellen fiir Gasanalysen, 460 Lunt (Joseph), Water and its Purification, 602 Lydekker (R., F.R.S.), a Reputed Malagasy Monkey, 89 Lynch (R. Irwin), Origin of the Cultivated Cineraria, 341 Lynn (W. T.), Hindu Astronomy, W. Brennand, 193 Lyons (A. B.), Chemical Composition of Hawaiian Soils, 188 McAdie (A.), Fog-dispersal by Electricity, 350 Macallum (Prof. A. B.), British Association Meeting in Toronto, 319 ‘ McConnell (A. H.), Cobalt Oxides and Cobaltites, 502 MacDougall (Alan), British Association Toronto Meeting, 1897, 127 MacDowall (A. B.), Influence of Sun-spots on Weather, 623 McGee (W. J.), Marriage Observances of American Aborigines, 302 MacGregor’s (Sir William) Recent Journey across New Guinea and Re-ascent of Mount Victoria, J. P. Thompson, 157; Dr. Henry O. Forbes, 247 Mach (Prof. E.), Die Principien der Warmelehre, historisch- kritisch entwickelt, 529 Machinery, Hydraulic, R. G. Blaine, 556 Macintyre (Dr. John), Experiments on Rontgen Rays, 64 ; Rapidity with which Radiographs are now taken, 541 McKendrick (Prof.), the Structural and Physiological Nervous Units, 190 Maclean (Dr. Magnus), on Electrical Properties of Fumes pro- ceeding from Flames and Burning Charcoal, 592 Macloskie (G.), Acquired Immunity from Insect Stings, 533 McMahon (Captain A. H.), Voleanic and other Rocks near Baluchistan-Afghan Frontier, 549 McMahon (Prof. J), Hypothesis of Successive Transmission of Gravity, 46 MacMahon (Major P. A., F.R.S.), Obituary Notice of James Joseph Sylvester, 492 Macpherson (Rev. H. A ), Fur and Feather Series: Red Deer. Natural History, 195 Madagascar: a Reputed Malagasy Monkey, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 89 Maddison (Isabel), Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, 100 Madreporaria, the Classification of, Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 280 Madreporarian Skeleton, Recent Work on the, Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 126 , Magnetism: Hertz’s Miscellaneous Papers, 6; Folgheraiter’s Method of estimating Ancient Dip by means of Baked Clay, 40; Terrestrial Magnetism in Etruscan Epoch, Dr. G. Folgheraiter, 206; the Magnetisation of Etruscan Vases, Dr. G. Folgheraiter, 418 ; Resistance of Conducting Jelly, containing Iron Filings, in Magnetic Field, A. Griffiths, 47 ; Influence on Electromotive Force of Magnetisation, U. Lala and A. Fournier, 95; a Case of Abnormal Magnetic Attrac- tion, Lieut. A. G. Froud, Thos. Rogers, 127 ; Optical Pro- perties of Glass Cylinder in Rapid Rotation in Magnetic Field, C. Duperray, 161; the Effect of Magnetisation on the Nature of Light emitted by a Substance, Dr, P. Zeeman, 347 ; Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten iiber Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus, No. 7-9, 4373 Partial Polarisation of Luminous Rays under Influence of Magnetic Field, N. Egoroff and N. Geéorgiewsky, 5753 Magnetic Fields of Force, Prof. H. Ebert, 579; the Practical Treatment of Magnets. Dr. Carl Barus, 614 ; ; Magnus (Prof.), on some Recent Observations on the Chytri- diaceous Genus Uvophlyctes, 20 ; Magnus (Sir Philip), the Newest German Polytechnic, 34 Maiden (J. H.), New Plants in New South Wales, 239 Mairet (M.), Coagulating and Toxic Properties of Liver, 191 Maitland (Gibb), Artesian Basins in North America, 182 XXIV Lhdex Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 Man and Beast, Prehistoric, Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., 314 Man, on certain Vestigial Characters in, Dr. Walter Kidd, 236 Mance (Sir Henry), the Inception of Submarine Telegraphy, 278 Manchester Literary and Philosopical Society, 47, 71, 143, 215, 359, 431 Maneuvrier (G.), Determination of Ratio of Two Specific Heats of Acetylene, 335 Manikaland, J. E. Farnum, 515 Manna: Manna on Blue Grass, R. T. Baker and H. G. Smith, 383; the Manna of the Bible, M. J. Teesdale, 349; the Origin of Manna, B. Timothy, 440 Manurial Trials, Prof. W. Somerville’s, 471 Map of Franz Josef Land, the Austro-Hungarian, Prof. Ralph Copeland, 29 ; Arthur Montefiore-Brice, 52 Maquenne (L.), Osmotic Pressure in Germinating Grains, 120 Marangoni (Prof. C.), Relative Transparency of Alkaline Metals to Rontgen Rays, 279 Marbaix (Dr. de), Death of, 562 Marchis (L.), Zero-displacement in Thermometers, 479 Marine Biology: the Opening Ceremony of the Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, 43; Microscopic Marine Organisms in the Service of Hydrography, Prof. P. T. Cleve, 89 ; Recent Work on the Madreporarian Skeleton, Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie, 126; Biological Lectures delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood’s Holl in the Summer Session of 1895, 170; Influence of Living Organisms on Oxygen and Carbonic Acid in Sea-Water, 191; the Eggs of the Pearly Nautilus, Dr. A. Willey, 326; the Natural His- tory of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, J. T. Cunningham, W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 361; Em- bryonic Series of Bdellostomum, Bashford Dean, 371; the Green Pigment of Thalassema, Prof. Sherrington and Dr. Noél Paton, 400; Marine Organisms and the Conditions of their Environment, Dr. John Murray, F.R.S., 500; the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Foundation of the Naples Zoological Station, H. M. Vernon, 586 Marine Propulsion, Trial of Hon. Charles Parsons’ Steam Turbine Engine as applied to, 181 Marlatt (L.), Household Insects of United States, 233 Marriage of the Dead, Kumagusu Minakata, 224 Marriage Observances of American Aborigines, W. J. McGee, . 302 Marriotti-Bianchi (Dr.), Toxins and Antitoxins, 542 Mars, 14, 41, 111; Prof. Schiaparelli, 516; Hypothetical Dis- covery of System of Signalling from Mars, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 39; Mists on Mars, M. Flammarion, 235; the Canals of Mars, Herr M. Teoperberg, 280; Dr. J. Joly, F.R.S., 3353 the Polar Cap of Mars, 303; Observations of Mars at Meudon, M. Perrotin, 401; the Ellipticity of the Disc of Mars, Prof. W. Schur, 421 Marsh (J. E.), Halogen Derivatives of Camphor, 93 Marsh (Prof. Othniel Charles), Amphibian Footprints from the Devonian, 92; the Dinosaurs of North America, 463; the Affinities of Hesperornts, 534 Marsupials, Developments and Succession of Teeth in, J. T. Wilson and J. P. Hill, 350 Martin (Dr. H. N., F.R.S.), Death of, 11 ; Obituary Notice of, Prof. M, Foster, Sec.R.S., 56 Martin (J. B.), Presidential Address to Statistical Society, 81 Martin (J. B.), Death of, 495 Martinand (V.), Oxidation of Wines, 480 Marvin (Prof.), the First Attempt to Measure Wind Force, 259 Mason (Dr. O. T.), the Successive Adoption of the Mechanical Powers, 469 ; the Antiquity of certain Curved Knives, 534 Maspero (G.), the Struggle of the Nations, 267 Mass, on, Dr. M. F. O'Reilly, 317 Masson (M.), Action of Carbon Monoxide and Dioxide on Aluminium, 335 Mathematics: Death of Prof. Gustav Kieseritzski, 11 ; Lehrbuch der Algebra, Heinrich Weber, 25; Bulletin of American Society, 46, 188, 309, 380, 524, 574; Hypothesis of Succes- sive Transmission of Gravity, Prof. J. McMahon, 46; Celes- tial Mechanics, Prof. W. E. Brown, 46; Variation of Newton’s Law of Impact, R. F. Muirhead, 81 ; Mathematical Society, 94, 189, 333, 407, 503, 599; on the Goldbach-Euler Theorem regarding Prime Numbers, Prof. J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., 196, 269; a History of Elementary Mathematics, with Hints on Methods of Teaching, Florian Cajori, 219 ; Death of Dr. G. D. E. Weyer, 231; the Meaning of the Symbols in Applied Algebra, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. 246, 317; the Symbols of Applied Algebra, Prof. Alfred Lodge, 293; C. S. Jackson, 293, 366; American Journal of Mathematics, 308 ; Death of Prof. K. T. Weierstrass, 397; Obituary Notice of, 442; Segar's Theorem, Prof. Elliott, F.R.S., 407 ; Death of Prof. J. J. Sylvester, 468 ; Obituary Notice of, Major P. A. MacMahon, F.R.S., 492 ; Lehrbuch der Algebra, Heinrich Weber, 481 ; Death of Dr. Kolbe, 495 ; Edinburgh Society, 503, 575 Maul (Herr), Capacity of Bactlus radicicola of Growing on Foreign Culture Media, 206 Mawley (E.), Thermometer Screens, 334 Mayall (P. H. D.), Diffraction Pattern near Telescope Focus, 479 Mayer (A. G.), the Pigment of Lepidoptera Scales, 469; on the Colours and Colour-Patterns of Moths and Butterflies, 618 Mayer (Prof. A. M.), Equation of Forces acting in Flotation of Metal Discs and Rings, 190 Mazzotto (Prof. D.), Index of Water-Refraction for Electric Waves, 300 Mean Density of the Earth, the Gravitation Constant and the, Dr. Franz Richarz and Dr. Otto Krigar-Menzel, 296 Measurements of Crabs, H. Thompson, 30, 224, Prof. W. F. R. Weldon, F.R.S., 30; J. T. Cunningham, ror; Vee eas Cobb, 155 } Measuring Vapour Pressures of Liquids, Method for, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273; Note on, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S, 295 Mebius (C. A.), Polarisation Phenomena in Vacuum Tube, 214 Mechanics: the G Section of the British Association, Prof. H. S. Hele-Shaw, 5; a Mechanical Problem, E. E. Green, 6; Distribution of Strains in Metals under Pressure, L. Hartmann, 24; Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 44, 377; Elements of Mechanics, Thomas Wallace Wright, Prof. John Perry, F.R.S., 49; Mechanical Conceptions of Electrical Phenomena, Prof. A. E. Dolbear, 65; the Me- chanics: of Pumping Machinery, Dr. Julius Weisbach, Prof. Gustav Herrmann, 364; Equilibrium of a Cylindrical Shell, Thos. Alexander, 366; the Successive Adoption of the Mechanical Powers, Dr. O. T. Mason, 469 Medicine : Death and Obituary Notice of Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, F.R.S., 80; the New Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 88: Cheé#- donium majus as a Cure for Cancer, C. Leeson Prince, 155; Application of Rontgen Rays to Pulmonary Tubercu- losis, C. H. Bouchard, 191; the Final Entombment of Pasteur, 204; a Short History of Aryan Medical Science, H.H. Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, 221; Death of Prof. W. H. Pancoast, 277 ; Death and Obituary Notice of Dr. Edward Ballard, 299; Death of Dr. Nikolai Zdekauer, 370; In- fluence of Diet and Starvation on Effects of certain Microbial Toxines, J. Teissier and L. Guinard, 408 ; Compressed Air Illness ; or so-called Caisson Disease, E. Hugh Snell, 411 Mee (Arthur), Amateur Astronomer’s Almanac, 260 Meinhardus (Dr. W.), Long-Period Weather Predictions, based upon Hydrographical Phenomena, 542 Melbourne Observatory, the, 23 Meldola (Prof. R., F.R.S.), the Inheritance of Specific Characters, 29 ; a Visit to an English Woad Mill, 36; the Work of Local Societies, 53; Bristle-eating Moth, 142; Prichard and Acquired Characters, 342 Melnikoff-Rasvédenkeff (N.), New Method of preparing Anatomical Specimens, 359 Memoirs of the Life of Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., late Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, Ada Pritchard, 601 Memoirs of St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, 428 Memorial, National, to Jenner, 547 Mercantile Marine, the British, Edward Blackmore, 438 Mercer (Henry C.), Researches upon the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States, 459 Mercury, 111; Drawings of Mercury, Percival Lowell, 447 ; the Planet Mercury, Percival Lowell, 617 Mercury, Electrical Vibrations of, Ernest Braun, 581 Mercury, Floating, on Water, C. Stromeyer, 53 Meridian Observations, Karlsruhe, 183 Meridian, the Universal, 261 Mermet (A.), a Reaction of Carbon Monoxide, 527 Merriam (Dr. C. H.), New Mexican Rabbit, 300 Merriam (Florence A.), a-Birding on a Bronco, 387 Metallurgy : the Alloys of Copper and Zinc, G. Charpy, Dr. Supplement to see) June x7, 1897 Index XXV T. K. Rose, 130; Steel Tempering in Phencl, M. Levat, 143 ; Methods of separating Aluminium from Iron, F. A. Gooch, F. S. Havers, 188 ; the Expansion of Nickel Steel, C. E. Guillaume, 335; Fourth Report to Alloys Research Committee, Prof. Roberts-Austen, 377 Metaphysics, Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, J. C. Trons, 362 Meteorology: Severe Winter Weather in Alaska, Sheldon Jackson, 39 ; the Hot Winds of Northern India, J. Eliot, 40; Washington Bureau’s Method of disseminating Weather Fore- casts, 59 ; Cyclone in Gulf of Aden, 59; Separate Day and Night Rainfall Records, W. W. Wagstaffe, 81; the Long- Period Weather Forecasts of India, Douglas Archibald, 85 ; Rainfall Forecasts in India, 161 ; Long-Period Weather Pre- dictions based upon Hydrographical Phenomena, 542 ; Royal Meteorological Society, 119, 215, 334, 407, 623 ; Haze, Fog, and Visibility, Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell, 119; Haze and Transparency, Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell, 407; the Week’s Weather, 134, 278, 300, 348; Symons’s Monthly Magazine, 142, 188, 428, 598; Climate of British Empire in 1895, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 142; the Use of Kites for Meteorological Observations in the Upper Air, H. Helm Clayton, 150; A. L. Rotch, 623; Kite-work in Arctic Regions, Dr. Harvey, 598 ; the Aurora Borealis, Alfred Angot, 173; Pilot Chart of North Atlantic, 182 ; March Weather in North Atlantic, 589 ; Meteorology of German East Africa, 182; a Red Rain at Bizerte, Tunis, M. Ginestous, 191 ; the Origin of the Stratus- Cloud, and some suggested Changes in the International Methods of Cloud Measurement, H. Helm Clayton, 197 ; Winter Climate of Egypt, Dr. L. Canney, 215; Barometric Oscillations in 1887, Prof. Sresnevsky, 234 ; Fifty Years’ Ob- servations at Bombay, 234; St. Medard’s Day and Rain, Prof, Cleveland Abbe, 258; Spectroscopic Study of Water Vapour Distribution in Air, L. E. Jewell, 258; the First Attempt to Measure Wind Force, Prof. Marvin, 259 ; Report of Ben Nevis Intermediate Station, T. 8. Muir, 263; De- crease of Trinidad Rainfall, Mr. Hart, 302 ; the Exploration of the Air, A. L. Rotch, 302; the Photographic Observation of Clouds, 322; Thermometer Screens, E. Mawley, 334; Zero displacement in Thermometers, L. Marchis, 479; Ther- mometer for very Low Temperatures, F. Kohlrausch, 524 ; Constant Volume Air-Thermometer, J. E. Murray, 551; Annuaire de l’Observatoire Municipal de Montsouris pour YAnnée 1897, 340; Rainfall in the Lake District, 342 ; Solar Halo, Mock Sun and Rainbow, J. W. Scholes, 349 ; Rain- making by Electricity, Dr. W. Hentschel, 349 ; Fog-Dispersal by Electricity, A. McAdie, 350; the Extraordinarily Cold Climate of Werchojansk, Siberia, Dr. Zenker, 351; the Typhoon of July 22-25, 1896, Rev. L. Froc, 351 ; a Convec- tion Scope and Calorimeter, A. R. Bennett, 359 ; Elementary Meteorology, Frank Waldo, 363; Robinson and Pressure- Tube Anemometers compared, C. E. Peck, 372; True and False Waterspouts, H. Faye, 383 ; the Story of the Weather, George F. Chambers, 413; Mount Etna Observatory, A. Ricco and G, Saija, 419; Mean Values for British Islands, 1871-95, 419; Water at unusually Low Temperatures, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 428 ; Neudrucke von Schriften und Kar- ten tiber Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus, Nos. 7-9, 437 ; Atmospheric Pressure-Variations over Siberia and Eastern Asia during January and February, 1890, Rev. S. Chevalier, 446; Estimation of Atmospheric Ozone on Mt. Blanc, Maurice de Thierry, 454; Report of Meteorological Council for 1895-96, 468; High Air Collection, L. Cailletet, 479; A. Miintz, 479 ; Storms of Western South Atlantic, E. Knipping, 514; Death of Dr. J. Breitenlohmer, 589; Annals of St. Petersburg Observatory, 591; the First Daily Weather Map, G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 598; the Mt. Etna Observatory, H. Faye, 599; Cloud Observations, A. L. Rotch, 614; the Oldest Meteorographs, Dr. Hellmann, 614; Relations be- tween Cold Periods and Anticyclones in England, W. H. Dines, 623 ; Influence of Sunspots on Weather, A. B. Mac- Dowall, 623 4 Meteors: the Leonids, 54, 84; the Leonid Meteor Shower, 1896, W. F. Denning, 54, 153; Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 54; C. T. Whitmell, 54; Leonid Meteor Shower, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 173; Leonid Meteors in America, 137 ; . Meteor at Sea, 160; Meteor in New York City, 181 ; Shoot- ing Stars of January 2, W. F. Denning, 247; a New Meteorite, W. M. Foote, 309; a Meteorite from New Mexico, Warren M. Foote, 572 Metric System adopted in Mexico, 38 Miller (J. H.), Metric System of Weights and Measures compared with the Imperial System, the, Prof. W. H. Wagstaff, 172 Metzner (René), Selenic Anhydride, 191 ; Action of Ammonium on Tellurium Chloride, 263 Meudon, Observations of Mars at, M. Perrotin, 401 Meunier (Stanislas), Origin of Asphalt, 239 Mexico, Metric System adopted in, 38 Meyer (Prof. Victor), the Oxidation of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide, 61 Miall (Prof. L. C., F.R.S.), the Round of the Year, a Series of Short Nature Studies, 265 Micromanometer, Wapour-pressure Measurements Smits, 455; Prof. V. A. Julius, 455 Microphone (Prof. D. E. Hughes, F.RS.), and the Early History of the, 496 with, A. Microscopy : Royal Microscopical Society, 47, 166; Changes in Tentacle of Drosera rotundifolia produced by feeding with Egg Albumen, Lily Huie, 22; Changes in Tentacle Gland-cells of Sun-dew after feeding with White of Egg, Lily Huie, 350; Development and Succession of Teeth in Marsupials, J. T. Wilson and J. O. Hill, 350; Results of Staining Brain by Chrome-Silver Method, Dr. A. Hill, 359; Method of Mounting Rotifers, Nicholas de Zograf, 359; Microscopic Demonstration of Widal’s Test for Typhoid Fever, Dr. Amand Ravold, 454 Miers (Prof. H. A., F.R.S.), Dr. Lehmann’s Liquid Crystals, 235 Milk, Diphtheria Bacilli in, Prof. Schottelius, 301 Mill (Dr. Hugh Robert), the Early Life of Nansen, 201 ; Fridtjof Nansen’s Farthest North, 393 Rotation of Maltose and Soluble Starch, 310 Milroy (Dr. T. H.), Nucleids and Paranucleids of Animal Cell, 238 Milne (Prof. John, F.R.S.), Two Unfelt Earthquakes, 390 Minakata (Kumagusu), Marriage of the Dead, 224 Mineralogy: Discoveries in Newfoundland, 11; Minerals formed from Lead Scoriz from Laurium, A. Lacroix, 144 ; Mineralogical Society, 166; Origin of Asphalt, Stanislas Meunier, 239; Die Minerale des Harzes, Dr. Otto Luedecke, 246; Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, with an Intro- duction on Blowpipe Analysis, G. J. Brush, 292 ; Death of Dr. August Streng, 348; Rarer Elements in Common Ores and Minerals, W. N. Hartley and H. Ramage, 358 ; Crystal- line Structure of Gold, A. Liversidge, 406 ; Gold in Natural Salts and Seaweed, A. Liversidge, 407; Mineralogy of Polycandros, A, Lacroix, 527; Death of Dr. G. A. Kenngott, 540 Mining: Colliery Working and Management, II. F. Bulman and R. A. S. Redmayne, Bennett H. Brough, 148; Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal School of Mines, 340: the Diamond Mines of Kimberley, Dr. William Crookes, F.R.S., 519 ; Colliery Explosions and Coal-Dust, Donald M. D. Stuart, 597 Miolati (Dr. A.), Celebration of Prof. Cannizzaro’s Jubilee, 203 Mists on Mars, M. Flammarion, 235 Model Drawing and Shading from Casts, T. C. Barfield, 52 _ Moissan (Henri), Transformation of Diamond into Graphite in Crookes’ Tube, 551; Crystalline Iron Carbide, 565 Molecular Vibrations, on a New Law connecting the Periods of, Prof. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 200, 223 Moles of North America, F. W. True, 301 Mollusca : Evolution and Phylogeny of Gasteropods, Prof. A. E. Verrill, 190; Influence of Water-Aeration on Development of Fresh-Water Mollusca, Victor Willem, 300 Monaco (Prince Albert of), Princess Alice Bank discovered by, 443 Mond Gas-Produce Plant, the, H. A. Humphreys, 497 a Money, the Evolution of, Axe-heads as Currency, Dr. A. Gotze, 591 “ Mongolia, the Old Turkish Inscriptions in, Prof. N. Katanoff, 262 ; Mongolia and the Mongols, A. Pozdnéeff, 603 Monier System of Construction, Walter Beer, 278 Monkey, a Reputed Malagasy, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 89 Mont Blanc, Chamounix and the Range of, Edward Whymper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Mont Blanc, Actinometric Observations on, MM. Crova and Houdaille, 143 "s Montsouris, Annuaire de l’Observatoire Municipal de, pour lAnnée 1897, 340 XXV1 Index [Supplement to Nature, ike June 17, 1897 Montefiore-Brice (Arthur), the Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land, 52 Moore (C. G.), Applied Bacteriology, 413 Moore (J. E. S.), the Fish of Lake Tanganyika, 258 Moore (Capt. W. Usborne), Formation of Coral Reefs, 463 Morality, Science and, M. Berthelot, 337 Morals, Science and, 322 Morbology : Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease, Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 105,154: G. H. Baxter, 154; Modifications of Nutrition in Cancerous Subjects, MM. Simon Duplay and Savoire, 168; Influenza Bacilli in Central Nervous System, «A. Pfuhl and K. Walter, 182; Cause of ‘* Rouget,” S. Jour- dain, 191; the Vitality of Cholera Vibrios, Herr Wernicke, 233; Nats and the Plague, Dr. Cantlie, 258; the Plague Bacillus, Dr. Roux, 370; the Bacillus of Yellow Fever, Dr. G. Sanarelli, 370; Influence of Diet and Starvation on Effects of certain Microbial Toxines, J. Teissier and L. Guinard, 408 ; Wasted Records of Disease, Chas. E. Paget, 414; the Cause and Cure of Scurvy, Dr. A. E. Wright, 418; Micro- scopic Demonstration of Widal’s Test for Typhoid Fever, Dr. Amand Ravold, 454; the Plague in Bombay, 496 ; Widal’s Bacteriological Diagnosis of Typhoid Fever, 590 : Morgan (J. de), Recherches sur les Origines de 1I’Egypte, 578 Morphology : Nocturnal and Diurnal Changes in the Colours of certain Fishes and of the Squid (Zo/zge), with Notes on their Sleeping Habits, A. E. Verrill, 451; Morphology of the Cerebral Convolutions, Andrew J. Parker, Dr. W. B. Benham, 619 ; the “‘ Spinning ” Activities of Protoplasm in Echinoderm Eggs, G. F. Andrews, 615 Morris (Dr.), on the Effect produced in certain Animals in the West Indies by feeding on the Young Shoots, &c., of the Wild Tamarind or Jumbai Plant (Zeecena glauca, Benth.), 22; Oxalate of Lime Raphides in Hyacinth-Bulbs, 94 Morris (G. H.), Rotation of Maltose and Soluble Starch, 310 Morris (Henry), Diagnosis of Stone by Réntgen Rays, 372 Morrison (W. K.), Suggested Reef Boring at the Bermuda Islands, 5 Morse (Edward S.), Acquired Immunity from Insect Stings, 533 Morton (Prof. W. B.), Effort of Capacity on Stationary Elec- trical Waves in Wires, 575 Mosquito-Bites, W. F. Sinclair, 607 Mosses, Analytical Keys to the Genera and Species of North American, C. R. Barnes, 389 Moths: the Moths of British India, including Ceylon and Burmah, 245; the Larve of British Butterflies and Moths, William Buckler, 460 ; Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of America, North of Mexico, A. S. Packard, 536; on the Colours and Colour-Patterns of Moths and Butterflies, Alfred Goldsborough Mayer, 618 ; Clothes Moths and Cold Storage, Dr. L. O. Howard, 327 Motor-Cars’ Journey to Brighton, 57 Motor-Car Show, the, 81 Mouat (Dr. F. J.), Death of, 277 Mould, Formalin as Preventive of, Mr. Blandford, 142 Moulds, Influence of Food on Respiratory Quotient o!, C. Gerber, 312 Mount Aconcagua, Mr, Fitzgerald’s Ascent of, 277 Mount Etna Observatory, the, H. Faye, 599 Mountain Observatories, 183 Mountaineering, Mr. Fitzgerald’s Ascent of Mount Aconcagua, 27 Mountains: Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present, W. A. Baillie-Grohman, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. ; Aus der Alpen, R. von Lendenfeld, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.RS., ; Chamounix and the Range of Mont Blanc, Edward Whymper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.; Climbs in the New Zealand Alps, E. A. Fitzgerald, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. ; Moun- taineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps, Rey. Walter Weston, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Moureaux (Th.), Icelandic Earthquake recorded at Paris, 4 Mourlot (A.), Action of High Temperature on Metallic Sul- phides, 576 Mouthe Cave, the La, M. E. Riviére, 55, 575 Muir (M. M. Pattison), the Story of the Chemical Elements, 557 Muir (T. S.), Report of Ben Nevis Intermediate Station, 263 Muirhead (R. F.), Variation of Newton’s Law of Impact, 81 Miiller (E.), Absolute Thermal Conductivity of Air, 309 Munby (A. E.), Laboratory Use of Acetylene, 486 Munro (Dr.), Intermediate Links between Man and Lower Animals, 263 Muntz (A.), Wine Manufacture in Southern Regions, 407 ; High Air Collection, 479 Muraoka (H.), Glow-worm Light, 214 Murray (George), Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres, 510 Murray (J. E.), Constant Volume Air Thermometer, 551 Murray (Dr. John, F.R.S.), the Ocean Ranger Reef, Southern Pacific, 334 ; Physical Conditions of Ocean East of Australia, 334; Marine Organisms and the Conditions of their Environ- ment, 500; Coral Reefs, 551 Muscles Peauciers du Crane et de la Face dans les Races Humaines, quelques Observations sur les, Théophile Chud- zinski, 246 Museum, Field Columbian, Collecting Expeditions, 471 Music, Influence on Respiration, &c., of, A. Binet and J. Courtier, 590 Musical Tubes, R. T. Rudd, 165 Mutism, Deaf, Dr. J. K. Love, 550 Nansen’s (Dr. Fridtjof) Narrative, 11; the Early Life of Fridtjof Nansen, W. C. Brogger and Nordahl Rohlfsen, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 201; Arctic Expedition, 352; Farthest North, Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, 393; the North Polar Problem, 495 ; the Man and his Work, Frederick Dolman, 507 Naples Zoological Station, the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Foundation of the, H. M. Vernon, 586 National Memorial to Jenner, 547 National Physical Laboratory, a, 368, 385 Nations, the Struggle of the, G. Maspero, 267 Natural History : Hours with Nature, Rambramha Sanyal, 28 ; Animals at Work and Play, their Activities and Emotions, C. J. Cornish, 52; Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, P.R.S.. during Captain Cook’s First Voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768-71, Sir Joseph D. Hooker, 73 ; Death and Obituary Notice of Dr. David Robertson, 81; Death and Obituary Notice of Alfred Dowsett, 81; a Reputed Malagasy Monkey, R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 89; Cat and Bird Stories, 100; Snow-Buntings, J. R. Dakyns, ror ; Fur and Feather Series: Red Deer, Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 195; In the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral Seas, Prof. Richard Semon, W. Saville-Kent, 227 ; the Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, J. T. Cunningham, W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 361; Crags and Craters, Rambles in the Island of Réunion (Bourbon), W. D. Oliver, 365; Death of Herr Alois Rogenhofer, 370; a Year in the Field, John Burroughs, 387; a-Birding on a Bronco, Florence A. Merriam, 387; Summer Days for Winter Evenings, J. H. Crawford, 387 ; Natural History of North Nyasa, Alexander Whyte, 398 ; Memoirs of St. Petersburg Society, 428; Heterocephalus glaber in North Somaliland, Prof. Henry H. Giglioli, 440; Changes in Faun due to Man’s Agency, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 462; the Ostrich, 546 ; the Memorial Statue of Sir Richard Owen, 561; Rough Notes and Memoranda relating to the Natural History of the Bermudas, J. L. Hurdis, 604; the Cambridge Natural History, vol. ii., Worms, 607 Natural Science, the Philosophy of, Erkenntnisstheoretische Grundziige der Naturwissenschaften und ihre Beziehungen zum Geistesleben der Gegenwart, Dr. R. Volkmann, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 1, 342; Studien zu Methodenlehre und Erkenntnisskritik, Friedrich Dreyer, Prof. Karl Pearson, ER.S:, 1 : Natural Selection : Natural Selection and Origin of Species on Plants, Rev. George Henslow, 189 ; Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection, Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S., Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S., 289 ; Is Natural Selection the Creator of Species ? Duncan Graham, 365 Nature, Out-door Studies of, the Round of the Year, Prof. L. C. Miall, F.R.S., 265; Life in Ponds and Streams, W. Furneaux, 265 Naudin (C.), New Researches on Tubercles of Leguminosz, 48 Nautilus, the Embryology of the, Arthur Willey, 402 Naval Architecture: Institution of Naval Architects, 571; Water-Tube Boiler in Powerful and Terrzble, A. J. Durston, 571; Application of Compound Steam Turbine to Marine Propulsion, Hon, Charles Parsons, 571 3 Navigation : Admiral Fleuriais’ Gyroscopic Horizon, E Guyon, 47; A Schwerer, 48; the Bazin Roller Steamship, 109, 379 3 Obituary Notice of Prof. G. D. E. Weyer, 299 ; Effects Supplement to Se June 17, 1897 Index XXVil of Oil at Sea, M. Baretge, 360; a Manual of Elementary Seamanship, D. Wilson-Barker, 459 Nebulz : the Trifid Nebula, Prof. Pickering, 329 Neolithic Troglodytes, the Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic of the, M. Ed. Piette, 229 Nerve Cells, the Structure of, Alfred Sanders, 101 Nerve Cells, the Union of, F. C. Kenyon, 248; A. Sanders, 248 Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten iiber Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus, 437 Neural Descriptive Terms, some, Prof. Burt G. Wilder, 224 Neville (F. H.), Freezing-point Curves of Zinc Alloys, 502 New Georgia, Ethnography of, Lieut. B. T. Somerville, 143 New Guinea: Sir William Macgregor’s Recent Journey across New Guinea and Re-ascent of Mount Victoria, J. P. Thomp- son, 157; Dr. Henry O. Forbes, 247 New Mexico, a Meteorite from, Warren M. Foote, 572 New South Wales Linnean Society, 72, 191, 240 New South Wales, Two New Plants in, J. H. Maiden, E. Betche, 239 New York Academy of Sciences, 190; Annual Exhibition of, 589 New Zealand: Climbs in the New Zealand Alps, E. A. Fitz- gerald, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102; Pioneer Work in the New Zealand Alps, Arthur E. Harper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S , 458 Newcomb (Prof. Simon), Physical Causes of Variation, 191 ; Solar Motion as Gauge of Stellar Distances, 191 Newfoundland, Discoveries of Minerals in, 11 Newman (F. E.), Theorie der doppelten Strahlenbrechung, abgeleitet aus den Gleichungen der Mechanik, 100 Newth (S. G.), Detection of Potassium Compounds by Flame Test, 543 Newton (Prof. Alfred, F.R.S.), a Dictionary of Birds, 505 ; Early Arrival of the Swift, 508 Newton (Sir Edward), Death and Obituary Notice of, 613 Niagara Falls Electrical Machinery, Starting of, 58 Nichols (E. F.), Heat Rays of Great Wave-Length, 329 ; Behaviour of Quartz towards Infra-red Rays, 524 ; Heat Rays of Great Length, 524 Nickel Stress Telephone, a, T. A. Garrett, 574 Nile Cataracts, Plan to Generate Electricity at the, 562 Nipher (Prof. F. E.), Frictional Effect of Trains on Air, 454 Nitrogen, Papilionaceous Plants and, Prof. W. Somerville, 399 Nittis (M.). Protective Power of Serum influenced by Nerve Lesion, 264 Nobel (Alfred), Death and Obituary Notice of, 232 Non-Metallic Chemistry : the Tutorial Chemistry, Part i., Non- Metals, G. H. Bailey, 195; Elementary Non-Metallic Chemistry, S. R. Trotman, 195 N6rdlinger (Dr. Herman von), Death of, 348 North American Mosses, Analytical Key to the Genera and Species of, C. R. Barnes, 389 North Atlantic, March Weather in, 589 North Polar Problem, the, Dr. Nansen, 495 Norton (Charles L.), a Powerful and Efficient Means of Driving X-Ray Tubes, 460 Notes of the Night, and other Outdoor Sketches, Charles C. Abbott, 77 Nova Aurigze, Prof. W. W. Campbell, 617 Noyes (Mr.), Reaction of Ferric Chloride, Potassium Chloride and Hydrochloric Acid, 543 Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, 142, 406 “ieee (G.), Is Animal Life possible in the Absence of Bacteria ? 23 Nyland (A. A.), the Period of Rotation of Jupiter’s Spots, 352 Oats, the Cultivation of, 496 Oberbeck (A.), Dissipation of Electricity from Conductor into Air, 380 Observatories : Strassburg Observatory, 14 ; Companion to the Observatory, 163 ; Mountain Observatories, 183 ; the Western Australia Government Observatory, 183 ; Melbourne Observa- tory, 235; Annuaire de l’Observatoire Municipal de Mont- souris pour Annee 1897, 340; Belgian Observatory Annual, 516; Columbia University Observatory’s Publications, 544 ; Harvard College Observatory Report, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 566 Oceanic Ichthyology, George Brown Goode, Tarlton H. Bean, SHAE) Oddone (Dr. E.), the Periodicity of Earthquakes in Liguria, 82 O’Donahue (T. A.), Colliery Surveying, 438 Ogilvie (Dr. Maria M.), Recent Work on the Madreporarian Skeleton, 126 ; the Classification of Madreporaria, 280 Ogilvie (William), Gold discovered in Canada, 540 Oil at Sea, Effects of, M. Baretge, 360 Oliver (W. D.), Crags and Craters, Rambles in the Island of Réunion (Bourbon), 365 Oloufsen (M.), the Pamir Country, 27 Omori (Prof. F.), After-Shocks of Great Japanese Earthquake of November 4, 1854, 205 ; Intensity and Amplitude of Motion _ in Great Japanese Earthquake of 1891, 444 Oology : Death of Major C. E. Bendire, 417 Opinion, Scientific, the Need of Organising, Dr. Henry PB. Armstrong, F.R.S., 409, 433 Oppel (Albert), Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere, 74 Optics: the Origin of Anti-Kathodic Rays, P. de Heen, 13; Luciferase, R. Dubois, 24 ; Optical Conditions of Fatigue in Reading, H. Griffing and S. J. Franz, 82; Photo-Electric Residual Action of Kathode Rays, J. Elster and H. Geitel, 92; some Experiments with Kathode Rays, A. A. C. Swinton, 568 ; Interference Refractometer for Electric Waves, O. Wiedeburg, 92; Refraction Constants of Crystalline Salts, W. J. Pope, 93 ; Application of Illusions accompanying Formation of Penumbra to Réntgen Rays, G. Sagnac, 119; Uranic Rays, H. Becquerel,119, 454 ; Optical Properties of Glass Cylinder in Rapid Rotation in Magnetic Field, C. Duperray, 161; Flicker Photometers, Prof. O. N. Rood, 190; Telescope Free from Secondary Colour, Prof. C. S. Hastings, 191 ; Influence of Magnetisation on Emitted Light, Dr. Zeeman, 192; Electro-Capillary Light, P. Schott, 214; Glow-worm Light, H. Muraoka, 214 ; Curious Optical Phenomenon, Dr. C. B. Warring, 232; Variation of Accidental Double Refrac- tion of Quartz, with Direction of Compression, R. Dongier, 263; Ophthalmoscopic Appearances of Fundus Oculi in Primates, Dr. Lindsay Johnson, 333; the Direct Synthesis of Optically Active Proteid-like Substances, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 341; Absorption of Ultra-Violet Light by Crystals, V. Agafonoff, 350; Subjective Colour Pheno- mena, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 367; the Use of very Small Mirrors with Paraffin Lamp and Scale, H. H. Hoffert, 382 ; Changes of Colour in Flashes of Light of Short Duration, Aug. Charpentier, 407; the Colours of the Brazilian Diamond Beetle’s Scales, Dr. Garbasso, 444; Diffraction Pattern near Telescope Focus, R. H. D. Mayall, 479 ; Behaviour of Quartz towards Infra-Red Rays, E. F. Nichols, 524; Heat Rays of Great Wave-length, H. Rubens and E. F. Nichols, 524; Luminosity and Photometry, J. B. Hayeraft, 525; Dr. Zeeman’s Phenomenon in Eye, E. G. A. ten Siethoff, 527 ; Partial Polarisation of Luminous Rays under Influence of Magnetic Field, N. Egoroff and N. Géorgiewsky, 575; New Cadmium Lamp for producing Interference Fringes, Maurice Hamy, 576 Orbit of Jupiter’s First Satellite, the, Dr. Fritz Cohn, 421 Orbits of Bodies, Lecture-room Demonstration of the, under the Action of a Central Attraction, R. W. Wood, 620 O'Reilly (Dr. M. F.) on Mass, 317 Organic Selection, Prof. J. Mark Baldwin, 558 Origin of Manna, the, B. Timothy, 440 “ Origin of the Stratus-Cloud, the, and some Suggested Changes in the International Methods of Cloud Measurements, H. Helm Clayton, 197 Original Work, on the Publication of, Swale Vincent, 79 | Ormerod (Eleanor A.), Report of Observations of Injurious Insects and Common Farm Pests during the Year 1896, with Methods of Prevention and Remedy, 557 : Ornithology: the Swallows, Henry Cecil, 53 ; Observations of Swallows, S. Stainer, 109; Death of Heinrich Gatke, 348 ; a Dictionary of Birds, Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., 505; the Ostrich, 546; the Affinities of Hesperornzs, Prof. B. C Marsh, 534; Death and Obituary Notice of Sir Edward Newton, 613 Osmotic Pressure, Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., 33; Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273: Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S., 545 ; Osmotic Pressure and Ionic Dissociation, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 78: the Theory of Dissociation into Ions, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 150; W. C. D. Whetham, 151, 606 ; E. F. Herroun, 152 ; Spencer Pickering, F.R.S., 223 : Semi- permeable Films and Osmotic Pressure, Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, 461 Ostrich, the, 546 XXVIll Lndex Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 Ostwald’s Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften: No. 76, Theorie der doppelten Strahlenbrechung, abgeleitet aus den Gleichungen der Mechanik, F. E. Newman, 100; No. 77, Ueber die Bildung und die Eigenschaften der Determinanten, C. G. J. Jacobi, 100; No, 78, Ueber die Functional De- terminanten, C. G. J. Jacobi, 100; No. 79, Zwei Hydro- dynamische Abhandlungen, H. Helmholtz, 100 ; Nos. 80-85, 41 5. O'Sullivan (C.), Identity of Dextrose from Various Sources, 142 Otto (Maurice), Ozone and Phosphorescence, 168; Density of Ozone, 287 Oudemans (Prof. J. A. C.), the Triangulation of Java, 455 Owen (Sir Richard), the Memorial Statue of, 561 Oxford, Agricultural Teaching at, Robert Warington, F.R.S., 449 : : Oxygen, Surgical Uses of, George Stoker, 40 , Oxygen in the Sun, Herren Runge and Paschen, 303; Lewis Jewell, 447 _ 4 Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease, Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 105, 154; G. H. Baxter, 154 Oyster Question, the, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 293 Oysters, Copper and, W. F. Lowe, 366, 415; Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., 366 Ozone and Phosphorescence, Maurice Otto, 168 Ozone, Density of, Maurice Otto, 287 Pacific Expedition, Prof. Sollas’s, 12 Packard (Alpheus G.), Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of America, North of Mexico, 536 Page (Emest Judson), the Clue to the Ages, 580 Paget (Chas. E.), Wasted Records of Disease, 414 Paint, a Heat-indicating, Dr. S. P. Thompson, 525 Palzobotany : New Fossil Cone, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 333; Sigillaria and Glossopteris in South Africa, A. C. Seward, 550; David Draper, 550 Palzolithics : the Cromer Forest Bed Worked Flints, W. J. L. Abbott, 300; Stone Axe of Glacial Period found in Ohio, Dr. E. W. Claypole, 350; the Hitchin Deposits in the Glacial Epoch, Clement Reid, 501 Palzontology : Application of Rontgen Rays to Paleontology, M. Lemoine, 81; Casts of /gzanodon bernissertensis, pre- sented by King of the Belgians to Cambridge Museum of Zoology, S. F. Harmer, 94; Origin of European Fauna, Dr. R. F. Scharff, 95; Fossil Plants from St. Bathans (New Zealand), G. M. Thomson, 135; New Mollusca from Lancashire Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures, H. Bolton, 143; Fauna of Keisley Limestones, F. R. C. Reed, 166; Archelon Ischyros, G. R. Wieland, 188; Affinities of the Echinothuridae, Dr. J. W. Gregory, 189; New French Mosasauria, Armand Thevenin, 239; Death and Obituary Notice of Baron Constantin Ettingshausen, 370 ; the Dinosaurs of North America, Othniel Charles Marsh, 463 ; Classification of Trilobites, C. E. Beecher, 476; the Memorial Statue of Sir Richard Owen, 561 Pamir Country, the, MM. Oloufsen and Philipsen, 278 Pancoast (Prof. W. H.), Death of, 277 Panichi (Prof. Uno), Electrostatic Dispersion of Rontgen Rays, 135 Paper for Books, the Choice of, Cross and Bevan, 241 Paper Making: Les Succédanés du Chiffon en Papeterie, V. Urbain, 388 Parasitic Diseases of Poultry, the, Fred. V. Theobald, 196 Paris, Icelandic Earthquake recorded at, Th. Moureaux, 4 Paris Academy of Sciences, 24, 47, 71, 95, 119, 143, 167, 191, 215, 239, 263, 287, 311, 335, 359, 383, 431, 454, 479, 503, 527, 551, 575, 599, 623 ; Medal Awards for 1896, 215 ; Prize Subjects of the, 261; a Gift to the, 544 Parker (Andrew J.), Morphology of the Cerebral Convolutions, 619 Parker (Mr.), Redetermination of Atomic Weight of Magnesium, 41 Parsons (Hon. Charles), Trial of Steam Turbine Engine as applied to Marine Propulsion, 181 ; Application of Compound Steam Turbine to Marine Propulsion, 571 Parsons (H. Franklin), Cultivation of Woad, 198 Partial Impact of Celestial Bodies, Prof. A. W. Bickerton, 61 Paschen (Herr), Oxygen in the Sun, 303 Passion Flowers and Albucas, Dr. Wilson on Hybridisation in, 22 Pasteur (Louis), the Final Entombment of, 204; the Tomb of, 275; Memorial Lecture of the Chemical Society, the, Prof. Percy Frankland, F.R.S., 518 Patches, Purple, 59, 155; A. Pedder, 33 Patein (G.), Constitution of Antipyrin-Phenol Combinations, 35 Patent Law, British, Hubert Haes, 149 Pathology: the Bacteria which we breathe, eat, and drink, Dr. A. A. Kanthack, 209; Is Animal Life possible in the Absence of Bacteria? G, Nuttall and H. Thierfelder, 238 ; the Value of Pathological Research, Lord Lister, P.R.S., 329 ; the Function of Disease in the Struggle for Existence, Prof. T. D, A. Cockerell, 534 Paton (Dr. Noél), the Green Pigment of 7hadlassenza, 400 Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates, James I’Anson, 269 ; J. Brown, 294 ; Fernando Sandford, 485, Paul (T.), Behaviour of Bacteria towards Reagents, 328 Peal (S. E.), the Svastika, 248; Sailing Flight, 271 Pearson (Prof. Karl, F.R.S.), Studien zu Methodenlehre und Erkenntnisskritik, Friedrich Dreyer, 1; Erkenntniss theoretische Grundziige der Naturwissenschaften und ihre Bezischungen zum Geistesleben der Gegenwart, Dr. P. Volkmann, I, 342; the Epistemology of Natural Science and Mr. Karl Pearson, 343 Peary (Lieut. ), Projected New Polar Expedition, 371; Plan to reach North Pole, 564 Peasblossom, Caroline Pridham, 28 Pedder (A.), Purple Patches, 33 Peek (C. E.), Robinson and Pressure-Tube Anemometers com- pared, 372 : Pélabon (A. H.), Absorption of Sulphuretted Hydrogen by Liquid Sulphur, 264; Interesting Case of Chemical Equilibrium, 420; the Combination of Sulphur Hydrogen, 551 Pellat (H.), Measurement of Force acting on Non-Electrified Dielectric Liquids in Electric Feld, 48 Pen, the Camera and the, T. C. Hepworth, 268 Pendulums, Method of comparing Oscillation of, with Aid of Electric Spark, G. Lippmann, 311 Perdoix (L.), Action of Potassium Permanganate on Polyhydric Alcohols, 143 Periodical Comets, 401 Perkin (A. G.), the Colouring Matter of Wallflower and Haw- thorn, 93 ; Derivatives of Maclurin, 358 ; Apiin and Apigenin, 8 and 47 Perkin (W. H., jun.), Sulphocamphylic Acid, 93 ; Synthesis of Camphoronic Acid, 526 Perkins (R. C. L ), the Introduction of Beneficial Insects into the Hawaiian Islands, 499 Perm, Remarkable Find of Chud Implements Sergureff, 82 Permain (T. H.), Applied Bacteriology, 413 Pérot (A.), Absolute Electrometer for Small Forces, 327; Measurement of Coefficient of Viscosity of Air, 383 Perrigot (M.), Dark Light, 624 Perrin (Jean), Influence of Temperatures and Pressure on Dis- charges by Rontgen Rays, 119; Dissociation of Neutral Electricity produced in Gases by Rontgen Rays, 232; Dis- charge by Rontgen Rays, 454 Perrine, Comet, 208, 279; Ephemeris for, H. Kreutz, 41 ; Prof. Holden, 42; Otto Knopf, 110 Perrotin (M.), Observations of Mars at Meudon, 401 Perry (Prof. John, F.R.S.), Elements of Mechanics, Thomas Wallace Wright, 49 ; the Force of One Pound, 176 Personality, Alterations of, Alfred Binet, 389 Pertz (D. F. M.), Injection of Intercellular Spaces of 2vlodea Leaves, 526 . Petroleum : a Treatise on Petroleum, Boverton Redwood, 169 ; Le Pétrole, l’Asphalte et le Bitume, au point de vue géo- logique, A. Jaccard, 169; Petroleum, its Development and Uses, R. Nelson Boyd, 169 Pfuhl (A.), Influenza Bacilli in Central Nervous System, 182 Philipsen (M.), the Pamir Country, 278 ; Philosophical Society of Washington, Bulletin of the, 438 Philosophy of Natural Science, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 1, M. near, 342 : na Philpot (Mrs. J. H.), the Sacred Tree, or the Tree in Religion and Myth, 483 d Phipson (J. L.), Analysis of Air by dgarecus agramentarius, 95 : Phosphorescence, Ozone and, Maurice Otto, 168 Supplement to ec eel June 17, 1897 L[ndex XXIX Phosphorus, Diselectrification by, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 6, 155; Profs. Elster and Geitel, 155; J. R. Ashworth, 225 Photography: Rapid Printing Machine at Berlin, Friese Greene, 39; Experiments on Rontgen Rays, Dr. John Macintyre, 64 ; Photographic Study of Expansion of Liquids, Alphonse Berget, 71; Photography of Flying Bullets, 79; Apparatus for giving Diagrams of Efficiency of Shutter, Captain Abney, 119; Radiography, Dr. G. M. Lowe, 154; W. I. Chadwick, 198; Results with Prismatic Camera during 1896 Eclipse, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 263; Photography by Impact of Dust-laden Current of Air, P. de Heen, 279; Photo-Trichromatic Printing, C. G. Zander, 315; Photo- graphy in Colours, Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Captain W. de W. Abney, F.RS., 318; Photographic Reproduction of Colours, 422; the Dansac-Chassagne Coloured Photograph Process, 564; the Photographic Observation of Clouds, 322; Everybody’s Guide to Photography, ‘‘ Operator,” 365 ; Lunar Photographs, Camille Flammarion, 373 ; the Practical Photo- grapher, vol. vii., 414; Photography of Ripples, J. H. Vincent, 430; Prominence Photography, 447; a Powerful and Efficient Means of Driving X-Ray Tubes, Charles L. Norton, Ralph R. Lawrence, 460; Photography as a Hobby, Matthew Suriace, 460; Isaac Roberts on Long-Exposure Photographs, 544; Prof. Harold Jacoby on the Reduction of Stellar Photographs with special Reference to the Astro-photo- graphic Catalogue Plates, and on the Permanence of the Rutherfurd Photographic Plates, 544; X-Ray Photography, William Webster, 559; Effect of Electrical Discharge on Photographic Plate, James I’Anson, 581; Reflector and Portrait Lens in Celestial Photography, Dr. Max Wolf, 582 Photometry: Death of Dr. J. T. Wolff, 11; Flicker Photo- meters, Prof. O. N. Rood, 190; the Atmospheric Absorp- tion of Light, W. E. Plummer, 235; Proposed System of Photometric Units, Prof. Leonhard Weber, 513 Phthisis, the Climate of Bournemouth in Relation to Disease, especially, A. Kinsey-Morgan, 316 Physics: Physical Society, 23, 70, 119, 164, 309, 382, 430, 477; 525, 574; Vapour Pressure of Solutions, A. Ponsot, 24 ; Practical Work in Physics, W. G. Woollcombe, 28 ; Osmotic Pressure, Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., 33; Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273 ; Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S., 545 ; Osmotic Pressure and Ionic Dissociation, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 78; the Theory of Dissociation into Ions, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 150; W. C. D. Whetham, 151, 606; E. F. Herroun, 152; Spencer Pickering, F.R.S., 223; Semi- permeable Films and Osmotic Pressur , Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, 461 ; Measurement of Low Temperatures, L. Holborn and W. Wien, 46; Temperatures inside Vacuum Tubes, R. W.Wood, 46 ; Concurrent Observations of Viscosity and Electric Conductivity of Gelatinous Salt Solution, A. Griffiths, 47; Floating Mercury on Water, C. Stromeyer, 53 ; Methods of determining Dryness of Saturated Steam and Condition of Steam Gas, Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., 71 ; Compressi- bility of Gases at Zero, A. Leduc, 71 ; Photographic Study of Expansion of Liquids, Alphonse Berget, 71 ; Death of Dr. S. Cornelius, 81; Apparatus for Eliminating Vibrations from Galvanometers, &c., Prof. W. H. Julius, 83; Volume Measurement of Air-Thermometer Bulb, W.°G. Cady, 92; Viscosity of Mixtures of Liquids, C. E. Linebarger, 91; Residual Viscosity and Thermal Expansion, H. D. Day, 92; Ostwald’s Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften, No. 76, Theorie der doppelten Strahlenbrechung, abgeleite, aus den Gleichungen der Mechanik, F. E. Neuman, 100; No. 77, Ueber die Bildung und die Eigenschaften der deter- minanten, C. G. J. Jacobi, 100 ; No. 78, Ueber die Functional- determinanten, C. G. J. Jacobi, 100; No. 79, Zwei Hydro- dynamische Abhandlungen, H. Helmholtz, 100; Nos. 80-85, 413; Apparatus for giving Diagrams of Efficiency of Photo- graphic Shutter, Captain Abney, 119; the Pound as a Force, Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., 124, 223; Dr. M. J. Jackson, 126; L. Cumming, 126; Prof. A. M Worthington, F.R.S., 247; Units of Force, C. S. Jackson, 198; Dynamical Units, Prof. Geo. Fras. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., 389, 439; the Force of a Ton, 365, 415; Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 365; Death of Dr. K. S. Cornelius, 133; Molecular Entropy, Georges Darzens, 143; Equation of Forces acting in Flota- tion of Metal Discs and Rings, Prof. A. M. Mayer, 190; Decrease with Diminishing Volume of 4 in Equation of Fluids, Prof. van der Waals, 192; Capillary Ascent between Two Concentric Cylindrical Tubes, Dr. Verschaffelt, 192; the Distance of the Visible Horizon, L. Cumming, 198; on a New Law connecting the Periods of Molecular Vibrations, Prof. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 200, 223 ; Physical Science a Hundred Years ago, T. E. Thorpe, 217; Boscovich’s Theory of Atomic Configurations in Gas Molecules, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 238; the Theory of Solutions, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 253 ; Recent Determinations of Viscosity of Water by Efflux Methods, G. H. Knibbs, 259; Acceleration, Rev. Edward Geoghegan, O. J. L., 271; Relative Temperature in Geissler Tubes, R. W. Wood, 274 ; Variations of Melting Point with Pressure, R. Demerliac, 287 ; Method for Measuring Vapour Pressures of Liquids, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273; Note on Method for Measuring Vapour Pressures, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 295 ; the Gravitation Constant and the Mean Density of the Earth, Dr. Franz Richarz and Dr. Otto Krigar-Menzel, 296; a National Physical Laboratory, 368, 385; Death and Obituary Notice of Prof. Charles Tomlinson, F.R.S., 371; the Use of very Small Mirrors with Paraffin Lamp and Scale, H. H. Hoffert, 382; Measurement of Coefficient of Viscosity of Air, Ch. Fabry and A. Perot, 383 ; Compressibility of Salt Solutions, Prof. Tait, 431 ; the Gases of the Atmosphere, Prof. William Ramsay, F.R.S., 435; Apparatus for ascertaining Independ- ency of Pressure of Amount of Gases dissolved in Sea- water at great Depths, Jules Richard, 444; Frictional Effect of Trains on Air, Prof. F. E. Nipher, 454; Vapour Pressure Measurement with Micromanometer, A. Smits, 455 ; Prof. V. A. Julius, 455; Ellipsoidal Forms of Equilibrium of Revolving Liquid Body, S. Kriiger, 455; Tabellen fiir Gasanalysen, Prof. Dr. G. Lunge, 460; the Coefficient of Expansion of Petroleum Ether, Prof. F. Kohlrausch, 470 ; the Absence of Mechanical Connection between Ether and Matter, Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., 477 ; a Mechanical Cause of Homogeneity of Structure and Symmetry, William Barlow, 477 ; Liquefaction of Air by Self-intensive Refrigeration, Dr. W. Hampson, 485; Short Studies in Physical Science, Vaughan Cornish, 507 ; Liquid Coherers and Mobile Con- ductors, Rollo Appleyard, 525; Kinematic Models, Dr. S. P. Thompson, 525; Decrease of Vapour Tension determined by Magnitude of Molecules of Solvent, Prof. van der Waals, 5273; an Intermediate Course of Practical Physics, Prof. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 5313; Special Points in Melting Curve, Prof. van der Waals, 551 ; An Elementary Text-Book for University Classes, Dr. C. G. Knott, 557 ; Lecture-room Demonstration of Orbits of Bodies under the Action of a Central Attraction, R. W. Wood, 620; Condensation of Water Vapour in Dust-free Air, &c., C. T. R. Wilson, 622 Physiography for Beginners, A. T. Simmons, 172 Physiology: Death of Dr. Moritz Schiff, 11; Death and Obituary Notice of Henry Newell Martin, Prof. M. Foster, Sec.R.S., 56; Lipase, a New Blood Serum Ferment, M. Hanriot, 71; Distribution of Lipase in Organism, M. Hanriot, 96; Estimation of Lipase in Blood, MM. Hanriot and L. Camus, 359; Non-identic Lipases, M. Hanriot, 576 ; the Achromatometer, A. M. Bloch, 96; the Structure of Nerve Cells, Alfred Sanders, ror; Heredity of Acquired Characteristics, Leonard Hill, 160 ; Modification of Nutrition in Cancerous Subjects, MM. Simon Duplay and Savoire, 168 ; Physiological and Chemical Reactions of certain Proteid-like Substances, Dr. J. W. Pickering, 188; the Structural and Physiological Neurous Unit, Prof. McKendrick, 190; Coagu- lating and Toxic Properties of Liver, MM. Mairet and Vires, 191 ; Absolute and Relative Weight of Brains of Mammals, Prof. Weber, 192; Death of Prof. Emil du Bois-Reymond, 204 ; Obituary Notice of, Prof. J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., 230; the Czecal Fosse, Dr. Richard Berry, 238 ; Nucleins and Paranucleins of Animal Cell, Dr. T. H. Milroy, 238; a New Theory of Cicatrisation, L. Ranvier, 239; Kirke’s Handbook of Physiology, Prof. W. D. Halliburton, F.R.S., 244; the Union of Nerve Cells, F. C. Kenyon, 248; A. Sanders, 248; Physiology of Muscular Action, A. Chauveau and J. Tissot, 263; Influence of Psychic Processes on Blood Pressure, A. Binet and WN. Vaschide, 264; Physiology of Glycogen, Dr. Charles Creighton, 303; Ophthalmoscopic Appearances of the Fundus Oculi in the Primates, Dr. Lindsay Johnson, 333; Experiments on Distribution of Posterior Root-Fibres of Spinal Nerves, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 356; Cataleptoid Reflexes in Monkey, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 357 ; Reciprocal Innervation of Antagonistic Muscles, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 381 ; Argon and Nitrogen in Blood, P. Regnard and Th. Schloesing, 383 ; Influence of XXX Index Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 Brain-work on Blood-pressure, MM. A. Binet and N. Vaschide, 399 ; Conditions of Fat-Absorption from Intestine, ¢ B. Moore and D. P. Rockwood, 429; the Regeneration of Nerves, Dr. Robert Kennedy, 429; Absorption of Nitrogen by Blood, Christian Bohr, 431 ; Influence of Respiration on Size and Shape of Blood Corpuscles, Mr. Hamburger, 431 ; Synaptic Fibres, L. Ranvier, 454; Physiologische Pflanzen- anatomie, Dr. G. Haberlandt, 457 ; Urates in the Hair, J. B. Smith, 470; Death of Charles Contejean, 495; Origin and Destination of Afferent and Efferent Tracts in the Medulla Oblongata, Dr. J. S. Russell, 502 ; Energy Changes in Living Muscle, A. Chauveau, 503; Action of Bile on Nervous System, Adolph Bickel, 551 ; Influence of Carbonic Acid on Blood Corpuscles, Mr. Hamburger, 551; Death of Dr. Siuku Sakaki, 562; Comparative Physiology of Supra- renal Capsules, Swale Vincent, 574; Action of X-Rays on Heart, Gaston Seguy and F. Queénisset, 576; the Alleged Injurious Effects of X-Rays, J. L. Thomas, 590; Results of Application of X-Rays to Stomach, M. Sorel, 600; Influence of Music on Respiration, &c., A. Binet and J. Courtier, 590; Reducing Power of Living Animal Tissues, Dr. D. F. Harris, 599; the Formation of Urobilin, Dr. D. F. Harris, 599; the fs Spinning ” Activities of Protoplasm, in Echinoderm Eggs, G. F. Andrews, 615 Picaud (M.), Toxicity of Alcohol, 600 Pickering (Prof. E, C.), Relative Motion of Stars in the Line of Sight, 137; the Algol Variable + 17° 4367 W Delphini, 260; the Trifid Nebula, 329 ; Harvard College Observatory Report, 566 Pickering (Dr. J. W.), Chemical and Physiological Reactions of Sy nthesised Proteid-like Substances, 188 Pickering (Spencer, F.R.S.), the Theory of Dissociation into Ions, 223 ; Pierce (Prof. John), Death of, 495 Piette (M. Ed.), the Reading, Writing and Arithmetic of the Neolithic Troglodytes, 229 Pinerva (E.), Separation of Nickel, Cobalt and Aluminium, 624 Pioneer Work in the New Zealand Alps, Arthur E. Harper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 458 Pipes Damaged by Electrolysis, 468 Pirsson (L. S.), Missourite, 91 Plague in Bombay, the, 159, 258, 496; Serum, 540; Rats and the Plague, Dr. Plague Microbe, Dr. Roux, 370; Dr. Virus, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 378 Planets : Planetary Notes, 111 ; Mars, 41; Prof. Schiaparelli, 516; Observations of Mars at Meudon, M. Perrotin, 4o1 ; the Ellipticity of the Disc of Mars, Prof. W. Schur, 421; the Period of Rotation of Jupiter’s Spots, A. A. Nyland, 352; the Orbit of Jupiter’s Fifth Satellite, Dr. Fritz Cohn, 421 ; Observations of Jupiter’s Fifth Satellite, Prof. J. M. Schaeberle, 566; the Rotation of Venus, Percival Lowell, 421 ; Drawings of Mercury, Percival Lowell, 447 ; the Planet Mercury, Percival Lowell, 617; Relationship between the Masses and Distances of the Four Outer Planets, G. E. Sutcliffe, 559 Plants: Tournefort and the Latitudinal and Altitudinal Dis- tribution of, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 52; the Discovery of another Connecting Link between Flowering and Flower- less Plants, 396 Plasmodiophora brassice, Prof. M. C. Potter, 33 Plateau (Prof. F.), Insects and Colour in Flowers, 300 ; Insects and Flower-Scent, 444 Plots and Pots, Agricultural Experiments in, 596 Plummer (John), the Australian Snow Country, 301 Plummer (W. E.), the Atmospheric Absorption of Light, Poems of George John Romanes, 124 Polar Cap of Mars, the, 303 Pollock (Mr.), Experiments with Rontgen Rays, 70 Polycandros, Mineralogy of, A. Lacroix, 527 Polygonum, Prof. Trail, F.R.S., on the Floral Deviations in some Species of, 21 Polymorphism of the Green Algz, and the Principles of their Evolution, Prof. Chodat, 20 Polytechnic, the Newest German, Sir Philip Magnus, 34 Ponds and Streams, Life in, W. Furneaux, 265 Ponsot (A.), Vapour Pressure of Solutions, 24 Pope (W. J.), Refraction Constants of Crystalline Salts, 93 ; Compounds of Camphoric Acid and Acetone, 142; Enantio- morphism, 310 Cobalt and Iron, and of Failure of Yersin Cantlie, 258; the Yersin and Plague Porter (T. C.), the X-Rays produced by a Wimshurst Machine, 30; a Correction, 79 Portrait Lens in Celestial Photography, Reflector and, Dr, Max Wolf, 582 Pots, Plots and, Agricultural Experiments in, 596 Potter (Prof. M. C.), Plasmodiophora brassicae, 33 Poulton (Prof. Edward B., F.R.S.), Responsibility in Science, 100 ; Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection, 289 Poultry, the Parasitic Diseases of, Fred. V. Theobald, 196 Poultry Guide, the New, for British Farmers and others, Kinard B. Baghot-De La Bere, 485 Pound, the Force of One, Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., 124, 223 ; Dr. M. J. Jackson, 126; L. Cumming, 126; Prof. John Perry, F. REG 176; Prof. one M. Worthington, FE 1S 2217/5 Dr. T. W. Wright, 270 Poynting (Prof. J. H., F.R.S.),Osmotic Pressure, 33 Pozdnéeff (A.), Mongolia and the Mongols, 603 Practical Photographer, the, 414 Practical Physics, an Intermediate Course of, Prof. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 531 Practical Work in Physics, W. G. Woollcombe, 28 Praying Wheel, the Buddhist, William Simpson, 171 Prehistoric Man and Beast, Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., 314 Pressure, Osmotic, Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S., 33; Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273; Dr. J. Larmor, F:R-S., 5455 and Ionic Dissociation, Dr. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 78; the Theory of Dissociation into Ions, Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., 150; W. C. D. Whetham, 151, 606; E. F. Herroun, 152 ; Spencer Pickering, F.R.S,, 223 ; Semi-permeable Films and, Prof. J. W. Gibbs, 461 Pressures, the Measurement of, in the Bore of Guns, Bashforth, 460 Price (W. A.), Alternating Currents in Concentric Conductors, 575; a Galvanometer Support, 575 Priceless Gem, the, Balmokand, 233 Prichard and Acquired Characters, Wilfred Mark Webb, 342; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 342 Pridham (Caroline), Peasblossom, 28 Primate Brain, the, Dr. W. B. Benham, 619 Prime Numbers, on the Goldbach Euler Theorem regarding, Prof. J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., 196, 269 Primeval Life, Relics of, Sir J. William Dawson, F.R.S., 484 Prince (C. Leeson), the Departure of Swallows, 6 ; Chelidonium muajus as a Cure for Cancer, 155 Princeton Sesquicentennial, the, Dr. Wm. H. Hale, 43 Printing, Photo-Trichromatic, C. G. Zander, 315 Pritchard (Ada), Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., late Savilian Pro- fessor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, Memoirs of his Life, 601 Pritchard (Charles, F.R.S.), late Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University of Oxford, Memoirs of his Life, Ada Pritchard, 601 Prize Subjects of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 261 Prizes in Astronomy, 373 Problem of the Sense Qualities, the, Prof. E. B. Titchener, 294 ; W. E. Johnson, 295 Procyon, the Companion to, Prof. Schaerberle, 62, 498; Isaac W. Ward, 153 Projectiles de Campagne de Siége et de Place: Vallier, 388 Prolegomena Experience, a Chapter of, Rev. Wilfred Rich- mond, 4 Prominence Photography, 447 Proteid-like Substances, the Direct Synthesis of Optically Active, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 341 Psychology: Analytic Psychology, G. F. Stout, W. E. John- son, 121; an Outline of Psychology, Edward Bradford Titchener, W. E. Johnson, 121; the Problem of the Sense Qualities, Prof. E. B. Titchener, 294; W. E. Johnson, 295 ; Alterations of Personality, Alfred Binet, 389. Publication of Original Work, on the, Swale Vincent, 79 Pumping Machinery, the Mechanics of, Dr. Julius Ww eisbach, Prof. Gustav Herrmann, 364 ¢ Puppis, a New Spectroscopic Binary, 137; the Spectrum of, Rev. F. Fusées, E. 352 Purdie (T.), Action of Alkyl Iodides on Silver Malates, 142 Purification, Water and its, Samuel Rideal, Joseph Lunt, 602 Purple Patches, 59, 155; A. Pedder, 33 Supplement to Natu me] In dex XX XI June 17, 1897 Queensland, Sugar Cane Growth in, 60 Quelch (J. J.), the Electric Eel, 508 Queénisset (F.), Action of X-Rays on Heart, 576 Quincke (G.), Rotations in Constant Electric Field, 92 Rabbit, New Mexican, Dr. C. H. Merriam, 300 Rabies, the Extirpation of, 325 Racial Change, Rate of, that accompanies Different Degrees of Severity in Selection, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 605 Radignet (M.), Fluorescence of Vitrified Materials under Rontgen Rays, 335 Radiography: Dr. G. M. Lowe, 154; W. I. Chadwick, 198 ; with Wimshurst Machine, W. G. Watson, 12; Uranic Rays, H. Becquerel, 119, 454 ; Length of Exposure of Radiographs through Limbs of Different Dimensions, L. N. Vandevyver, 232; Transparency of Glass and Porcelain to Rontgen Rays, Prof. Riicker, 232; Radioscopy applied to Diagnosis of Thoracic Diseases, Ch. Bouchard, 239; J. Bergonié, 239; Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates, J. Brown, 294; James I’Anson, 269; Fernando Sanford, 485; Radiography of Soft Parts of Men and Animals, MM. Remy and Contremoulin, 359 ; Rapidity with which Radiographs are now taken, Dr. John Macintyre, 541 ; Dermatitis due to X-Rays, T. C. Gilchrist, 541 ; Production of X-Rays of different Penetrative Values, A. A. C. Swinton, 621; Comparison between Absorption by Crystalline Media of Luminous Rays and Rontgen Rays, A. Agafnoff, 623. See also Réntgen Rays Rain-making by Electricity, Dr. W. Hentschel, 349 Rainfall in the Lake District, 342 Raisin (C. A.), the Rauenthal Serpentine, 478 Ramage (H.), Rare Elements in Common Ores and Minerals, 358 Rambaut (Dr. A. A.), Refraction and the Apparent Diurnal Movements of Stars, 592 Ramsay (Prof. W., F.R.S.), the Gaseous Constituents of Minerals and Natural Waters, 406; the Gases of the Atmo- sphere, 435; a New Scientific Club, 559 Randolph (Dr. Robert), Alcohol as Disinfectant for Surgical Instruments, 60 Ranvier (L.), a new Theory of Cicatrisation, 239; Synaptic Fibres, 454 Rathmore, Landslip at, 205 Rats and the Plague, Dr. Cantlie, 258 Ravold (Dr. Amava), Microscopic Demonstration of Widal’s Test for Typhoid Fever, 454 Ray (F. C.), Mercury Hypo-Nitrites, 142; Interaction of Mer- curous Nitrite and Alkyl Iodides, 142 Rayleigh (Lord, F.R.S.), the Theory of Solutions, 253; Oxi- dation of Nitrogen Gas, 406 Reade (T. M.), the Glacio- Marine Drift of Vale of Ciwyd, 623 Reading, Physical Conditions of Fatigue in, H. Grithng and | S. I. Franz, 82 Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic of the Neolithic Troglodytes, the, M. Ed. Piette, 229 Recherches sur les Origines de Egypte, J. de Morgan, 578 Red Deer, Fur and Feather Series, Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 195 Red Dust of Doubtful Origin, J. M. Yates, 508 Redmayne (R. A. S.), H. F. Bulman and, Colliery Working and Management, 148 Redwood (Boverton), a Treatise on Petroleum, 169 Reed (F. R. C.), Fauna of Keisley Limestone, 166; the Bon- mahon Red Rocks, 502 Reef-Boring at the Bermuda Islands, Suggested, W. K. Morri- son, 5; W. Saville-Kent, 101 Reefs, Coral, Dr. John Murray, 551; Foundations of, Rear- Admiral W. J. L. Wharton, C.B., F.RS., 390; Formation of, Capt. W. Usborne Moore, 463 Reflecting Telescopes, Coudé Mountings for, 472 Reflector and Portrait Lens in Celestial Photography, Dr. Max Wolf, 582 Refraction and the Apparent Diurnal Movements of Stars, Dr. A. A. Rambaut, 592 Refrigeration, Self-intensive, Liquefaction of Air by, Dr. W. Hampson, 485 Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal College of Chemistry, the Royal School of Mines, and the Royal College of Science, 340 Regnard (P.), Argon and Nitrogen in Blood, 383 Reid (Clement), the Hitchin Palzeolithic Deposits and the Glacial Epoch, 501 Reid (F. J.), Sesamoid Bones, 225 Reindeer in Alaska, Sheldon Jackson, 39 Relationship between the Masses and Distances of the Four Outer Planets, G. E. Sutcliffe, 559 Relative Motion of Stars in the Line of Sight, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 137 Relics of Primeval Life, Sir J. William Dawson, F.R.S., 484 Religious Superstitions of Northern India, 577 Remy (Ch.), Use of X-rays in Anatomical Researches, 48 ; Radiography of soft parts of Men and Animals, 359 Renault (Dr. B.), the Geological Work of Bacteria, 40 Renwick (F. F.), Pinophanic Acid, 502 Reproduction, Photographic, of Colours, 422 Reptiles, Sciagraphs of British Batrachians and, J. Green and J. H. Gardiner, 539; G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 539 Research Laboratory, the Davy-Faraday, 208 Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the New, 88 Research, the Value of Pathological, Lord Lister, F.R.S., 329 Researches on the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States, Henry C. Mercer, 459 Resources and the Needs of Cambridge University, the, 612 Responsibility in Science, Prof. Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S., 100; Dr. Charles Chree, 152 Résultats des Campagnes Scientifiques accomplies sur son Yacht par Albert 1°", Prince Souverain de Monaco, Robert Collett, 59 Résultats scientifiques de la Campagne du Cawdun dans le Golfe de Gascoigne, R. Koehler, 559 Réunion (Bourbon), Crags and Craters, Rambles in the Island of, W. D. Oliver, 365 REVIEWS AND OUR BoOKSHELF— Studien zu Methodenlehre und Erkenntnisskritik, Friedrich Dreyer, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 1 Erkenntnisstheoretische Grundziige der Naturwissenschalte n und ihre Beziehungen zum Geistesleben der Gegenwart, Dr. P. Volkmann, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 1 Text-book of Comparative Anatomy, Dr. Arnold Lang, 4 Experience : a Chapter of Prolegomena, Rev. Wilfrid Rich- mond, 4 Lehrbuch der Algebra, Heinrich Weber, 25 Hours with Nature, Rambramha Sanyal, 28 Elements of Astronomy, Sir Robert Ball, F.R.S., 28 Practical Work in Physics, W. G. Woolcombe, 28 Peasblossom, Caroline Pridham, 28 Elements of Mechanics, Thomas Wallace Wright, Prof. John Perry, F.R.S., 49 Die Formen der Familie und die Formen der Wirthschalt, Ernst Grosse, Edward B. Tylor, F.R.S., 51 Annales de Géographie, No. 23, Bibliographie de I’Année 1895, 51 Animals at Work and Play, their Activities and Emotions, C. J. Cornish, 52 Model Drawing and Shading from Casts, T. C. Barfield, 52 A Short Catechism of Chemistry, A. J. Wilcox, 52 Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., K.B., P.R.S., during Captain Cook’s First Voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour in 1768-71 to Terra del Fuego, Utahite, New Zealand, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, 73 Handbuch der Gewebelehre der Menschen, A. Kvelliker, Prof, E. A. Schafer, F.R S., 74 Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen, einschliesslich der mikroskopischen Technik, A. Bohn, M. von Davidoff, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 74 Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere, Albert Oppel, Prof. E. A. Schafer, SRES:, 74 ay A History of Gardening in England, Hon. Alicia Amherst, 75 Fs 3 ; Grundeiss einer exacten Schdpfungs Geschichte, Hermann Habenicht, 76 A New Speculation on the Past and Future Temperature ot the Sun and Earth, 77 Light, W. T. A. Emtage, 77 Tables for Iron Analysis, John A. Allen, 77 Notes for Chemical Students, Prof. Peter T. Austen, 77 Notes of the Night, and other Outdoor Sketches, Charles C. Abbott, 77 XXXII Index Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 Description of the Ethnographical Researches of V. A. Sierochevsky, 97 Studies in Chemical Dynamics, J. H. van ’t Hoff, 98 The Laughable Stories Collected by Mar Gregory John Bar- Hebrzeus, Maphrian of the East, from A.D. 1264-1286, E. A. Wallis Budge, 98 Biedermann’s Electro-physiology, 99 Cat and Bird Stories, 100 Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, Isabel Maddison, 100 Ostwald’s Klassiker der Exacten Wissenschaften, 100 Analytic Psychology, G. F. Stout, W. E. Johnson, 121 An Outline of Psychology, Edward Bradford Titchener, W. E. Johnson, 121 The Book of the Dairy, W. Fleischmann, 122 Elementary Geology, G. S. Boulger, 123 Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada, 124 Poems of George John Romanes, 124 Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Astronomer Royal from 1836-1881, 145 Die Morphologie u. Physiologie des Pflanzlichen Zellkernes, Prof. Dr. A. Zimmerman, 147 Colliery Working and Management, H. F. Bulman, R. A. S. Redmayne, Bennett H. Brough, 148 The General Principles of Zoology, Richard Hertwig, 149 British Patent Law, and Patentees’ Wrongs and Rights, Hubert Haes, 149 Diagrams of Terrestrial and Astronomical Objects and Phenomena, R. A. Gregory, 149 The Romance of the Sea, Fred Whymper, 149 Petroleum, Boverton Redwood, 169 Le Pétrole, l’'asphalte et le bitume, au point de vue géolo- gique, A. Jaccard, 169 Petroleum, its Development and Uses, R. Nelson Boyd, 169 Biological Lectures delivered at the Marine Biological Labo- ratory at Wood’s Holl, in the Summer Session of 1895, 170 The Buddhist Praying Wheel, William Simpson, 171 Physiography for Beginners, A. T. Simmons, 172 The Metric System of Weights and Measures compared with the Imperial System, Prof. W. H. Wagstaff, 172 The Aurora Borealis, Alfred Angot, 173 Ros Rosarum: Dew of the Ever-living Rose, 173 Knowledge, 173 Hygiene Diagramettes, W. H. Knight, 173 Hindu Astronomy, W. Brennand, W. T. Lynn, 193 The Tears of the Heliades ; or, Amber as a Gem, W. Arnold Buffam, John R. Jackson, 194 Fur and Feather Series: Red Deer, Natural History, Rev. H. A. Macpherson; Stalking, Cameron of Lochiel ; Hunting, Viscount Ebrington ; Cookery, A. J. Shand, 195 The Tutorial Chemistry, G. H. Bailey, 195 Elementary Non-Metallic Chemistry, S. R. Trotman, 195 Hygiene for Beginners, Ernest Reynolds, 196 The Parasite Diseases of Poultry, Fred V. Theobald, 196 Humphry Davy, Poet and Philosopher, T, E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 217 An Egyptian Reading Book for Beginners, E. A. Wallis Budge, 218 Some Account of the Collection of the Egyptian Antiquities in the possession of Lady Meux, of Theobalds Park, Wal- tham Cross, E. A. Wallis Budge, 218 A History of Elementary Mathematics, with Hints on Methods of Teaching, Florian Cajori, 219 A Short History of Aryan Medical Science, H. H. Sir Bhagvat Sinh Jee, 221 On the Adjustment and Testing of Telescopic Objectives, T. Cooke and Sons, 221 Fuel and Refractory Materials, A. Humboldt Sexton, 222 The Lepidoptera of the British Islands, Charles G. Barratt, How to Study Wild Flowers, Rev. George Henslow, 222 Cellulose: Cross and Bevan, 241 Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, L. W. King, 243 Kirkes’ Handbook of Physiology, Prof. W. D. Halliburton, F.R.S., 244 The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, 245 Die Minerale des Harzes, Dr. Otto Luedecke, 246 The Wonderful Universe, Agnes Giberne, 246 The Story of Forest and Stream, J. Rodway, 246 Quelques Observations sur les Muscles Peauciers du Crane et de la Face dans les Races Humaines, T. Chudzinski, 246 The Round of the Year: a Series of short Nature Studies, Prof. L. C. Miall, F.R.S., 265 Life in Ponds and Streams, W. Furneaux, 265 An Introductory Treatise on the Lunar Theory, Prof. E. W. Brown, 266 Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers, B. Blunt and A, G. Bloxam, 267 The Struggle of the Nations, G. Maspero, 267 The Camera and the Pen, T. C. Hepworth, 268 Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection, Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S., Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, F.R.S., 289 Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson, British Resident at the Court of Nepal, Sir William Wilson Hunter, 290 Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, with an Introduction on Blow-pipe Analysis, G. J. Brush, 292 Grundriss der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der Saugethiere, Dr. Oscar Schultze, 292 A Text-book of Bacteriology, E. M. Crookshank, Dr. A. A. Kanthack, 313 Prehistoric Man and Beast, Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, W. J. Sollas, 314 Getting Gold, J. C. F. Johnson, 315 Photo-Trichromatic Printing, C. G. Zander, 315 The Earth and its Story, Prof. Angelo Heilprin, 316 The Climate of Bournemouth in Relation to Disease, especially Phthisis, A. Kinsey-Morgan, 316 Science et Morale, M. Berthelot, 337 Cours d’Astronomie, B. Baillaud, 339 Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal College of Chemistry, the Royal School of Mines, and the Royal College of Science, 340 Fruit Culture for Amateurs, S. T. Wright, Annuaire de l’Observatoire Municipal de Montsouris, pour PAnnée 1897, 340 Essays of George John Romanes, 340 The Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands, J. T. Cunningham, Prof. W. A. Herdman, P.R:S., 361 Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, with Memoir of his Life and Work, J. C. Irons, 362 Elementary Meteorology for High Schools and Colleges, Frank Waldo, 363 The Mechanics of Pumping Machinery, Dr. Julius Weisbach ‘and Prof. Gustave Herrmann, 364 Geography of Africa, Edward Heawood, 364 Crags and Craters, Rambles in the Island of Réunion, W. D. Oliver, 365 Everybody’s Guide to Photography, 365 Is Natural Selection the Creator of Species? Duncan Graham, 365 Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Kathode, Edward P. Thompson, 386 The Constitution and Functions of Gases, S. J. Corrigan, 386 A Year in the Fields, 387 A-Birding on a Bronco, Florence A. Merriam, 387 Summer Days for Winter Evenings, J. H. Crawford, 387 Guide pour le Soufflage du Verre, Prof. H. Ebert, 388 Projectiles de Campagne de Siege et de Place, E. Vallier, 388 L’Eclairage, Prof. Julian Lefevre, 388 Les Succédanés du Chiffon en Papeterie, V. Urbain, 388 Alterations of Personality, Alfred Binet, 389 The Hemiptera-Homoptera of the British Islands, James Edwards, 389 Analytical Keys to the Genera and Species of North American Mosses, C. R. Barnes, 389 Compressed Air Illness, or so-called Caisson Disease, E, Hugh Snell, 411 The Zoological Record, 412 The Story of the Weather, George F. Chambers, 413 Applied Bacteriology, T. H. Permain and C. G. Moore, Dr. A A. Kanthack, 413 Ostwald’s Klassiker der exacten Wissenschaften, Nos. 80-85, 413 Inorganic Chemical Preparations, F. H. Thorp, 414 The Practical Photographer, 414 Life Assurance Explained, William Schooling, 414 Wasted Records of Disease, Charles E Paget, 414 Supplement to es June 17, 1897 Ih ndex XXXIll The Gases of the Atmosphere, William Ramsay, F.R.S.; 435 A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire, W. H. Wheeler, 436 Bacteria of the Sputa and the Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth, Filandro Vincentini, Dr. E. Klein, 437 Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten iiber Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus, 437 Colliery Surveying, T. A. O’Donahue, 438 The British Mercantile Marine, Edward Blackmore, 438 Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, 438 An Introduction to Structural Botany, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 457 Physiologische Pflanzenanatomie, Dr. G. Haberlandt, 457 Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand, Arthur E. Harper, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 458 Lehrbuch der Erdkunde fiir Hohere Schulen, Ule, 459 A Manual of Elementary Seamanship, D. Wilson-Barker, 459 Researches upon the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States, Henry C. Mercer, Dr. Willi 459 The Universal Electrical Directory, 459 Photography as a Hobby, Matthew Surface, 460 First Records of British Flowering Plants, William A. Clarke, 460 On Human Nature, Arthur Schopenhauer, 460 Tabellen fiir Gasanalysen, Gasvolumetrische Analysen Stick- stoffbestimmungen, Prof. Dr. G. Lunge, 460 The Larve of the British Butterflies and Moths, William Buckler, 460 Lehrbuch der Algebra, Heinrich Weber, 481 The Sacred Tree, Mrs. J. H. Philpot, 483 Relics of Primeval Life, Sir J. William Dawson, F.R.S., 484 The True Grasses, Eduard Hackel, 484 The New Poultry Guide for British Farmers and Others, Kinard B. Baghot-De la Bere, 485 A Dictionary of Birds, Alfred Newton, 505 The Principles of Sociology, Herbert Spencer, 506 Short Studies in Physical Science, Vaughan Cornish, 507 New Thoughts on Current Subjects, Rev. J. A. Dewe, 507 Vorlesungen iiber Bildung und Spaltung von Doppelsalzen, Prof. J. H. van ’t Hoff, 507 Practical Electrical Measurements, Ellis H. Crapper, 507 Notes of Lessons on Elementary Botany, W. Bland, 507 Dr. Nansen, the Man and his Work, F. Dolman, 507 Die Principien der Warmelehre, Historisch-Kritisch Ent- wickelt, Prof. E. Mach, 529 The Cellin Development and Inheritance, Edmund B. Wilson, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 530 An Intermediate Course of Practical Physics, A. Schuster, FURS), 531 Bis an’s Ende der Welt ! Prof. F. J. S. Studniéka, 532 First Stage Inorganic Chemistry, G. H. Bailey, 532 Encyclopédie Scientifique des Aides-Memoire, 533 The Dahlia, 533 La Cause Premiére d’aprés les Données Experimentales, Emile Ferriére, 533 British Butterflies, J. W. Tutt, 536 Monograph of the Bombycine Moths of America, North of Mexico, Alpheus S. Packard, 536 Die Saturniiden (Nachtpfauenaugen), A. Radcliffe Grote, 536 Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing, H. D. Wilkinson, Charles Bright, 553 The Dawn of Modern Geography, C. R. Beazley, 555 Giriers of North America, I. C. Russell, T. G. Bonney, 55 Hydraulic Machinery, R. G. Blaine, 556 The Story of the Chemical Elements, M. M. Pattison Muir, 557 Physics, Dr. C. G. Knott, 557 Le Déterminisme Biologique et la Personnalité Consciente, Felix Le Dantec, 557 Report of Observations of Injurious Insects and Common Farm Pests during the Year 1896, with Methods of Pre- vention and Remedy, Eleanor A. Ormerod, 557 Grasses of North America, W. J. Beal, 557 The Culture of Vegetables for Prizes, Pleasure, and Profit, E. Kemp Toogood, 557 The Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India, W. Crook, 577 , Recherches sur les Origines de ?Egypte, J. de Morgan, 578 Magnetic Fields of Force, Prof. H. Ebert, 579 A Study of the Sky, Herbert A. Howe, 580 The Clue to the Ages, E. Judson Page, 580 Who’s Who, 1897, 580 Charles Pritchard, F.R.S., late Savilian Professor of Astro- nomy in the University of Oxford, Memoirs of his Life, Ada Pritchard, 601 Water and its Purification, Samuel Rideal, Joseph Lunt, 602 Mongolia and the Mongols, A. Pozdnéeff, 603 Rough Notes and Memoranda relating to the Natural History of the Bermudas, J. L. Hurdis, 604 Das Wesen der Electricitat und des Magnetismus auf grund eines einheitlichen Substanzbegriffes, J. G. Vogt, 604 Farm and Garden Insects, Prof. Wm. Somerville, 605 Geology of North-east Durham, D. Woolacott, 605 Revis (C.), Derivatives of a-hydrindone, 165 Reynolds (Ernest S.), Hygiene for Beginners, 196 Reynolds (Prof. Osborne, F.R.S.), Method of determining Dryness of Saturated Steam and Condition of Steam Gas, 71 Rhabdospheres, Coccospheres and, George Murray and V. H. Blackman, 510 Richard (Jules), Apparatus for ascertaining Independency of Pressure of Amount of Gases Dissolved in Sea-water at Great Depths, 444 Richards (Admiral Sir G. H.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 57 Richards (J. W.), the Spectra of Argon, 308 Richards (Prof. T. W.), Redetermination of Atomic Weight of Magnesium, 41 ; Revised Atomic Weight of Zinc, 110; the Multiple Spectra of Gases, 406 Richardson (Sir Benjamin Ward, F.R.S.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 80 Richarz (F.), Influence of Réntgen Rays on Steam Jet, 92 Richarz (Dr. Franz), the Gravitation Constant and the Mean Density of the Earth, 296 Richmond (Rev. Wilfred), Experience : a Chapter of Prolego- mena, 4 Rideal (Samuel), Water and its Purification, 602 Rinderpest, African, Sir John Kirk, K.C.B., F.R.S., 53 Rinderpest, Dr. Koch’s Report on, 450 Ripples, Photography of, J. H. Vincent, 430 Rivals (P.), Separation of Chlorine and Bromine, 624 Rivers, Fascine Training and Protection Works, 156 Riviere (E.), La Mouthe Cave, 55; Drawings on Rocks of, 575 Roberts (Isaac), on Long-exposure Photographs, 544 Roberts-Austen (Prof.), Fourth Report to Alloys Research Committee, 377 Robertson (Dr. David), Death and Obituary Notice of, 81 Roborovsky’s Tibet Expedition, P. K. Kozloff, 541 Roder (K.), the Polar Limit of True Forest Lands, 349, Rodway (James), the Story of Forest and Stream, 246 Rogenhofer (Herr Alois), Death of, 370 Rogers (E. F.), Revised Atomic Weight of Zinc, 110 Rogers (Thos.), a Case of Abnormal Magnetic Attraction, 127 Rohlfsen (Nordahl), the Early Life of Nansen, 201 Roiti (Prof. A.), the Apparent Deflection of Réntgen Rays behind Opaque Obstacles, 326 Roller Boat, the ‘‘ Bazin,” 109, 379 Romanes (G. J.), Poems of, 124; Essays of, 340 Rontgen Rays: Experiments with Rontgen Rays, Dr. John Macintyre, 64; Prof. Threlfall and Mr. Pollock, 70; Radio- graphs with Wimshurst Machine, W. G. Watson, 12; the X-Rays produced by a Wimshurst Machine, T. C. Porter, 30 ; a Correction, 79; some Properties of Réntgen Rays, A. Winkelmann and R. Straubel, 47; Wave-length of, L. Fomm, 47; Use in Anatomical Researches of, Ch. Remy and G. Contremoulins, 48; Results of Application of X-Rays to Stomach, M. Sorel, 600; Applied to Pulmonary Tuberculosis, C. UH. Bouchard, 191; Application to Paleontology of, M. Lemoine, 81; Influence on Steam Jet of, F. Richarz, 92; Production of X-Rays, Dr. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., 100; Influence of Temperature and Pressure on Discharges by Rontgen Rays, Jean Perrin, 119 ; Application of Illusions accompanying Formation of Penumbra to Réntgen Rays, G. Sagnac, 119 ; Property of Réntgen Rays of inducing in Gases Power to discharge Electrified Bodies, Prof. E. Villari, 135; Electrostatic Dispersion of Rontgen Rays, Prof. Uno Panichi, 135; Radiography, Dr. G. M. Lowe, 154; W. I. Chadwick, 195; Nature of the Rontgen XXXIV Rays, Sir G. G. Stokes. 167; the Heating of Anodes in X- Ray Tubes, Walter Chamberlain, 198; A. A. C. Swinton, 225; Sesamoid Bones, F. J. Reid, 225 ; Electrification of Air by Rontgen Rays, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 199; Dissociation of Neutral Electricity produced in Gases by Rontgen Rays, Jean Perrin, 232; the Baldness produced by Rontgen Rays, M. Broca, 232; the Alleged Injurious Effects of X-Rays, J. L. Thomas, 590; Dermatitis due to, T. C. Gilchrist, 541; Length of Exposure for Radiographs through Limbs of different Dimen- sions, L. N. Vandevyver, 232; Transparency of Glass and China to, Prof. Riicker, 232; Rontgen Rays applied to Diagnosis of Thoracic Diseases, Ch. Bouchard, 239; J. Bergonie, 239 ; Relatiye Transparency of Alkaline Metals to Roéntgen Rays, Prof. C. Marangoni, 279; Conductorless X- Ray Bulbs and Tubes, Rev. Frederick J. Smith, F.R.S., 294; Tubes for the Production of Réntgen Rays, 296; the Law of Transparency for X-Rays, L. Benoist, 312; Annul- ment by Ozonation of Power of discharging Electrification created in Air by Rontgen Rays, Prof. Villari, 326; Bio- logical Inaction of Rontgen Rays, Prof. Stefano Capranica, 326; the Apparent Deflection of Rontgen Rays behind Opaque Obstacles, Prof. A. Roiti, 326 ; Chemical Inaction of Rontgen Rays, A. de Hemptinne, 327; Fluorescence of Vitrified Materials under Rontgen Rays, M. Radignet, 335 ; on the Conductive Effect produced in Air by Réntgen Rays, and by Ultra-Violet Light, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 343; Radiography of Soft Parts of Men and Animals, MM. Remy and Contre- moulin, 359; Diagnosis of Stone by Réntgen Rays, Henry Morris, 372; Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Kathode, Edward P. Thompson, 386; the Constitution and Functions of Gases, the Nature of Radiance and the Law of Radiation, Severinus J. Corrigan, 386; Influence of Rontgen Rays on Explosive Distance of Electric Spark, M. Guggenheimer, 407; Discharge by Rontgen Rays, Jean Perrin, 454 ; a Powerful and Efficient Means of driving X- Ray Tubes, Charles L. Norton, Ralph R. Laurence, 460 ; on Apparent and Real Diselectrification of Solid Dielectrics produced by Roéntgen Rays and by Flame, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, Dr. J. C. Beattie, 472; Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates, James Anson, 269; John Brown, 294; Fernando Sanford, 485; on the Influence of, in respect to Electric Conduction through Air, Paraffin, and Glass, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. C. Beattie, and Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 498 ; Visibility of Ront- gen Rays, G. Brandes and E. Dorn, 524; Sciagraphs of British Batrachians and Reptiles, J. Green and J. H. Gardiner, G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 539 ; Rapidity with which Radio- graphs are now taken, Dr. John Macintyre, 541 ; Fomm’s Experiments on Wave-length of X-Rays, 552 ; X-Ray Photo- graphy, William Webster, 559; some Experiments with Kathode Rays, A. A. C. Swinton, 568; Action of X-Rays on Heart, Gaston Seguy and F. Quénisset, 576; Varying Electro- static Stresses of Glass of Rontgen Lamp, J. L. Thomas, 590 ; the Effect of Rontgen Rays on Solid and Liquid Insu- lators, Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 606 ; Diffraciion Pheno- mena produced with Rontgen Rays, R. W. Wood, 614 Rood (Prof. O. N.), Flicker Photometers, 190 Ros Rosarum : Dew of the Ever-living Rose, 173 Rose (Dr. T. K), the Alloys of Copper and Zinc, 130; the Extraction of Gold by Chemical Methods, 448 ; Rotation of Jupiter’s Spots, the Period of, A. A. Nyland, 352 Rotation of Venus, the, Percival Lowell, 421 Rotch (A. L.), the Exploration of the Air, 302 ; Meteorological Use of Kites, 623 Roth (H. Ling), the Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 128 Rothen (Dr. Timothée), Death of, 397 Rouget, Cause of, S. Jourdain, ror Rough Notes and Memoranda relating to the Natural History of the Bermudas, J. L. Hurdis, 604 Round of the Year, the, a Series of Short Nature Studies, Prof. L. C. Miall, F.R.S., 265 Roux (Dr.), the Plague Bacillus, 370 Royal Commission on Vaccination, Report of the, 15 Royal Geographical Society Annual Honours Award, 563 Royal Meteorological Society, 119, 215, 334, 407, 623 Royal Microscopical Society, 47, 166 Royal Society, 188, 214, 238, 263, 332, 356, 381, 406, 429, 452, Index (ae to Nature, June 17, 1897 477, 501, 525. 548, 574, 621; Medal Awards for 1896, 37: Anniversary Meeting, 111 ; New Foreign Members, 320 Rubens (H.), Heat Rays of Great Wave-length, 329, 524 Riicker (Prof.), Transparency of Glass and Porcelain to Réntgen Rays, 232 Rudd (R. T.), Musical Tubes, 165 Rundell (W. W.), Obituary Notice of, 512 Runge (Herr), Oxygen in the Sun, 303 Russell (Hon. F. A. Rollo), Haze, Fog, and Visibility, 119 ; Haze and Transparency, 407 Russell (Prof. I. C.), How Igneous Rocks intrude, 445 Russell (Israel C.), Glaciers of North America, 556 Russell (Dr. J. S. R.), Origin and Destination of Afferent and Efferent Tracts in Medulla Oblongata, 502 Russia, Southern, the Anthropological Zaborowski, 184 Russian Observations of the Corona of August 9, 1896, Baron Nicolas Kaulbars, 298 Rutile, Vanadium in Scandinavian, Prof. B. Hesselberg, 544 Rydal Water, Whirlwind on, Henry J. C. Anderson, 5 Rydberg-Schuster Law of Elementary Spectra, the, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 271 History of, M. Sabatier (Paul), Action of Cuprous Oxide on Solutions of Silver Nitrate, 407 ; Action of Nickel on Ethylene, 527 Saccardo (Dr. F.), Death of, 80 Saccharomyces, L’Origine des, MM. Kloécker and Schidnning, 469 Sacred Tree, the, or the Tree in Religion and Myth, Mrs. J. H. Philpot, 483 ; Sagnac (G.), Application to Réntgen Rays of Illusions accom- panying Formation of Penumbra, 119 Sailing Flight, S. E. Peal, 278 St. Andrews, the Opening Ceremony at the Gatty Marine Laboratory at, 43 St. Louis Academy of Science, 454 St. Martin (Vivien de), Death of, 231 St. Medard’s Day and Rain, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 258 St. Petersburg Central Physical Observatory, Annals of, 591 St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, Memoirs of, 428 Sakaki (Dr. Siuku), Death of, 562 Salmon (Edward), Cabot and Vasco Da Gama, 541 Sanarelli (Dr. G.), the Bacillus of Yellow Fever, 370 Sanders (Alfred), the Structure of Nerve Cells, 101 ; the Union of Nerve Cells, 248 Sanford (Fernando), Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates, 485 Sanford (Dr. L. J.), Death of, 205 Sanyal (Rambramha), Hours with Nature, 28 Sarawak and British North Borneo, the Natives of, H. Ling Roth, Prof. Alfred C. Haddon, 128 Sargant (Miss Ethel) on the Heterotype Division of Le/izm_ martagon, 20 Satellite of Procyon, the, Isaac W. Ward, 153 Saturn, Observations of, Herr A. Anton Wonazek, 183; Herr L. Brunner, 183 Saturniiden, Die, A. Radcliffe Grote, 536 Saville-Kent (W.), suggested Reef Boring at the Bermudas and elsewhere, 101 ; in the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral Seas, Prof. Richard Semon, 227 Savoire (M.), Modifications of Nutrition in Cancerous Subjects, 168 Scandinavian Rutile, Vanadium in, Prof. B. Hasselberg, 544 - Schacht (G. F.), Death of, 205 Schaerberle (Prof.), the Companion to Procyon, 498 ; Observa- tions of Jupiter’s Fifth Satellite, 566 Schafer (Prof. E. A., F.R.S.), Handbuch der Gewebelehre der Menschen, A. Koelliker, 74; Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen, einschliesslich der Mikroskopischen Technik, A. Bohm, M. von Davidoff, 74; Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere, Albert Oppel, 74; the Cell in Development and Inheritance, 530 Scharff (Dr. R. F.), Origin of European Fauna, 95 Schiaparelli (Prof.), the Planet Mars, 516 Schiff (Dr. Moritz), Death of, 11 Schionning (M.), L’Origine des Saccharomyces, 469 Schloesing (Th.), Uniform Distribution in Atmosphere of Argon, 48; Nitric Acid in Seine, Marne, and Yonne, 143; Argon and Nitrogen in Blood, 383 Schmidt (G. C.), Electrostatic Deflection of Kathode Rays, 524 Supplement to ates June 17, 1897 Index XXXV Scholes (J. W.), Solar Halo, Mock Sun, and Rainbow, 349 Schooling (William), Life Assurance explained, 414 Schopenhauer (Arthur) on Human Nature, 460 Schott (O.), Electro-Capillary Light, 214 Schottelius (Prof.), Diphtheria Bacilli in Milk, 301 Schulten (A. de), Synthesis of Hauksite, 239 Schultze (Dr. Oscar), Grundriss der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der Saugethiere, 292 Schur (Prof. W.), the Ellipticity of the Disc of Mars, 421 Schuster (Prof. Arthur, F.R.S.), New Law of Spectrum Analysis discovered by, 180; ona New Law connecting the Periods of Molecular Vibrations, 200, 223; an Intermediate Course of Practical Physics, 531 Schutzenberger (O.), Yttrium Earth in Monazite Sands, 95; Cerium Sulphate in Monazite Sands, 479 Schwerer (A.), Admiral Fleuriais’ Gyroscopic Horizon, 48 Sciagraphs of British Batrachians and Reptiles, J. Green and J. H. Gardiner, G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., 539 Science: the Work of the Scientific and Technical Department of the Imperial Institute, Prof. Wyndham R. Dunstan, F.R.S., 62; on the Publication of Original Work, Swale Vincent, 79; Mr. Balfour on Science and Industry, 85 ; Responsibility in Science, Prof. Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S., 100; Dr. Charles Chree, 152; the Lincei and Experimental Science, Signor Todaro, 138; Durham Science Degrees, 295, 343; Rev. Henry Palin Gurney, 318; Science and Morals, 322; Science et Morale, M. Berthelot, 337; Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal College of Science, 340; the Need of Organising Scientific Opinion, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 409, 433; Ostwald’s Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften, Nos. 80-85, 413; Forthcoming Books on Science, 474,; Le Cause Premiére d’aprés les don- nées Expérimentales, Emile Ferriere, 533 ; a New Scientific Club, Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., 559 @ Scorpii, a Companion to, Dr. T. J. J. See, 111 Scott (A.), the Atomic Weight of Carbon, 526; New Series of Mixed Sulphates of Vitriol Group, 526 - Scott (D. H , F.R.S.), Chezrostrobus, a New Fossil Cone, 3333 Structural Botany, 457 Scurvy, the Cause and Cure of, Dr. A. E. Wright, 418 Sea, Effects of Oil at, M. Baretge, 360 Sea, the Romance of the, Fred. Whymper, 149 Sea-water, Gold in, Prof. Liversidge, 162; Detection of, E. Sonstadt, 166 Seal, the Fur, the Condition of, David S. Jordan, 350 Seamanship, a Manual of Elementary, D. Wilson-Barker, 459 See (Dr. T. J. J.), a Companion to @ Scorpii, 111; Three Bril- liant Stellar Systems, 498 Seeds, Prof. Casimir de Candolle on Latent Life in, 21 Seeds, Honey-Birds and Cingalese Loranthus, F. W. Keeble, 109 Segar’s Theorem, Prof. Elliott, F.R.S., 407 Seguy (Gaston), Action of X-Rays on Heart, 576; New Kathodic Apparatus, 600 Seismology: Icelandic Earthquake recorded at Paris, Th. Moureaux, 4; Earth Tremors at Edinburgh between August 25 and September 6, Thomas Heath, 4; the Periodicity of Earthquakes in Liguria, Dr. E. Oddone, $2; Distribution of Accessory Shocks of great Japanese Earthquakes of 1891, Dr. Charles Davison, 93; Intensity and Amplitude of Motion in great Japanese Earthquake of 1891, Prof. F. Omori, 444; Application of Physics and Mathematics to, Dr. C. Chree, 164; the Earthquake of December 17, 1896, Dr. Charles Chree, 178; J. Lloyd Bozward, 178; Dr. C. Davison. 179 ; G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 327 ; Earthquake of April 16 in N.W. Asia Minor, Dr. G. Agamennone, 182; After-Shocks of great Japanese Earthquake of November 4, 1854, Prof. Omori, 205; Bollettino della Societa Italiana, 214, 476; Lunar Periodicities in Earthquake Frequency, C. G. Knott, 357 ; Two Unfelt Earthquakes, Prof. John Milne, F.R.S., 390; Thomas Heath, 439; Prof. G. Gerland, 558; Volcanic Activity in Central America in relation to British Earthquakes, A. Gosling, 502; the Choice of Stations, Prof. G. Grablovitz, 614 : Selection in Man, Dr. John Beddoe, 260 Selection, Organic, Prof. J. Mark Baldwin, 558 Selection, Rate of Racial Change that accompanies Different Degrees of Severity in, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 605 Selenography : Death of T. G. Elger, 299 Self-intensive Refrigeration, Liquefaction of Air by, Dr. W. Hampson, 485 Sell (Dr. Eugen), Death of, 11, 81 Semi-permeable Films and Osmotic Pressure, Prof. J. Willard Gibbs, 461 } Semon (Prof. Richard), Im Australischen Busch und an den Kiisten des Korallenmeeres. Reiseerlebnisse und Beobach- tungen eines Naturforschers in Australien, New Guinea und den Molukken, W. Saville-Kent, 22 Senderens (J. B.), Action of Nickel on Ethylene, 527 Sense Qualities, the Problem of the, Prof. E. B. Titchener, 294; W. E. Johnson, 294 Sensitive Plates, Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on, J. Brown, 294 ; James Anson, 269 ; Fernando Sanford, 485 Sergueeff (M.), Remarkable Find of Chud Implements near Perm, 82 Sero-therapy : the Effects of Inoculation for Cholera, Surgeon- Captain Hare, 134; the Natural Immunity of Venomous Snakes, 139; Protective Power of Serum influenced by Nerve-Lesion, MM. Charrin and Nittis, 264; Anti-Cholera Vaccination in India, Dr. Funck, 444; Failure of Versin Serum, 540; Toxins and Antitoxins, Dr. Marriotti-Bianchi, 542 ; a New Diphtheria Antitoxin, Dr. Smirmow, 597 Serpents, New Method of collecting Venom of, Paul Gibier, 168 Sesamoid Bones, F. J. Reid, 22 Seward (A. C.), the Leaves of Bennettites, 527; Sig¢/laria and Glossopterts in South Africa, 550 Sexton (A. Humboldt), Fuel and Refractory Materials, 222 Shaler (N. S.), the Causes of Volcanic Outbursts, 301 Sharp (Dr. D.), Jumping Cocoons, 65 Shenstone (W. A.), Properties of highly-Purified Oxygen and Chlorine, 358 Shepherd, F. R., the Best Sugar-Cane for Leeward Island Cultivation, 12 Sherrington (Prof. C. S., F.R.S.), Experiments on Distribution of Posterior Root-Fibres of Spinal Nerves, 356: Cataleptoid Reflexes in Monkey, 357; Reciprocal Innervation of Antago- nistic Muscles, 381 ; the Green Pigment of Z7a/assema, 400 Ship-building : the Bazzz Roller Boat, 109, 379 Shooting-Stars of January 2, Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., 225; W. F. Denning, 247 Siberia, Land Tenure in, A. A Kaufmann, 92 Siberian, East, Geographical Society, Izvestia of, 92 Siemens’ Domestic Gas Fire, Sir H. J. Wood, 6 Sierschevsky (V. A.), Description of the Researches on the Yakouti of, 97 Siertsema (L. H.), Temperature-coefficients of Aneroids, 431 Siethoff (E. G. A. ten), Dr. Zeeman’s Optical Phenomenon in Eye, 527 Signalling, Interplanetary, Francis Galton, 39 Silva (W. de), Examination of White Wines for Coal-Tar Dyes, Ethnographical 431 Simmons (A. T.), Physiography for Beginners, 172 Simplon Tunnel, the, 617 Simpson (William), the Buddhist Praying Wheel: a Collection of Material bearing upon the Symbolism of the Wheel, and Circular Movements in Custom and Religious Ritual, 171 Sinclair (W. F.), Two Corrections, 248 ; Curved Knives, 581; Mosquito Bites, 607 Sirius, the Companions of Procyon and, 62 Sirius’ Companion, the Period of, 329 Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy, Prof. Ayrton, 403 Sky, a Study of the, Herbert A. Howe, 580 Smirnow (Dr.), a New Diphtheria Antitoxin, 597 Smith (C.), Carbohydrates of Barley Straw, 93 Smith (Rev. Frederick J., F.R.S.), Conductorless X-Ray Bulbs and Tubes, 294 , Smith (H. G.), Manna on ‘‘ Blue Grass,” 383 Smith (J. B.), Urates in the Hair, 470 Smithells (Prof. A.), the Explosive Properties of Acetylene, 42 Smits (A.), Vapour-pressure Measurement with Micromano- meter, 455 wes 2 Smolan (Dr. Smoluchowski de), Electrification of Air by Rontgen Rays, 199; on the Conductive Effect produced in Air by Réntgen Rays and by Ultra-Violet Light, 343; on Electrical Equilibrium between Uranium and an Insulated Metal in its Neighbourhood, 447; on Apparent and Real Diselectrification of Solid Dielectrics produced by Rontgen Rays and by Flame, 472; on the Influence of Rontgen Rays in respect to Electric Conduction through Air, Paraffin, and Glass, 498 Snakes : the Natural Immunity of Venomous Snakes, 139; Im- XXXVI Index Supplement to Nature, June 17, 1897 munity from Snake-Bite, R. C. T. Evans, 367; Dr. Dawson Williams, 415; J. Bliss, 486 Snape (H. L.), Identity of Laurent’s Amarone and Tetral- phenylazine, 478 Snell (E. Hugh), Compressed Air Illness, or so-called Caisson Disease, 411 Snow Buntings, J. R. Dakyns, tor Sociology, the Principles of, Herbert Spencer, 506 Soga (Dr. W. A.), Use of Fungus for Destroying Locusts, 514 Solar Eclipse, Total, of August 9, 1896, M. Deslandres, 235 Sollas (Prof. W. J., F.R.S.), Pacific Coral Reef Expedition, 12 ; Report on the Coral Reef at Funafuti, 373; Prehistoric Man and Beast, 314; the Legendary History of Funafuti, Ellice Group, 353 Solutions, the Theory of, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 253 Somaliland (North), Meterocephalus glaber in, Prof. Henry H. Giglioli, 440 Somerville (Lieut. B. T.), Ethnography of New Georgia, 143 Somerville (Prof. W.), Papilionaceous Plants and Nitragen, 399; Manurial Trials, 471 ; Farm and Garden Insects, 605 Sorby (Dr. T1. C., F.R.S.), Shooting Stars observed on January 2, 225; Fifty Years’ Scientific Work, 348 Sorel (M.), Results of Application of X-Rays to Stomach, 600 Sorstedt (E.), Detection of Gold in Sea-water, 166 Sound, Perception of Direction and Distance of, Dr. A. A. Gray, 599 Sparrows and Wheat, F. G. Brook-Fox, 33 Specific Characters: Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 414; the In- heritance of Specific Characters, F. A. Bather, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 29; the Utility of, Rev. John T. Gulick, 508 Spectrum Analysis: Extension of the Visible Spectrum, A, A. C. Swinton, 32; Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., Benjamin Davies, 33; Stars with Peculiar Spectra, Mrs. Fleming, 84 ; Spectrum of Chlorophyll, A.Etard, 95 ; a New Spectroscopic Binary in Puppis, 137 ; the Spectrum of ¢ Puppis, 352 ; New Law discovered by Prof. Arthur Schuster, 180 ; Celestial Eddies, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 249; Spectroscopic Study of Water Vapour Distribution in Air, L. E. Jewell, 258; Results with Prismatic Camera during 1896 Eclipse, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 263 ; the Rydberg-Schuster Law of Elementary Spectra, Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S., 271; Carbon in Bright-Line Stars, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 304, 341; Dr. William Huggins, F.R.S., 316; Spectra of Argon, J. Trowbridge and J. W. Richards, 308; Heat Rays of Great Wave-length, H. Rubens, E. N. Nichols, 329, 524; the Spectroscopic Binary a! Geminorum, A. Belopolsky, 352 ; New Formule for Spectrum Waves, J. J. Balmer, 381; the Multiple Spectra of Gases, J. Trowbridge and J. W. Richards, 406; the Gaseous Constituents of Minerals and Natural Waters, W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and M. W. Travers, 406 ; Oxygen in the Sun, Lewis Jewell, 447 ; the Chemistry of the Stars, 447; Iron Lines in Hottest Stars, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 452; Apparatus for Gas Recognition by Spectrum Analysis, M. Berthelot, 503; Detection of Potassium Com- pounds of Flame Test, S. G. Newth, 543; Peculiar Stellar Spectra, 616 ; Nova Aurigze, Prof. W. W. Campbell, 617 ~Spencer (Herbert), the Principles of Sociology, 506 Spitzbergen, Sir Martin Conway’s Crossing of, 306 Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present, W. A. Baillie- Grohman, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 102 Sputa and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth, Bacteria of the, Filando Vincentini, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., 437 ‘Sresnevsky (Prof.), Barometric Oscillations in 1887, 234 Stainer (S.), Observations of Swallows, 109 Stars: Stars with Peculiar Spectra, Mrs. Fleming, 84 ; a Com- panion to @ Scorpii, Dr. T. J. J. See, 111; a New Spectro- scopic Binary in Puppis, 137 ; the Spectrum of ¢ Puppis, 352 ; Relative Motion of Stars in the Line of Sight, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 137; the Satellite of Procyon, Isaac W. Ward, 153; the Algol Variable + 17° 4367, W Delphini, Prof. E. C, Pickering, 260; Double Star Measures, 280, 373, 516; R. G. Aitken, 280; Carbon in Bright Line Stars, J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 304, 341; Dr. William Huggins, F.R.S., 316; the Companions of Procyon and Sirius, 62; the Period of Sirius’ Companion, 329; the Spectroscopic Binary al Geminorum, A. Belopolsky, 352; the Chemistry of the Stars, 447; Three Brilliant Stellar Systems, Prof. T. J. J. See, 498; Refraction and the Apparent Diurnal Movements of Stars, Dr. A. A. Rambaut, 592; Peculiar Stellar Spectra, 616; Nova Aurigze, Prof. W. W. Campbell, 617 Statistical Society, Presidential Address, J. B. Martin, 81 Statistics ; Death of J. B. Martin, 495 Steam, Method of Determining Dryness of Saturated Steam and Condition of Steam Gas, Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., 71 Steamship, the Bazin Roller, 109, 379 Steam Turbine Engine, Hon. Charles Parsons’, as applied to Marine Propulsion, Trial of, 181 Stebbing (W. P. D.), Two Granite Boulders from Betchworth Middle Chalk, 478 Steel, the Expansion of Nickel, C. E. Guillaume, 335 Steel-tempering in Phenol, M. Levat, 143 Stellar Systems, Three Brilliant, Prof. T. J. J. See, 498 * Stereoscopic Studies of Clouds, the, John Tennant, 486 Stern (A. L.), Identity of Dextrose from various Sources, 142 Stern (O.), Effect of Pressure on Rate of Inversion of Sugar by Weak and Strong Acids, 136 Stevens (H. P.), Hydrolysis of Perthiocyanic Acid, 623 Stevenson (Charles A.), Telegraphy without Wires, and the Guarding of Coast Lines by Electric Cable, 197 Stings, Acquired Immunity from Insect, Edward S. Morse, G. Macloskie, 533 Stipules, Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., 526 Stoker (George), Surgical uses of Oxygen, 40 Stokes (Sir G. G.), Nature of the Réntgen Rays, 167 Stout (G. F.), Analytic Psychology, 121 Strahan (Aubrey), Glacial Phenomena of Varanger Fjord, 358 Strassburg Observatory, 14 Strasser (Herr), the Jacques Cell, 420 * Stratus-Cloud, the Origin of the, and some suggested Changes in the International Methods of Cloud Measurement, H. Helm Clayton, 197 Straubel (R.), some Properties of Rontgen Rays, 47 Stream, the Story of Forest and, James Rodway, 246 Streng (Dr. August), Death of, 348 Strickland (T. A. G.), Immunity from Bee-Stings, 397 Stromeyer (C.), Floating Mercury on Water, 53; Chinese Yeast, 463 Stroud (Prof. W.), Measuring Electrolytic Conductivity by Continuous Currents, 23 Structural Botany, D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 457 Structure of Nerve Cells, the, Alfred Sanders, 1o1 Struggle for Existence, the Function of Disease in the, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, 534 Struggle of the Nations, the, G. Maspero, 267 Stuart (Donald M. D.), Colliery Explosions and Coal-Dust, 597 Stutzer (Herr), Capacity of Bacillus Radécicola of growing on Foreign Culture Media, 206 Subjective Colour Phenomena, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S., 367 Submarine Telegraphy: the Inception of, Sir Henry Mance, 278 ; Sixty-years of, Prof. Ayrton, 403; Death of H. C. Forde, 417 ; Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing, H. D. Wilkinson, Charles Bright, 553 Suction Force of Branches, Experiments on the, Prof. Vines, F.R.S., 20 Sudborough (J. J.), the Stilbene Series, 406 Sugar, Effect of Pressure on Rate of Inversion by Weak and Strong Acids of, A. Stern, 136 Sugar-Cane, the Best, for Leeward Island Cultivation, F. Watts and F. R. Shepherd, 12; Raising from Seed, J. H. Hart, 12 Sugar-Cane Growth in Queensland, 60 Summer Days for Winter Evenings, J. H. Crawford, 387 Sun and Earth, a New Speculation on the Past and Future Tem- | perature of the, 77 Sun, Oxygen in the, Herren Runge and Paschen, 303; Lewis Jewell, 447 Sun, the Total Eclipse of, August 8, 1896, 447 Sunspots, Comets, and Climate Variations, Herrn Johannes Unterweger, 42 Surface (Matthew), Photography as a Hobby, 460 Surgery : Surgical uses of Oxygen, George Stoker, 40; Alcohol as Disinfectant for Surgical Instruments, Dr. Robert Ran- dolph, 60; Radioscopy applied to Diagnosis of Thoracic Diseases, Ch. Bourchard, 239; J. Bergonié, 239; a New Theory of Cicatrisation, L. Ranvier, 239 ; Death of Sir Spencer Wells, 326; Diagnosis of Stone by Réntgen Rays, 372 Survey of India in 1895, 234 Survey of the Tides and Currents in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 595 Surveying, Colliery, T. A. O’Donahue, 438 Supplement to vere)| June 17, 1807 Sutcliffe (G. E.), Relationship between the Masses and Distances of the Four Outer Planets, 559 Svastika, the, S. E. Peal, 248 Swallows, the, Henry Cecil, 53 Swallows, the Departure of the, J. Brown, Opa: Prince, 6 Swallows in November, W. C. Worsdell, 39 Swallows, Observations of, S. Stainer, 109 Swan (Thos.), the Arrangement of Branches of Trees, 155 Sweden, Earthquake in, 160 Swift, Early Arrival of the, Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., 508 Swine, Study of Correlated Variation in, C. B. Davenport and C. Bulland, 471 Swinton (A. A. C.), Extension of Visible Spectrum, 32: Heating of Anodes in X-Ray Tubes, 225; some Experiments with Kathode Rays, 568; Production of X-Rays of Different Penetrative Values, 621 Swyngedauw (M.), Spark Discharges and Hertz Oscillator, 503 Sydney Royal Society. 335, 383 Sylvester (Prof. J. J., F.R.S.), on the Goldbach-Euler Theorem regarding Prime Numbers, 196, 269 Sylvester (Prof. J. J.), Death of, 468; Obituary Notice of, Major P. A. MacMahon, F.R.S., 492 Symbolism, a Study in, William Simpson, 171 Leeson Symbols in Applied Algebra, the, Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S., | 246, 293, 317; C. S. Jackson, 293, 366 Symons’s Monthly Meteorological Magazine, 142, 188, 428, 598 | Symons, (G. J., F.R.S.), Climate of British Empire in 1895, 142; the Earthquake of December 17, 1896, 327 ; Water at unusually Low Temperatures, 428; the First Daily Weather Map, 598 Synthesis, the Direct, of Optically Active Proteid-like Sub- stances, Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 341 Synaptic Fibres, L. Ranvier, 454 Syria: the Laughable Stories collected by Mar Gregory John Bar-Hebreeus, Maphrian of the East, E. A. Wallis Budge, 98 System of the World, the, 163 Szarvasy (E.), Interesting Reaction of Magnesium Nitride, 420 Tailed Men in Indo-China, Paul d’Enjoy, 82 Tait (Prof.), Compressibility of Salt Solutions, 431 Tamarind: Dr. Morris on the Effect produced in certain Animals in the West Indies by Feeding on the Young Shoots, &e., of the Wild Tamarind or Jumbai Plant (Zeucena glauca, Benth.), 22 Tanret (C.), Action of Ammonium Nitrate on Aspergillus niger, 143 Tarr (Prof. R. S.), the Geology of Greenland, 13; Changes of | Level in the Bermudas, 311 ; Arctic Sea Ice on Geological Instrument, 476 Taylor (R. L.), Hypoiodous Acid and Hypoiodites, 431 Tears of the Heliades, the, or Amber as a Gem, W. Arnold Buffam, John R. Jackson, 194 Technical College, the Position and Work of the Central, 284 Technical Examinations, Report on, 22 Technology: Death of Gen. F. A. Walker, 277 Teesdale (M. J.), the Manna of the Bible, 349 Teeth in Marsupials, Development and Succession of, J. T. Wilson and J. P. Hill, 350 Teissier (J.), Influence of Diet and Starvation on Effects of certain Microbial Toxines, 408 Telegraphy : Telegraphy without Wires, and the Guarding of Coast Lines by Electric Cable, Charles A: Stevenson, 197 : the Inception of Submarine Telegraphy, Sir Henry Mance, 278; Death of Dr. Timothée Rothen, 397 ; Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy, Prof. Ayrton, 403 ; Death of H.C. Forde, 417 ; Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing, H. D. Wilkinson, Charles Bright, 553 Telephone Diaphragm, Excursions of, C. Barus, 476 Telephone, a Nickel Stress, T. A. Garrett, 574 Telephony : Prof. D. E. Hughes, F.R.S., and the Early History of the Microphone, 496 Telescope free from Secondary Colour, Prof. C. S. Hastings, 191 Telescopes, Reflecting Coudé Mountings for, 472 Telescopic Objectives, on the Adjustment and Testing of, T. Cooke and Sons, 221 Temperature of the Sun and Earth, a New Speculation on the Past and Future, 77 Temperatures, Relative, in Geissler Tubes, R. W. Wood, 274 Tennant (John), Steréoscopic Studies of Clouds, 486 Lndex XXXVI Teoperberg (Herr M.), the Canals of Mars, 280 | Termites and Fungus, J. H. Hart, 81 Terrestrial and Astronomical Objects and Phenomena, Diagrams of, R, A. Gregory, 149 | Terrestrial Magnetism in Etruscan Epoch, Dr. G. Folgheraiter, 206 Thermodynamics : Die Principien der Warmelehre, Historisch- Kritisch entwickelt, Prof. E. Mach, 529; Les Machines Thermiques, Prof. Aime Witz, 533 Thermometer, Constant Volume Air, J. E. Murray, 551 Thermometer Screens, E. Mawley, 334 Theobald (Fred V.), the Parasitic Diseases of Poultry, r90 Therapeutics : Wart-Wort (Chel¢donzum majus) Sapa Remedy for Cancer, Dr. Denisenko, 60; C. Leeson Prince, 155; the Cause and Cure of Scurvy, Dr. A. E. Wright, 418 Thévenin (Armand), New French Mosasauria, 239 Thierry (Maurice de), Estimation of Atmospheric Ozone on Mount Blanc, 454 Thierfelder (H.), Is Animal Life possible in the absence of Bacteria? 238 Thiselton-Dyer (W. T.), Evolution of Cyclamen Jatzfolium and Garden Cineraria, 598 | Thomas (G. L.), Normal and Iso-Pentanes, 502 Thomas (Helen W.), Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, 100 Thomas (J. L.), the Alleged Injurious Effects of X-Rays, 590 ; Varying Electrostatic Stress of Glass of Rontgen Lamp, 590 Thomas (V.), Absorption of Nitric Oxide by Ferrous Bromide, 143 Thompson (Edward P.), Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Kathode, 386 Thompson (H.), Measurements of Crabs, 30, 224 Thompson (J. P.), Sir William Macgregor’s Recent Journey across New Guinea, and Re-ascent of Mount Victoria, 157 Thompson (Dr. S. P.), Kinematic Models, 525; a Heat- Indicating Paint, 525 Thomson (Prof. J. J., F.R.S.), the Kathode Rays, 453; the Effect of Rontgen Rays on Solid and Liquid Insulators, 606 Thomson (G. M.), Fossil Plants from St. Bathans, New Zealand, 12 Thorp (T. H.), Inorganic Chemical Preparations, 414 Thorpe (J. F.), Synthesis of Camphoronic Acid, 526 Thorpe (Dr. T. E., F.R.S.), Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease, 105, 154; Humphry Davy, Poet and Philosopher, 217 Threl fall (Prof.), Experiment with Rontgen Rays, 70 Tibet Expedition, Roborovsky’s, P. K. Kozloff, 541 Tiddens (D. G.), Fomm’s Experiments on Wave-length of X- Rays, 552 Tides and Currents in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Survey of the, 59 Tigghem (P. van), Remarkable Degradation of Ovule in Parasitic Plants, 207 Time, the International Unification of, 567 Timothy (B.), the Origin of Manna, 440 | Tissot (J.), Physiology of Muscular Action, 263 Titchener (Prof. E. B.), the Problem of the Sense (Qualities, 294 | Titherley (A. W.), the Substitution Derivatives of Sodamide, 478; Rubidamide, 478 Titicaca, Lake, Subsidence of, 159 Todaro (Signor), the ‘‘ Lincei” and Experimental Science, 138 Tollenaar (D. F.), Experiments with Two Kathodes, 455 Tolomei (Dr. G.), Argon in Plants, 399 » Tomb of Louis Pasteur, the, 275 Tomlinson (Prof. Charles, F.R.S.), Death and Obituary Notice of, 371 Ton, the Force ora, 4153; Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., 365 Toogood (E. Kemp), the Culture of Vegetables for Prizes, Pleasure, and Profit, 557 Toronto Meeting of the British Association 1897, Alan Mac- Dougall, 127 ; Prof. A. B. Macallum, 319 Total Solar Eclipse of August 8, 1896, the, 447 ; M. Deslandres, 2 35 F Win eee | Tournefort and the Latitudinal and Altitudinal Distribution’ of Plants, W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., 52 Towsend (F.), Zuphrasia salishurgensis in Ireland, 142 Townsend (J. S.), Electricity and Cloud Formation in Gases, 453 Toxicity of Alcohols, M. Picaud, 600 Toxins and Anti-toxins, Dr. Marriotti Bianchi, 542 XXXVIlle Index Supplement to Nature June 17 1897 Trail (Prof., F.R.S.), on the Floral Deviations in some Species of Polygonum, 21 Trains, Frictional Effect of Air on, Prof. F. E. Travels in West Africa, Mary H. Kingsley, 416 Travers (M. W.), the Gaseous Constituents of Minerals and Natural Waters, 406 Trécul (Lucien), Death and Obituary Notice of, 11, 108 Tree, the Sacred, or the Tree in Religion and Myth, Mrs. J. H. Philpot, 483 Trees : onthe Ascent of Water in, Francis Darwin, F.R.S., 19 ; the Arrangement of Branches of, Thomas Swan, 155: Posi- tion of Boughs in Summer and Winter, Agnes Fry, 198 Tremors, Earth, at Edinburgh between August 25 and Septeni- ber 6, Thos. Heath, 4 Trifid Nebula, the, Prof. Pickering, 329 Trigonometry, Velocity of Ducks measured by, Helm Clayton, 278 Trilobites, Classification of, C. E. Beecher, 476 Trinchese (Dr. Salvatore), Death of, 348 Troglodytes, Neolithic, the Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic of the, M. Ed. Piette, 229 Trotman (S. R.), Elementary Non-Metallic Chemistry, 195 Trowbridge (Prof. John), a Critic Criticised, 248; the Spectra of Argon, 308; the Multiple Spectra of Gases, 406 True (F. W. j, Moles of North America, 301 Tsetse Fly, the, Surgeon-Major Bruce, 47 Tubercle Bacillus, on the so-called, Mr. Coppen Jones, 20 Tuberculin, Dr. Koch’s Recent Researches on, Dr. G. Sims Woodhead, 567 Tubes, Conductorless X-Ray Bulbs and, Rey. Smith, F.R.S., 294 Tubes for the Production of Rontgen Rays, 296 Tubes, Musical, R. T. Rudd, 165 Tunnel, the Simplon, 617 Turbinia, the, Hon. Charles Parsons, 571 Turkish Inscriptions in Mongolia, the Old, Prof. N. Katanoff, 262 Turtle (Dermochelys ccriacea), Digestive Organs of, L. Vaillant, 2: Nipher, 454 Frederick J. 4 Tutt (J. W.), Aberrations of Zephrosza bistortata and Zygana exulans, 47; Melampias from Dauphiné Alps, 70; British Butterflies, 536 ; Silk Covering of Zephrosta bistortata Ova, 599 Tylor (Edward B., F.R.S.), die Formen der Familie und die Formen der Wirthschalt, Prof. Ernst Grosse, 51 Typhoid Fever, Widal’s Bacteriological Diagnosis of, 590; Microscopic Demonstration of Widal’s Test for, Dr. Amand Ravold, 454 Ule (Dr. Willi), Lehrbuch der Erdkunde fiir hohere Schulen, 459 Ultee Violet Light, on the Conductive Effect produced in Air by Réntgen Rays and by, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S , Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 343 Unfelt Earthquakes, Prof. John Milne, F.R.S., 390; Thomas Heath, 439; Prof. Gerland, 558 Unification of Time, the International, 567 Union of Nerve Cells, the, F. C. Kenyon, 248; 248 Units, Dynamical, M. F. Jackson, 317; Prof. Geo. Fras. gerald, F.R.S., 389, 439 Units of Force, C. S. Jackson, 198 Universal Electrical Dictionary, the, 459 United States : Army Identification Methods, Dr. C. H. Alden, 59; Washington Weather Bureau's Method of Dissemination Forecasts, 59; Quiver Lake (Illinois) Biological Station, 81 ; Household Insects of United States, L. O. Howard and C. L. Marlatt, 233; Gold in Alaska, Prof. C. D. Walcott, 298 ; Researches on the Antiquity of “Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States, Henry C. Mercer, 459; Reports of Deep Water Ways Commission, 513 Universal Meridian, the, 261 Universe, the Wonderful, Agnes Giberne, 246 University Intelligence, 23, 45, 69, 91, 118, 140, 164, 187, 214, 262, 286, 307, 33% 355, 380, 495, 427, 451, 475, 501, 524 548, 573, 598, 6 Universities : the SO pEnIEE Ceremony of the Gatly Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, 43; the Princeton Sesquicentennial, Dr. Wm. H. Hale, 43; Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, Isabel Madison, Helen W. Thomas, Emma S. A. Sanders, Fitz- | Urbain (V. | Urophlyctzs, on some recent observations on the Chytridiaceous Wines, 100; Durham Degrees in Science, 295, 343; Rev. Henry Palin Gurney, 318; the Resources and Needs of Cam- bridge University, 612; Opening of New Laboratories at University College, Liverpool, 183 Unterwegen (Herr Johannes), Sunspots, Variations, 42 Uranic Rays, the, H. Becquerel, 119, 454 Uranium, on Electrical Equilibrium between, and an Insulated Metal in its Neighbourhood, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, 447 ; Law of Dis- charge in Gas of Electrified, H. Becquerel, 599 Uranus, 111 Urbain (G.), the Monazite Sands, 527 ), Les Suecédanés du Chiffon en Papeterie, 388 Comets, and Climate genus, Prof. Magnus, 20 Utility of Specific Characters, the, Rev. John T. Gulick, 508 Vaccination, the Report of the Royal Commission on, 15 Vaillant (L.), Digestive Organs of Turtle (Dermochelys cortacea), | 24 Vallier (E.), Projectiles de Campagne de Siege et de Place ; Fusées, 388 Vanadium in Scandinavian Rutile, Prof. B. Hasselberg, 544 Vandevyver (L. N.), Length of Exposure for Radiographs through Limbs of Different Dimensions, 232 Vanishing Knowledge, the Saving of, Prof. A. C. Haddon, 305 Vapour ~Pressure Measurement with Micromanometer, A. Smits, 455; Prof. V. A. Julius, 455 Vapour Pressures of Liquids, Method for Messunoe Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 273; Note on, Lord Kelvin, F.R.S., 295 Varanger Fjord, Glacial Phenomena of, Aubrey Strahan, 358 Variable Stars: the Algol Variable + 17° 4367 W Delphini, Prof. E. C. Pickering, 260 Variation in Swine, Study of Correlated, C. B. Davenport and C. Bullard, 471 Variations, Definite, Prof. T. D, A. Cockerell, 439 Vaschide (N.), Influence of Psychic Processes on Blood Pres- sure, 264; Influence of Brain Work on Blood Pressure, 399 Vaschy (M.), an Error in Electro-Magnetism, 191 Vasco da Gama, Cabot, Edward Salmon, 541 Vegetables, the Culture of, for Prizes, Pleasure, and Profit, E. Kemp-Toogood, 557 Venomous Snakes, the Natural Immunity of, 139 Venus: the Rotation of Venus, Percival Lowell, 421 Vernon (H. M.), the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Founda- tion of the Naples Zoological Station, 586 Verrill (Prof. A. E.), Evolution of Phylogeny of Gasteropod Molluscs, 190; Nocturnal and Diurnal Changes in the Colours of certain Fishes, and of the Squid (Zo/zgo), with Notes on their Sleeping Habits, 451 Verschaffelt (Dr.), Capillary Ascent between Two Concentric Cylindrical Tubes, 192 Vestigial Characters in Man, on certain, Dr. Walter Kidd, 236 Viard (G.), Velocity of Reduction of Chromic by Phosphorous Acid, 312 Vibrations, Electrical, of Mercury, Ernest Braun, 581 Vibrations, Molecular, on a New Law connecting the Periods of, Prof. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 200, 223 Villari (Prof. E.), Property of Rontgen Rays of inducing in Gases Power to discharge Electrified Bodies, 135; Annul- ment by Ozonation of Power of Discharging Electrification © created in Air by Rontgen Rays, 326; Action of Silent Electric Discharge upon Gases, 503 Ville (Prof. Georges), Death of, 443 Vincent (J. H.), Photography of Ripples, 430 Vincent (Swale), on the Publication of Original Work, 79; Comparative Physiology of Suprarenal Capsules, 574 Vincentini (Filandro), Bacteria of the Sputa and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth, 437 Vines (Prof., F.R.S.), on Experiments on the Suction Forces of Branches, 20 Vires (M.), Coagulating and Toxic Properties of Liver, 191 Virus, Plague, Dr. Yersin and, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 378 Viscosity : Viscosity of Mixtures of Liquids, C. E. Linebarger, 91; Residual Viscosity and Thermal Expansion, H. D. Day, 2; Recent Determinations by Efflux Method of Viscosity of Water, G. H. Knibbs, 259; Measurement of Coefficient of Viscosity of Air, Ch. Fabry and A. Perot, 383 ; the Coefficient of Expansion of Petroleum-Ether, Prof. F. Kohlrausch, 479 Visible Horizon, the Distance of the, L. Cumming, 198 Supplement to eel June 17, 1897 Index XXXIX Viticulture, Death of Dr. F. Saccardo, $0 Vivisection: Heredity of Acquired Characteristics, Leonard Hill, 160 ; Experiments on Distribution of Posterior Root- Fibres of Spinal Nerves, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 356; Cateleptoid Reflexes in Monkey, Prof. C. S. Sherring- ton, F.R.S., 3573 Reciprocal Innervation of Antagonistic Muscles, Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., 381 ; Conditions of Fat-Absorption from Intestines, B. Moore and D. P. Rock- wood, 429; the Regeneration of Nerves, Dr. Robert Ken- nedy, 429; Reducing Power of Living Animal Tissues, Dr. D. F. Harris, 599 Vogt (J. G.), Das Wesen der Electricitat und des Magnetismus auf Grund eines einheitlichen Substanzbegriffes, 604 Voigt (W.), Electric Moment of Tourmaline, 381 Volcanoes: the Causes of Volcanic Outbursts, N. S. Shaler, 301; Volcanic Activity in Central America in relation to British Earthquakes, A. Gosling, 502; Depth of Source of Lava, J. L. Lobley, 503; the Mount Etna Observatory, H. Faye, 599 F Volkmann (Dr. P.), Erkenntnisstheoretische Grundziige der Naturwissenschaften und ihre Beziehungen zum Geistesleben der Gegenwart, Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., 1, 342; the Epistemology of Natural Science and Mr. Karl Pearson, 342 Vuillemin (Paul), the Beetroot Parasite, 72 Waals (Prof. van der), Decrease with Diminishing Volume of é in Equation of Fluids, 192 ; Decrease of Vapour-Tension determined by Magnitude of Molecules of Solvent, 527; Special Points of Melting-Curves, 551 Wachsmuth (R ), the Cadmium Standard Cell, 92 Wagstaff (Prof. W. H.), the Metric System of Weights and Measures compared with the Imperial System, 172 Wagstaffe (W. W.), Separate Day and Night Rainfall Records, 81 Waite (E. R.), Range of Platypus, 72 Walcott (Prof. C. D.), Gold in Alaska, 298 Waldo (Frank), Elementary Meteorology, 363 Walker (General F. A.), Death of, 277 Walker (J.), Velocity of Urea Formation in Aqueous Alcohol, 526 Walker (Dr. T. L.), Geological Studies of Sudbury Nickel District (Canada), 93 Wallace (Dr. Alfred R., F.R.S.), Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection, Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S., 2890 Walter (Js.), Influenza Bacilli in Central Nervous System, 182 Wampum, the Symbolic use of, Horatio Hale, 189 Ward (Isaac W.), the Satellite of Procyon, 153 Warington (Robert, F.R.S.), Agricultural Teaching at Oxford, 449 Warring (Dr. C. .), Curious Optical Phenomenon, 232 Wart-Wort (Chelédonzum majus) Sapas Kemedy for Cancer, Dr. Denisenko, 60; C. Leeson Prince, 155 Washington, Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of, 438 Washington, U.S.A., the Bureau of Ethnology at, 9 Washington Bureau’s Method of disseminating Weather Fore- casts, 59 Wason (Mr.), Keaction of Ferric Chloride, Potassium Chloride, and Hydrochloric Acid, 543 Wasted Records of Disease, Chas. E. Paget, 414 Water, Floating Mercury on, C. Stromeyer, 53 Water Purification, Bacterial; Mrs. Percy Frankland, 163 Water and its Purification, Samuel Rideal, Joseph Lunt, 602 Water-Vapour in Dust-free Air, &c., Condensation of, C. T. R. Wilson, 622 Water-Ways, Deep, Report of United States Commission, 513 Waterer (Clarence), the Additional Colouring Matter of Faces vesiculosus, 508 Waters (Sidney), Death and Obituary Notice of, 181 Waterspouts, True and False, H. Faye, 383 Watson (W. G.), Radiograph with Wimshurst Machine, 12 Watteville (Ch. de), New Method for producing Transparent Crystals, 431 Watts (F.), the Best Sugar-Cane for Leeward Island Cultivation, 12 Wave-lengths, Formule for Computing, 137 Weather, the Story of the, George F. Chambers, 413 Webb (Wilfred Mark), Prichard and Acquired Characters, 342 Weber (Heinrich), Lehrbuch der Algebra, 25, 481 Weber (Prof.), Absolute and Relative Weight of Brains of Mammals, 192 Weber (Prof. Leonhard), Units, 513 Webster (William), X-Ray Photography, 559 Proposed System of Photometric | Weed (W. H.), Missourite, 91 Weierstrass (Prof. K. T.), Death of, 397 ; Obituary Notice o:, 442 Weights and Measures, the Metric System of, compared with the Imperial System, Prof. W. H. Wagstaff, 172 Weisbach (Dr. Julius), the Mechanics of Pumping Machinery, 364 Wells (Sir Spencer), Death of, 326 Weldon ((Prof. W. F. R., F.R.S.), Measurements 0:1 Crabs, 30 Wernicke (Herr), the Vitality of Cholera Vibrios, 233 Wesendonck (K.), Point Discharge Potentials in Air and Hydrogen, 381 Westhoff (Dr. Fritz), Death of, 133 Weston (Rev. Walter), Mountaineering in the Japanese Alps, 102 Weyer (Dr. G. D. E.), Death of, 231 ; Obituary Notice of, 299 Wharton (Rear-Admiral W. J. L., C.B., F.R.S ), Foundations of Coral Reefs, 390 Wheat, Sparrows and, F. G. Brook-Fox, 33 Wheeler (W. H.), Cultivation of Woad, 79; a History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire, 436 Whetham (W. C. Dampier), the Theory of Dissociation into Tons, 151, 606 Whipple (G. C.), the Growth of Diatoms, 83 Whirlwind on Rydal Water, Henry J. C. Anderson, 5 Whitmell (C. J.), the Leonid Meteor Shower, 1896, 54 Who’s Who, 1897, 580 Whymper (Edward), Chamounix and the Range of Mont Blanc, 102 Whymper (Fred), the Komance of the Sea, 149 Whyte (Alexander), Natural History of North Nyasa, 398 Widal’s Test for Typhoid Fever, Microscopic Demonstration of, Dr. Amand Ravold, 454; Widal’s Bacteriological Diagnosis of Typhoid Fever, 590 Wiechert (E.), Foundations of Electrodynamics, 47 Wiedeburg (O.), Interference Refractometer for Electric Waves, Wiedemann (E.), Electrostatic Deflection of Kathode Rays, 524 Wiedemann’s Annalen, 46, 92, 214, 309, 380, 524 Wieland (G. R.), Archelon zschyros, 188 Wien (W.), Measurement of Low Temperatures, 46 Wilcox (A. J.), a Short Catechism of Chemistry, 52 Wild Flowers, How to Study, Rev. Geo. Henslow, Wilder (Prof. Burt G.), some Neural Descriptive Terms, Wilkinson (H. D.), Submarine Cable Laying and Repairing, 222 22. cc 553 : | Willem (Victor), Influence of Water-Aeration on Development of Fresh-Water Mollusca, 300 Willey (Dr. A.), the Eggs of the Pearly Nautilus, 326; the Embryology of the Nautilus, 402 Williams (Dr. Dawson), Immunity from Snake Bite, 415 Williams (J. Ll.), Drunken Habits of Humble Bees, 300 Wilson (Dr.), on Hybridisation in Passion Flowers and Albucas, 22 Wilson (C. T. R.), Condensation of Water-Vapour on Dust- free Air, &c., 622 Wilson (Sir C. W., K.C.B., F.R.S.), the Geodetic Survey or South Africa, 226 Wilson (E.), Capacity and Residual Change of Dielectrics as affected by Temperature and Time, 381 Wilson (Edmund B.), the Cell in Development and Inheritance, fo) Wikon (J. T.), Development and Succession of Teeth in Marsupials, 350 Wilson (W. E., F.R.S.), Effect of surrounding Gas-pressure on Temperature of Crater of Electric Arc, 332, 514 Wilson-Barker (D.), a Manual of Elementary Seamanship, 459 Wimshurst Machine, the X-rays produced by a, T. C. Porter, 30; a Correction, 79 Wind Force, the First Attempt to Measure, Prof. Marvin, 259 Wines (Emma S.), Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, 100 Wines, Decolorisation in, J. Laborde, 191; the Decolorising Ferment, P. Cazeneuve, 576 ; Action of Zinc on Red Wines, L. A. Levat, 359; Wine Manufacture in Southern Regions, A. Muntz, 407 ; the Oxydase of Wines, M. Bouffard, 551 ; Wine and Cobwebs, 564 Winkelmann (A.), some Properties of Rontgen Rays, 47 « - Witz (Prof. Aimé), Les Machines Thermiques, 533 Woad Mill, a Visit to an English, Francis Darwin, F.RS., Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., 36 Woad, Cultivation of, W. H. Wheeler, 79; Rosa M. Barrett, 79; A. C. G. Cameron, 155; H. Franklin Parsons, 198 Wolf (Dr. Max), Reflector and Portrait Lens in Celestial Photography, 582 Wolff (Prof. Emil von), Death and Obituary Notice of, 134, 20 Wolff (Dr. J. T.), Death of, 11 Women, Handbook of Courses open to, in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities, Isabel Maddison, Helen W. Thomas, Emma S. Wines, 100 Wonaszek (Herr A. Anton), Observations of Saturn, 183 Wonderful Universe, the, Agnes Giberne, 246 Wood (Sir H. T.), Siemens’ Domestic Gas Fire, 6; Photo- graphy in Colours, 318 Wood (R. W.), Temperatures inside Vacuum Tubes, 46; Re- lative Temperature in Geissler Tubes, 274 ; Diffraction Phenomena produced with Rontgen Rays, 614; Lecture- room Demonstration of the Orbits of Bodies under the Action of a Central Attraction, 620 Woodhead (Dr. G. Sims), Dr. Koch’s Recent Researches on Tuberculin, 567; the James Forrest Lecture: Bacteriology, | Biological Laboratory at, in the Summer Session of 1895, 170 Woolacott (D.), Geology of North-east Durham, 605 Woollcombe (W. G.), Practical Work in Physics, 28 World, the System of the, 163 Wormley (Theodore), Death of, 231, 277 Worms, the Natural History of, 607 Worsdell (W. C.), Swallows in November, 39 ; Origin of Trans- | mission Tissue in Coniferous Leaves, 526 Worship of Trees, the, Mrs. J. H. Philpot, 483 Worthington (Prof. A. M., F.RS.), the Force of a Pound, 247 Wright (Dr. A. E.), the Cause and Cure of Scurvy, 418 Wright (S. T.), Fruit Culture for Amateurs, 340 Wright (Thomas Wallace), Elements of Mechanics, 49; the Force of a Pound, 270 Wylie (John), Experiment on Interference, 508 Yakouti, Description of the Ethnographical Researches a V. A. Sierscheysky on the, 97 Yates (J. M.), Red Dust of Doubtful Origin, 508 Year in the Fields, a, John Burroughs, 387 Yeast: the Extraction of an Alcohol-producing Ferment from Yeast, Dr. E. Buchner, 442 June 17, 1807 x] Index (Seer to Nalure, 508 Yellow Fever, the Bacillus of, Dr. G. Sanarelli, 370 Yersin (Dr.) and Plague Virus, Mrs. Percy Frankland, 378 Yersin Serum, Failure of, 540 Young (G.), Formation of Substituted Oxytriazoles from Phenylsemicarbazide, 310; Oxidation of Phenylstyrenyloxy- triazole, 478 Young (S.), Normal and Iso-Pentanes, 502 Yule (G. U.), Significance of Bravais Formule for Kegression, &c., in Case of Skew Correlation, 452 Zaborowski (M.), the Anthropological History of Southern Russia, 184 Zacharias (Prof.), on the Histology of the Blue-Green Alge, 21 Zander (C. G.), Photo-Trichromatic Printing, 315 Zdekauer (Dr. Nikolai), Death of, 370 Zeeman (Dr.), Influence of Magnetisation on Emitted Light, 192, 347 Zeeman's (Dr.), Optical Phenomenon in Eye, E. G. A. ten Siethoff, 527 Zehnder (L.), Treatment of High-tension Accumulators, 309 Zelinsky (Herr), Influence of Hydriodic Acid on the Hexa- methylene Ring, 497 Zenker (Dr.), the extraordinarily Cold Climate of Werchojansk, Siberia, 351 517 | Zimmerman (Prof. Dr. A.), Die Morphologie und Physiologie Wood’s Holl, Biological Lectures delivered at the Marine des Pflanzlichen Zellkernes, 147 Zinc, Action on Red Wines of. L. A. Levat, 359 Zinc, the Alloys of Copper and, G. Charpy, Dr. T. K. Rose, 130 | Zograf (Nicholas de), Method of Mounting Rotifers, 359 Zoology : the European Bison, Herr Buchener, 12; Additions to Zoological Gardens, 14, 41, 61, 84, 110, 137, 162, 183, 208, 235, 257, 260, 279, 303, 328, 351, 372, 401, 421, 446, 472, 497, 516, 544, 566, 591, 616; Digestive Organs of Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, L. Vaillant, 24; Range of Platypus, E. R. Waite, 72; Origin of European Fauna, Dr. R. F. Scharff, 95 ; Death of Dr. Fritz Westhoff, 133; Zoological Society, 142, 166, 190, 358, 407, 479, 503, 575; the General Principles of Zoology, Richard Hertwig, 149 ; Intermediate Links between Man and Lower Animals, Dr. Munro, 263; New Mexican Rabbit, Dr. C. H. Merriam, 300; Moles» North America, F. W. True, 301 ; Ophthalmoscopic Appear- ances of Fundus Oculi in Primates, Dr. Lindsay Johnson, 3333 Death of A. A. van Bemmelen, 348; Development and Succession of Teeth in Marsupials, J. T. Wilson and J. P. Hill, 350; the Zoological Record, 412 ; Death of Prof. E. D. Cope, 562; the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Founda- tion of the Naples Zoological Station, H. M. Vernon, 586 Ziirich Federal Polytechnic School, the, 537 IX \WWARTEI ILA? WCIEIUISSURUAINIDY [ON RINVAIL, ONY SC MINED “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which buzlds for aye.”’—WoORDSWORTH. : THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 65, 1806. THE PHILOSOPAY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. Studien zu Methodenlehre Von Friedrich Dreyer. Engelmann, 1895.) und Erkenninisskritik. Pp. viii + 223. (Leipzig : Erkenninistheoretische Grundztige der Naturwissen- schaften und thre Beziehungen zum Geistesleben der Gegenwart. Allgemein wissenschaftliche Von Dr. P. Volkmann. Pp. xii + 181. Teubner, 1896.) Vortrage. (Leipzig : F we were to examine these two works purely from the standpoint of the critical reviewer, we should probably content ourselves by recommending the busy man of science to pass them by. We might, indeed, justify the sternness of our judgment by illustrating the hopelessly involved style of Herr Dreyer—his page-long footnotes on footnotes, his misinterpretations of mathe- matical and physical theories, and his obvious, but nowhere justified, bias against Darwinism. We might then pass to Dr. Volkmann and show the vagueness of his definitions, the unphilosophical character of his epistemology, and indicate the danger which arises when loose analogies drawn from natural science are applied to other fields of thought. We might not unreasonably conclude with a sigh over the departing glory of German science. We might moan over the death or old age of the giants of a quarter of a century back, and regret that the strong and clear intellects of young Germany seem drawn rather to military and commercial pursuits than to the service of science. That Germany has become the first military, and is rapidly becoming the first commercial nation, are now familiar ideas ; but that these victories have been won at the expense of literature and pure science, is an aspect of evolution which other nations are only just beginning to realise, and Germany herself will only realise last of all. It is a subtle qualitative, not a quanti- tative change which has been going on since 1870 in German science and literature. Few realise it, but it is none the less a reality. It is, perhaps, as well that leadership in all spheres should not fall to one NO. I410, VOL. 55] people. From the historical stand-point accordingly, these two books are of interest, for they are very typical of much work which Germany has of recent years put forth. Their authors fully recognise that there are great problems still unsolved in the philosophical basis of the natural sciences, but it cannot be said that they throw any light on the solution of these problems, nay, that they even assist us in their clear enunciation. Herr Dreyer indeed tells us with much truth that : “Auf dem Gebiete der Biologie sieht es noch recht wild und windig aus” ; but his lengthy defence of “vital force” is hardly calcu- lated to bring more system into biological thought. Prof. Volkmann is evidently not quite at his ease in his endeavours to define such fundamental concepts as “natural law” and “ physical hypothesis.” Yet for him natural laws like the law of gravitation lie outside us while the conclusions of mathematics are thought-laws which lie inside us : “Diese Naturnothwendigkeiten ausser uns nirgends in Widerspruch treten mit den Denknothwendigkeiten im uns.” This arises apparently from a pre-established harmony the source of which is accounted for in a manner which the writer tells us is the ‘“‘Kernpunkt meiner erkennt- nistheoretischen Studien auf naturwissenschaftlichem Boden.” It lies namely in this : “dass die Logik in uns ihren Ursprung in dem gesetz- massigen Geschehen der Dinge ausser uns hat, dass die aussere Nothwendigkeit des Naturgeschehens unsere erste und recht eigentliche Lehrmeisterin ist.” We are only given this sentence, without oe word more description of the process by which such harmony has been established! A poet might have thrown out the idea, but put thus in a scientific treatise it is hardly calculated to help us in clearing up our fundamental notions. It would, however, be wrong to merely smile over what we feel compelled to term trivialities, or to think that they are solely characteristic of German naturalists. A very superfcial study of current English physical and dynamical text-books will suffice to demonstrate how much we ourselves need a thorough Au/Alavung in our B i) IA TO TE [NovEMBER 5, 1896 | fundamental physical ideas. A mere perusal of current discussions on variation, correlation, panmixia, will avail to show how “right wild and windy” it is in the field of English biology also. This is the second stand-point from which a consideration of the ideas of Dreyer and Volkmann may be of value. Their books may help us to realise the condition of affairs at home, and if we do that we shall hardly find much ground for national self-congratulation. During the last ten or fifteen years a very great revolution has been more or less silently taking place in the philosophical theory of men of science, The revolution is very far from being complete, for old theories are hard to dissolve when they have crystallised into dogmas. The chaotic definitions of the text-books, the chaotic thinking of too many biological contro- versialists, are all signs of a transition period, of new ideas struggling with old modes of expression, with an antique terminology suited to a scientific philosophy no longer cap- able of satisfying modern intellectual needs. But whether we turn to Germany, to France, or to our own country, and study the literature which touches on the erkenntnis- theoretische foundations of science, we shall alike be forced to the conclusion that a revolution in scientific thought has been taking place, and that in the minds of the more philosophical men of science, it is already complete. There are many ways of summing up the purport of this revolution. Perhaps the shortest, if not the most expressive, is to say’that the old division of science into exact and descriptive sciences is now seen to be illusory. The immense progress made in the first half of this century with theoretical mechanics, the success with which mechanical reasoning was applied in the third quarter of the century to the great physical dis- coveries of that period, led men of science not unnaturally to postulate mechanism as the basis of all natural processes whatsoever. Particles, molecules, atoms, impacts, vibrations, laws of forces were the forms under which all nature worked, and by which all things were to be explained. The dogma that mechanism would explain the universe may have been philosophically absurd, but by concentrating men’s thoughts on one method of investigation, it led to a whole round of splendid discoveries. For all but the great leaders of science work under any theory, under any dogma indeed, which has produced and is still capable of producing great results, is far better than the invention of new hypotheses, Fruitful new hypotheses have almost always been the product of master-minds, which have worked out old theories to the point at which they are seen to absolutely contradict phenomena. The ’prentice hand finding some new fact at present unaccounted for by the old-established theory is generally over-hasty with the fabrication of a new hypothesis. The true criterion for the modification or rejection of an established theory which has produced sound scientific results is not its present insufficiency to account for this or that isolated group of phenomena—its insufficiency may arise from the weakness of our analysis, or from want of insight in our application of it—the criterion lies rather in a demonstrable contradiction between the theory and some particular class of phenomena. The existence of such a contradiction can only be satisfactorily proven by a master NO. 1410, VOL. 55 | with the firmest grasp of theory and the fullest appre- ciation of natural facts. “Had the necessity for such a criterion been borne in mind, the field of biology would possibly not now look so “wild and windy.” Has there not been a far too ready invention of new hypotheses— on the ground that the theory of natural selection com- bined with heredity has not hitherto provided a satis- factory account of certain phenomena—while, as a matter of fact, the modification or rejection of such a fruitful theory ought to be solely based on the absolute contra- diction of its deductions by our experience of nature? The whole point is, indeed, well illustrated by Herr Dreyer’s onslaught on “die moderne Entwicklungslehre mit ihrem famosen Darwinismus,” which “noch so It is perfectly easy to show kannibalisch wohl fuhlt.” that neither Darwinism?! nor mechanism in their respective spheres have accounted for anything but a small fringe of organic phenomena. It is quite easy to postulate the possibility of other evolutionary hypotheses and of “ vital forces,” which in the future may render account of other ranges of phenomena. But take, for example, such a concept as “vital force”—the definition of which is so. obscure that it is impossible to assert or deny its exist- ence—and ask what fruitful results it has contributed to biology as compared with what has been achieved by an application of mechanical theory—under which term we should include chemico-physical laws? Herr Dreyer is very stern with Otto Liebmann for ridiculing “vital force”; but when we come to investigate what Herr Dreyer himself understands by “vital force,” it appears to be embraced in a Lebensgesetslichkett, which shall be coordinate with, and not superior to the Physikalische Gesetzlichkeit. The study of this Lebensgesetzlichkett is to form the science of Vz¢a/istik. It would be interest- ing to know who has been so rash as to deny the exist- ence of yet undiscovered laws of life, which are not identical, but coordinate with already established physical laws. Herr Dreyer’s position may be thus summed up: It is not proven that physics can lead us everywhere in the organic field, let us try the fabrication of new hypotheses and build up a new science of vitalistics. Well, and good! A master-mind may some day pro- pound an hypothesis of value ; we should have preferred the statement of single new Ledensgesetz to all Herr Dreyer’s discussion on Lebensgesetslichkeit, We hold that for the every-day man of science it is better to work a by- no-means exhausted vein of ore, than rush off to the still unworked, but highly-puffed field of vitalistics. Science as well as commerce has its gold reefs—without gold. Nor was the attack of the so hannibalisch wohl fihlende moderne Entwicklungsmanner on Lebenskraft without its justification. That term embraced an unscientific attempt to slur over ignorance, and encouraged loose thinking by stealing from mechanics in the word “force” some of the clearness and definiteness of mechanical concepts. That no knowledge of Lebensgesetzlichkeit came out of its use, can we think be historically proven, nor are we, indeed, prepared to admit that it even acted for a time as a successful bulwark against a materialistic view of 1 By “ Darwinism” may here be broadly understood the theory which supposes evolution to have taken place by natural selection combined with heredity. NoveMBER 5, 1896] NATURE 4) re) life. The materialistic view-of life—the theory which would explain all organic and inorganic nature by force and matter—has disappeared owing to a wider and more philosophic view of mechanism, and not to the logic of vitalists. It is the physicists, and not the bi- ologists, who have broken down the barrier between the | exact and descriptive sciences, and among whom a truer view of mechanism has arisen. The biologists have been only too ready to offer “ explanations” of various organic processes by appeal to molecules, centres of force and energies. While they have been attempting a mechanical basis for descriptive science, the physicists have learnt that mechanics, after all, is but a descriptive science it- self. ‘The object of mechanics is to descriée in the simplest possible fashion the motions which occur in nature.” Such was Kirchhoff’s definition, and the ac- ceptance of that definition is really the revolution which has been going on in natural science. It is a revolution which cuts at the idea of force as a cause, but sees in it only a measure of change ; it is a revolution which thrusts upon us the agnostic position of watching and describing; and which drops explanation out of the scientific glos- sary or defines its old sense entirely away. It is a revolution which again renders for us the motion of a planet every whit as mysterious as the oscillations of protoplasm. We can explain neither, although long study and observation have enabled us to describe one motion in much simpler terms than the other. Mechanism as the description in the simplest possible terms, not the explanation, of natural motions is a revo- lutionary definition which at once reduces all physics, chemistry and biology to the same simple footing. In all three sciences it is the sequence of changes in space and time that we endeavour to describe in the simplest language. In doing this, we are inevitably thrown back on geometry and kinematics. The conceptions of these sciences are not identical with real experience ; they are based on ideal forms and ideal ratios drawn as limits from our experience of phenomena. But it is in terms of these only that we succeed in describing change, and this geometrical and kinematic description of change, and of repeated sequences of change is what we are to under- stand by mechanism in its broadest sense. It is this mechanism, which embraces such inventions of the in- tellect as particles, molecules, atoms and ethers, and | describes kinematically, or in terms of the motions it attributes to them, physical phenomena. Organic pheno- mena may require to be described by other conceptual elements having other modes of motion attributed to them than those which have hitherto been adopted in physical descriptions. But if organic phenomena are to be described scientifically, it must be by a series of sym- ‘bolic forms moving in time and space. In this sense biology must ultimately become a mechanical science, ‘This does not mean that life can be “explained” by mechanism—on the contrary, mechanism explains nothing, not even physical nature—but that the bulk of natural science is a description of change, of motion in time and space, and that the invention of comprehensive | and brief formule of motion is the function of mechanics. In this sense it seems impossible to contrast mechanism _and “vital force,” or to maintain any rigid line of demar- ation between the physical and descriptive sciences. NO. 1410, VOL. 55] From this standpoint, which we believe to be the firm ground, soon to be left behind by the sea of current erkenntnistheoretische controversies, how purely idle does Prof. Volkmann’s disquisition on natural laws, rules, hypotheses, and axioms appear! Thus Newton's law of gravitation, the principle of energy, Galilei’s law of inertia, he tells us, are Maturgesefze; Keplers laws of planetary motion are merely Aege/7, and the undulatory theory of light an Aypfothese! Yet Prof. Volkmann's definitions are worth noticing, because they show us so | very clearly the present transitional state of scientific thought. “Das Naturgesetz bildet den kiirzesten und zugleich reichhaltigsten Ausdruck fiir das, was thatsachlich geschieht und zwar was ausnahmslos geschieht, was geschehen muss” (p. 58). It is the s¢zliche Wahrnehmung which changes the fiypothese to the Naturgese¢z. But we must ask, what physicist ever caught a particle, or had a sznmliche Wahrnehmung of how two particles. if caught, would attract each other? How is Newton’s particle more real than the atom of the chemist? Even Dr. Volkmann admits that the conception of the atom as something dz/d/ich symbolisch, is to-day winning ground everywhere. How can we have sinnliche Wahrnehmung of the law of inertia ? Does it not require the most ideal conceptions of relative motion and of “fixed axes” to at all realise its meaning ; and is it then more than a definition of acceleration? We cannot find this law so ecnleuchtend and so unmittelbar as Dr. Volkmann believes, nor consider that its essence can be scientifically illustrated by the motion of a loco- motive over smooth rails, when the steam is cut off. Indeed our author skates somewhat lightly over the abysmal gulf of the relativity of all motion. He has given up force as a reality, but the influence of relativity on all forms of kinetic energy does not appear to have struck him, and, like many another physicist, he would probably suppose we had some sinmliche Wahrnehmung of the absolute in a quantum of energy. The undulatory theory of light was purely hypothesis so long as it was iibersinnliche Anschauung und Vorstellung ; but now that the young German physicist Wiener has photo- | graphed light waves, we are told, that it has ceased to be an hypothesis, it has become ez7e vollendete Thatsache /— a law of nature. In not one of such natural laws, how- ever, is there anything of the szwss of Prof. Volkmann’s definition. They are purely dildlich symbolisch descrip- tions of motion, more or less simple, more or less complete and satisfactory. The reader will notice at once how far many students of science are yet from using the language and appreciating the ideas involved in Kirchhoff’s definition of mechanism. Mechanism, whether it be that of the particle, the atom, | the ether, or the cell, is a description of motion in the simplest terms the mind can invent, and this description is always in terms of those d7/dlich symbolische elements, | which we construct from such ideal sciences as geometry and kinematics. We may attach constants to these ele- ments to be determined by experience, and to be termed | charges, masses, &c., and, perhaps, in the distant future, when the science of vitalistics is complete, vital units ; | but the elements none the less remain d//dlich symbolisch. | They are mental constructs, by which the scientific mind 4 NATURE [ NovEMBER 5, 1896 endeavours to describe its past and predict its future experience in the briefest possible terms. It is this creation of Maturgese/sze by the mind, this invention of brief formulae, which is at once the glory and limitation of science. world of Dinge an sich, which we term nature, may be in and for itself; it seeks with all its ingenuity to describe bildlich symbolisch, what falls within the limits of its ex- perience. ‘The progress of science lies in the increasing comprehensiveness and brevity of its descriptions. Prof. Volkmann tells us that : “So lange die Naturwissenschaften mit einem inneren Verhaltnis zwischen Geist und Natur arbeiteten, war ihr Fortschritt gehemmt ” (p. 123). If this were true, then must natural science and the discovery, or rather zven/zon of natural law be for ever retarded, for science must always work at this very relation between mind and nature. It is, however, not the right but the wrong appreciation of the relation of mind to nature which checks scientific progress. The completion of the revolution we have hinted at in this review, so far from being detrimental to natural science, will go a long way towards freeing its workers from the attacks which have been made upon science from more than one quarter, and which have largely arisen from a confusion of the idea of mechanism with some form of materialistic theory. Released from the need of replying to external criticism and attack, science will have the more energy and leisure to progress quietly in its own proper field. KARL PEARSON, OUR BOOK SHELF. Text-Book of Comparative Anatomy. By Dr. Arnold Lang. Translated into English by Henry M. and Matilda Bernard. Part ii. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) THIS volume of Dr. Lang’s text-book treats of the Mollusca, Echinodermata, and Enteropneusta. To the first group of animals 283 pages are devoted, and to the latter two 319. The complete and systematic manner in which the structure and relations of the different families and orders described in this work are dealt with, renders each of the three chapters, into which the book is divided, a valuable monograph. Regarding the phylogeny of the Enteropneusta, Dr. Lang states that they “ are not closely related to any single large division of the animal kingdom” ; his treatment of them in this volume is suf- ficient evidence that he is not inclined to attach much weight to their supposed affinities with the Chordata. In a short notice it is quite impossible to give any idea of the interesting way in which the book is written. The English translation is all that could be desired ; the illustrations are excellent. The arrangement of the subject-matter has been carefully thought out, and refer- ence to any subject is assisted by the use of different kinds of type in the text. A long classified list of the important literature is givenat the end of each chapter. Experience: a Chapter of Prolegomena. By the Rev. Wilfrid Richmond. Pp. iv + 64. (London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd., 1896.) ACCORDING to the author, the initial obstacle to the progress of philosophy is the doctrine that experience cannot give the knowledge of reality—that nothing can be definitely known. This view he demolishes by showing that reality is actually to be found within the field of experience, whence the sensible conclusion is arrived at that “ experience is the beginning and end of philosophy.” NO. I410, VOL. 55] The mind does not explain for us what the ! 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 ts taken of anonymous communications. | Islandic Earthquake Recorded at Paris. Le No. de NATURE du 15 octobre contient une note trés intéressante de Dr. J. Stefansson, sur le tremblement de terre survenu en Islande le 26 aout dernier. J’ai l'honneur de vous informer que les courbes relevées, & cette date, au magnétographe de l’Observatoire du Pare Saint- Maur, portent nettement la trace de trois troubles particuliers, paraissant se rattacher 4 ce phénomeéne. Le premier s'est pro- duit & 11h. 36m., et les deux autres, qui sont plus accentués, respectivement 4 11h. 42m. et 1th, 46m, du soir, temps moyen de Paris. Tu. MoureEAvux. Observatoire du Pare Saint-Maur, le 29 octobre. Earth Tremors at Edinburgh between August 25 and September 6. IN connection with Dr. J. Stefansson’s article in NATURE of October 15, on the ‘‘ Recent Earthquakes in Iceland,” it may be of some interest to note that the photo-recording bifilar pendulum, presented to this Observatory by M. d’Abbadie, and placed under my care by Prof. Copeland, exhibits on the dates given by Dr. Stefansson several strongly marked irregularities in the curve, which may possibly have had their origin in the Icelandic disturbances. The following table contains a list of all the pendulum oscillations recorded on the photographs between August 25 and September 6, with the Greenwich Mean Times of their occurrence. Edinburgh pendulum Earth- | oscillations. | Tilt of quakes in = | pendulum Iceland. | frame. Begin. End. | | ‘ 4” a, oa Aug. 25 9-25 a.m. | : o4 Slight. 3 4.45 p-M.| 5.50 p.m. | o6 =| Slight. 26 |g.r0 a.m. | 11.5 a.m. o"4 Very slight. ._. Jf) Slight, but well- 5 | 0.55 pm. | 2.10 p.m. REA: smarleeel: sy | 10.30 p.m. |r 1.10 p.»m.| 11.30 p.m.) About 2 | Gap. 27 | | 6.35 a.m. 2 r'25 Well-marked. 1} 915 a.m, {10.50 a_m.| 11.5 a.m. | About 2 | Gap. 3 oA | 4.10 p.m. | 5-40 p.m. 0'5 Very slight. : fl Several almost int 29 11.20 a.m. } J | perceptible tremors. 30 | 4-30 p.m, | a irregular inter- j vals. “ 5 | E { No trace of disturb- -~j ehe 4-30 ppm. | | \ 4 | ance, but record not SEPE 4 DOP Ts \ complete. | ee | {| Photographic trace 4 eens eeeet l a perfectly straight 6 0.5 a.m. | / ( Pers, 5-6 | 11.30p.m.| 0.5 a.m. | 0.20 a.m. 2to3 Gap 6| 2a.m. No dis|turbance here. t 9 5 {| Well-marked oscilla- ” beret ee ‘tion. The points of special interest in this table are the three violent oscillations which have been designated gaps. These are complete interruptions in the curve, caused apparently by successive waves of sufficient amplitude to produce so rapid an oscillatory motion of the pendulum, that the reflected ray traverses the exposing slit too quickly to leave any photographic trace. The result as seen on the photograph is an abrupt termination to the curve line; then for a period of from five to ten minutes no photographic effect whatever is produced, and for about a similar period, a widened and badly defined trace shows that the ray has oscillated to each side of its normal position, with an amplitude of disturbance at the time when the trace begins to reappear of fully 2”, but which must have been considerably greater at the beginning of the gap, where the record is altogether wanting. After this the mirror comes to rest, and the ordinary trace reappears. In the case of all the smaller irregularities of the curve, the ray seems to have moved more or less abruptly to a distance from its normal position, after which the mirror gradually settles to rest. Careful measurements give, for the arc through NoOvEMBER 5, 1896] WATURE = 2) which the pendulum frame is tilted, the numbers contained in column 5. Unfortunately, between August 30 and September 4, the record is incomplete, some fifty hours having been lost by the photographic paper repeatedly running so much to one side as to stop the clock. This difficulty, it is hoped, has now been overcome. Tuomas HEaTH. Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, October 26. Whirlwind on ‘“ Rydal Water.” Some friends and myself were staying at Lowwood Hotel, Windermere, for a few days. and on Friday, October 16, we were walking by ‘‘ Rydal Water,” on the opposite side from the road, when we noticed a very curious and most unusual effect on the water, caused by a sudden very heavy squall of wind, which seemed to come from two directions at one time, creating a ‘‘ whirlwind,” and raising the water and spray on the lake fully 100 feet high or more. There were eight or ten of these disturbances during the time we stayed (probably about twenty minutes), and I was fortunate enough to have my hand- camera with me and to photograph the largest of them, which came sweeping down the lake towards the island (near the suggested any really better general plan of carrying on the business of the Section. The writer in your columns indicates, for instance, that the week should be devoted to discussions such as that upon the fracture of railway rails, or the report on tidal in- fluences. While admitting the value of these two communications, and others of a similar kind, there appear to be serious objections to limiting the work of the Section entirely to such matters, which work, I venture to think, your reporter entirely mistakes in its relation to technical societies. These societies, such as the Institutions of Mechanical Engineers, of Naval Architects, of Electrical Engineers, of Mining Engineers, and the Iron and Steel Institute, specialise their work, and deal often in a different way with quite different subjects. Now the British Association affords a common meeting ground for all interested in these and other branches of applied science, and, indeed, for many who may not have any special knowledge of any branch at all. Hence papers, or even lectures, upon which discussion is admitted and invited, dealing with dock works (which surely it is quibbling to exclude from the range of mechanical science), electric railways, the Tower Bridge, waterworks, not to say of armour and ordnance, of wreck-raising, of motor-carriages, &c.—in all of which an account was given of progress in applied science—seem to form an important part of the work of the Section. Indeed, those authors who took the trouble to prepare illustrations, lantern slides, and models to make their subject clear and interesting, or even, if you like, ‘* popular,” deserve the hearty thanks of those present. It might perhaps be a good thing to make some division in the day, so that the scientific papers and discussions which, to be frank, frequently empty the room, might be taken early before a certain hour, after which papers of a more popular character might be announced for reading and discussion. As for trade articles, it might be fairly argued that new inventions not coming under that head -even scientific instruments, for example—have generally no value or interest at all; and the Com- mittee of the Section seem always to try and ascertain, before accepting a communication of this sort, if there is sufficient novelty and scientific interest to warrant its acceptance; and in this matter, the ‘‘morality”’ of the Section need not be higher than that of technical societies. Indeed, if advertisement were a ban to acceptance, a good many of the authors themselves at most of the Sections would be hopelessly rejected. The ‘‘ touting circular” referred to, if indeed it can be called such, was given out by one of the secretaries to only a portion of the meeting, and the remaining copies withheld when his attention was called to Whirlwind on *‘ Rydal Water,” and smaller one in distance, October 16. centre), and finally broke on the shore with a boom like a cannon, which threw the débris, &c., at the side into the air quite 40 feet high. I have seen small whirlwinds strike on various lakes, but never anything of the magnitude of this. Thinking the incident might be of interest to you, I send youa photograph to make what use of you like. Had a small boat or ordinary Windermere yacht been caught in one of these whirlwinds, she must have been swamped. Henry J. C. ANDERSON. Rodono, Great Crosby, near Liverpool, October. The ‘*G”’ Section of the British Association. PERHAPS I may be allowed to make a few remarks concerning the above Section, and the strictures passed on October 22 upon its work, by the writer of the report in your columns. The writer is not singular in his criticisms, for others representing the scientific and practical sides of engineering also speak from time to time in a disparaging way, both of the subjects themselves, which are dealt with under the head of Mechanical Science at these annual gatherings, and of the methods of dealing with them, I am not in any way concerned in defending the present state of things, but I would point out that no one yet seems to have NO. 1410, VOL. 55] the contents. It is scarcely right to intimate that this sort of thing ever occurs except as a rare accident. H. S. HELE-SHAW. Walker Engineering Laboratories, University College, Liverpool, October 26. P.S.—Mr. Johnson, of Derby, is mentioned in mistake for Mr. Rk. E. Johnston, Engineer of the Joint London and North- Western and Great Western Railways. Suggested Reef Boring at the Bermuda Islands. Tue issue of NATURE containing the notice of the failure of the Royal Society boring expedition has just reached me, so I hasten to call attention to the great value of the Bermudas as a permanent home for a scientific station, and where borings might be readily conducted at any convenient time. A glance at the map will show that the fauna of the deep sea, of coral reefs, the avifauna of the ocean, and a complex meteorology, may all be studied at one and the same station, and in close proximity to New York and Halifax. 7 Could the Smithsonian Institution or the Royal Society be induced to take the matter up, it would seem to be an easy matter to organise a station, as the funds required are not large. The town of St. George’s very probably would give a dock with house attached, and possibly the colony a small sum annually. If the Universities of America would take an interest in the matter, the enterprise might be immediately pushed along. 6 NATURE [ NovEMBER 5, 1896 I should like to see in NATURE the views of some scientific men on this matter, both of Britain and America. The question is certainly of great importance to scientific inquirers in nearly all branches of scientific endeavour, and it is to be hoped abler minds than mine may lay hold of the enterprise. W. K. MORRISON, Devonshire, Bermuda Islands, October 15. Siemens’ Domestic Gas Fire. Dr. Po.e’s letter on the Siemens’ Domestic Fire drew my attention to the inquiry on the subject which Mr. Foster addressed to you in his letter published in NATURE of Sep- tember 17. I have had one of these fires in my office at the Society of Arts for some years. It was put in under Sir William Siemens’ own superintendence, about the time when he described the grate in NATURE, soit must have been at the end of 1880 or the beginning of 1881. Fora long time I used it with coke in the manner intended by the inventor ; but practically I have found it more convenient to use ordinary coal, although it is doubtless less economical. As Dr. Pole points out, the convenience of having gas ready to be turned on whenever the fire gets low or goes out, is very great ; and in cases where a rather wasteful consumption of gas can be prevented, or is not considered of great importance, there can be no doubt but that the fitting of a few gas jets to an ordinary grate is a very great convenience. There is also a good deal of trouble saved in the lighting of the fire, as no paper or wood is required ; the grate is simply filled with coal, and the gas turned on and lighted. The fire, I should say, burns up at least as rapidly as when lighted in the ordinary way. If any of your readers are interested in the question, they are very welcome to see the grate at work whenever they like to call here. H. T. Woop. Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, London, W.C., November 2. Diselectrification by Phosphorus. IN the course of some experiments made a few weeks ago, upon the discharge of electricity by air which had been traversed by X-rays, it occurred to me to try whether similar action would be exerted by air in which phosphorus was being oxidised. I found that a gold-leaf (Dutch metal) electroscope was quickly discharged when a stick of phosphorus was held near it. A small metal crucible was afterwards connected with the electro- scope, and a clean slice of phosphorus half an inch in diameter was supported within it at a distance of about half an inch from its sides and bottom. The electroscope was completely dis- charged in six seconds, the action being more rapid than that of a burning strip of nitrate of lead touch-paper one inch in width. It might be found convenient to attach a lump of phosphorus instead of a fuse to the nozzle of a water-dropping collector in times of severe frost. I do not remember to have met with a previous record of this observation. It is of interest in connection with the note on slow oxidation, in NATURE of October 29 (p. 631). SHELFORD BIDWELL. The Departure of Swallows. ‘*E. P.” mentions in Narure of October 22, a date, some- where about October 20, I presume, which he considers is an unusual one for swallows. Now, though the bulk of the swallows have left by this time, it is by no means unusual to see them later on in the year. In 1894 I saw swallows in Kent, in the neighbourhood of Tonbridge, on October 20, 21, 25 and 27, and the last one on November 11; it was flitting about a village in a bewildered sort of way, with a crowd of village boys throwing mud and clods of earth at it. The same year a flock of martins stayed near some buildings from October 28 to November 16; by this time many of them had died of cold. The latest swallows I have seen this year I saw on October 235 near the same buildings. J. Brown. Tonbridge, Kent. I BEG to send you the following extracts from my journal respecting the late appearance of the swallows. 1855, December.—It is worthy of record that several swallows NO. I410, VOL. 55] were seen in this locality towards the end of November and during the first week of this month. I have ascertained that they were seen in other counties at the end of November ; it must not be considered, therefore, as a merely local or solitary instance of the late appearance of these birds. 1863, October.—A few swallows were seen flying above the church on the 24th, and again on the 31st. 1867, November.—Some swallows were observed flying about during the last week. These observations were made at Uckfield. C. LEESON PRINCE. The Observatory, Crowborough Hill, Sussex, October 26. A Mechanical Problem. THE mechanical problem proposed by your correspondent, “*Cromerite,” in the last issue of NATURE (October 29), is practically answered by the so-called ‘* jumping beans”’ that are now being exhibited and sold in many parts of London. In this case a hard, rigid seed is seen to travel about in a series of small jerks, being slightly lifted from the ground at each move- ment. Upon dissection the seed is found to be hollow, the original contents having been devoured by a coleopterous larva —a soft fleshy maggot—which now partially occupies the cavity, and by its spasmodic movements causes the strange antics of the natural box in which it is enclosed. The walls of the seed appear to be quite rigid and inelastic. E. E. GREEN. November 1. HERTZ’S MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS NYTHING written by Hertz is of interest ; and these papers are of interest, not only on this account, but also on account of their suggestiveness. It is always a question as to the desirability of republishing and translating papers published some years ago. Most valuable papers of ten years’ standing have produced their effect. Their vitality has been transmitted to and reproduced in subsequent work, but what the scientific world requires is advance rather than revision. The work of pioneers is, however, largely an exception to this. rule. They are generally in advance of their times, and. much of their work is of value long after it was done. Such an one was Hertz. Most of his papers are sugges- tive of questions which still require answers, and they all breathe a spirit that, as he says himself of Helmholtz’s work, evokes “the same elevation and wonder as in beholding a pure work of art.” His papers are not mere enumerations of observations, nor mathematical gym- nastics. Each has a definite purpose and an artistic unity. A life-giving idea pervades it. It is no mere dry bones, but an organic whole that lives for a purpose, and does some work for science. Prof. Lenard has earned much gratitude for his Intro- duction. It gives a charming picture of Hertz, of his simplicity, his devotion to science, his loving regard for his parents. There is just enough added to the very well-selected letters to give the reader a continuous view of Hertz’s work, and enable him to follow its development, . and hence feel an interest in it and sympathy with the worker, thus fulfilling the best ideal of the biographer. One of Hertz’s first investigations was as to the kinetic energy of an electric current. The question is still of great interest. It is known that the magnetic induction that accompanies an electric current behaves exactly as if it were a mass moving with inertia. This is the inertia of magnetic induction. Hertz was, however, looking for a different mertia. He looked at the subject from the flow of electricity point of view. He thought that there might be some phenomenon corresponding to an inertia of the electric charges, which upon this theory are sup- posed to be flowing in opposite directions through a con- ductor. He supposed that these might have some inertia 1 ‘* Miscellaneous Papers.” By Heinrich Hertz. With an Introduction by Prof. Philipp Lenard. Translated by D. E. Jones and G, A. Schott— Pp. 364. (London and New York: Maemillan and Co., Ltd. 1896. NoveMBER 5, 1896] NATURE - in addition to the magnetic inertia which accompanied their motion. To test this he tried two different forms of experiment, and obtained results which showed that if there were inertia of this kind, it must be small compared with that of the magnetic kind. The first method con- sisted essentially in a careful comparison of the extra current in a conductor with its calculated value; the second consisted in observing whether anything like the action by which the trade winds are deflected from a due northerly and southerly flow by the rotation of the earth, could be observed in a rotating conductor when traversed by an electric current. That there is some directed inertia in the conductor when traversed by an electric current is very probable, and in some cases we can be sure it exists. Hertz himself remarks that the inertia of the motion of the ions in electrolysis is considerably greater than what he was looking for in a metallic con- ductor. He could not make sufficiently delicate experi- ments with his apparatus to detect it, however, when using the small densities of current that were available in liquids; but the question is of great interest, and deserves further investigation. There can be no doubt that in gaseous discharges, kathode rays, as well as in electrolysis of liquids, there is a directed motion of matter accompanying the electric current which would be of the nature of the inertia Hertz was looking for, but failed to find. There seems much reason for thinking that in metallic conductors some similar actions are also taking place. Besides all this, there is the question as to how far the theory that all electricity is molecular and consists of electrons, involves the supposition of an inertia of this kind. Is the inertia of an electron com- pletely specified by the magnetic force accompanying it? Does it occupy no space itself, and is its external field its all? We are hardly in a position to answer such questions. We might, however, be able to answer the former question as to the inertia of the directed matter movements accompanying the current, and as to another interesting question of a similar kind, namely, as to how far we can legitimately assume the current inside a con- ductor to be absolutely homogeneous. The self-induc- tion of a single wire of a square m.m. in section is not exactly the same as that of, say, a hundred wires each of the thousandth of a square m.m. in section, and dis- tributed over the square m.m. Subdividing the current would increase its self-induction. Outside the wire the distribution of magnetic force would be practically the same as before, but inside we would have it concentrated into a hundred small wires instead of being uniformly distributed, and the effect of this would be to slightly increase the self-induction, and the more so the smaller the section of each wire into which the square m.m. were subdivided. Hence we conclude that if the current in a real wire be from molecule to molecule, and so be cen- centrated on certain lines, its inertia should be somewhat greater than that calculated from the hypothesis that it is uniformly distributed over the section of the conductor. The difference between these two views is most clear when we consider the case of a Leyden discharging by its insulating medium becoming a conductor. If the Leyden be completely closed, and the medium become a conductor in such a way that the strain in each cubic cm. is there destroyed by conductivity, there will be no magnetic force anywhere accompanying this discharge of the Leyden, and consequently no magnetic inertia, if the conduction be perfectly homogeneous. Now it seems almost impossible that any directed change can take place without some accompanying inertia, and we may consequently conclude that either (a) an electric current has inertia such as Hertz was looking for, or (4) electric conduction currents are essentially heterogeneous, or (c) electric conduction is essentially accompanied by material inertia, or (@) two or all three of these are true. That (c) certainly exists in this case is incontestable in view of the NO. I410, VOL. 55] : known directed strains that Kerr and Duter have proved to exist in matter subject to electric stress. What is the complete answer, is the important question. It is still unsolved. It lies at the foundation of every theory of electric conduction. Hertz attacked it. It is still wait- ing solution. The papers on the contact of elastic spheres and on hardness are most valuable contributions to the subject. They place the question of hardness on a scientjfic basis, and lay the foundation for a quantitative study of this most variable property of matter. There is no quality in which different‘materials differ more than in hardness. Electric conductivity is perhaps as various as hardness, compres- sibility, and viscosity, but hardly any other quality of matter is at all comparable with these in variety of range. Of these hardness is one of the most important and least known, and since Hertz’s work on it can be scientifically studied. Innumerable subsidiary questions arise in con- nection with it. Why are some bodies so easily polished ? Is the polishing of marble connected with the ease with which crystals of calespar can be twinned by pushing over one corner? What is the essential difference between polishing and grinding ? What is the effect of impurities on hardness? Is it comparable to their effect on electric conductivity? What is the cause of this effect ? In considering the cracking of a material like glass, Hertz seems to think that its cracking will depend only on the tension ; that it will crack where the tension ex- ceeds a certain limit. He does not seem to consider whether it might not crack by shearing with hardly any tension. It is doubtful whether a material in which there were sufficient general compression to prevent any tensions at all, would crack. Rocks seem capable of being bent about and distorted to almost any extent without cracking, and this might very well be expected if they were at a sufficient depth under other rocks to prevent their parts being under tension. It is an interest- ing questien whether a piece of glass could be bent with- out breaking if it were strained at the bottom of a sufficiently deep ocean. On the other hand, there seems very little doubt that the parts of a body might slide past one another under the action of a shear, and would certainly crack unless there were a sufficiently great compressive stress to prevent the crack, and that con- sequently a body might crack, even though the tensions were not by themselves sufficiently great to cause separa- tion, and might crack where the shear was greatest, and not where the tensions were greatest. Then follow some papers on hygrometry and evapora- tion. A very interesting point is raised in this latter connection. Can a liquid evaporate at an unlimited rate if the vapour produced is removed as rapidly as it is evolved? From two points of view Hertz shows that there is a limit, and by his experiments went far to show that there was no other cause limiting the rate of evapora- tion. The first point of view was that a limit is imposed by the difficulty of supplying heat sufficiently rapidly to keep the surface temperature constant. He does not seem in his experiments to have attempted to supply this by radiation, but was content to allow the liquid to supply itself by conduction and convection from below. The second point of view was that the molecules could not leave the surface faster than they would be moving in the vapour that was formed. Hertz’s investigation of this case only assumes an average velocity for the mole- cules ; he does not consider the distribution of velocity among the molecules, nor whether they escape equally easily in all directions. The experimental investigation of the conditions of evaporation is extremely difficult ; and until some more satisfactory method of studying these conditions be invented, the rough approximation seems to be sufficient to explain the observations. It might be interesting to see whether there was any difference between 8 NATURE [ NoveMBER 5, 1896 the superficial friction of a gas and a liquid which did not evaporate, and of a vapour in contact with its own liquid. In one case there would be no exchange of molecules between the two bodies that were sliding past one another, while in the second case there would be an exchange. A study of the conduction of heat between a gas and a liquid might also help to elucidate the nature of the exchange which takes place between a liquid and its vapour. ‘ In the paper on the vapour pressure of mercury, there are some very rough approximations which are hardly sufficiently accurate for general application. One is as to the extent to which a saturated vapour obeys the laws of a perfect gas. Hertz assumes that this is more nearly true the lower the temperature. This is not generally so. For each kind of material there is a particular tempera- ture at which its saturated vapour most nearly obeys these laws, and below as well as above this temperature it departs from these laws. Again, there is a process, described at the bottom of p. 203 and top of 204, which cannot possibly be carried out. He says: “ Let a quantity of liquid at temperature T be brought to any other temperature. At this temperature it is converted into vapour without external work.” This impossible, and the equation he deduces from all this is not true, though it is sometimes a rough approximation | to the truth. There is a very interesting paper on the floating of bodies by thin sheets of rigid material like ice. Hertz shows that if the sheet be large enough it would be possible to cause a thin sheet of iron, which by itself would sink, to float by placing weights at its centre. The weights might so depress the centre and make the sheet so boat-shaped as to float both themselves and it. In 1883 Hertz published a deduction from first principles of Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic field in the symmetrical form, afterwards used by himself in his investigations on oscillatory discharge waves. He applies the very same arguments by which Helmholtz, Lord Kelvin, and others had argued from the work done by one electric current on another, that there must be a corresponding reaction of the second on the first current, and hence deduced electromagnetic induction. Hertz applies this argument to the case of a ring magnet | changing in strength and producing magnetic force on another ring magnet in its neighbourhood, and doing work there, and shows thereby that there should be a magnetic force due toa changing electric field exactly corresponding to the electric force due to a changing magnetic field. This, of course, is what Maxwell describes as the magnetic effect of the changing electric displace- ment, and its effects are expressed by the very same equations as Maxwell deduces. The argument is no more and no less conclusive than in the corresponding application of the principle of the conservation of energy to deduce ordinary electromagnetic induction. Hertz is careful to point this out, for he was early imbued by Helmholtz with the fact that the principle of the conserv- ation of energy is by itself utterly inadequate as a com plete explanation of physical phenomena. He specially mentions himself Helmholtz’s interest in this problem of the simplest basis for dynamics, and Hertz’s last great work was to place general dynamics on a sound basis. The simplest of all cases is the easiest in which to see how the principle of the conservation of energy fails to give a complete solution. A body moving without any action from other bodies describes a right line ata constant velocity. The principle of the conservation of energy requires the constant velocity. But, why the right line? Conservation of energy cannot solve even the simplest of all examples. It would be well if some modern chemists would mark, learn, and inwardly digest this. The part of Hertz’s work which is of greatest interest NO. 1410, VOL. 55] is absolutely | | as in a conducting sheet. just now is that in connection with kathode rays. He began with some very interesting observations on the aura accompanying spark discharges. It appeared to be projected from the positive electrode, and occasionally formed a vortex ring of incandescent gas, which lasted for an appreciable time between the electrodes of a jar discharging in air. Goldstein has noticed similar effects. and some recent experiments on the discharge of large Leyden batteries, in which some of the phenomena of globular lightning seem to have been reproduced, make it appear possible that this latter is a spherical vortex of incandescent air. Hertz’s study of kathode rays in 1883, set finally at rest two questions. In the first place he showed that the discharge in a gas may be as continuous as any other form of current. In no case are we absolutely certain that the current is absolutely continuous. On the large scale it certainly is ; but all we know of electrolysis seems to show that on a sufficiently small scale the current is. carried in detachments, and is consequently essentially discontinuous. This, however, was not the question at issue, and so far as a continuity of the same kind as that in any liquid electrolyte is concerned, Hertz showed that the discharge through a gas might be equally continuous. The second question he decided was as to the direction of flow of the average current in an exhausted space. He showed that the average flow at any point was nearly the | same as if the whole space were a conductor : that there was no connection between the kathode rays and the flow of the current. From experiments on kathode rays pro- jected down a tube, and quite away from both electrodes, he deduced that they produce no magnetic action outside the tube, although they are deflected by the magnet. His conclusion, that the kathode rays are not streams of electrified particles, was largely founded on this, and on another experiment on the action of electrostatic force on the particles. This experiment on the magnetic action of kathode rays is quite inconclusive, and it is very remarkable that Hertz should have attributed much importance to it. Whatever current was carried down his tube by the kathode ray must have come back the tube by the surrounding gas, and these two opposite currents should have produced no magnetic force outside the tube ; and this is exactly what Hertz observed. Ina similar way, what he observed in the case of a flat box was the average direction of the current, and he showed that this average direction was approximately the same This proved that if there were any concentration of the current along the direction of the kathode rays, this concentration was neutralised by a corresponding return current, so that the average current was as described. At the same time there does not seem much doubt but that the kathode rays only carry a very small part of the current. The third part of the paper is. concerned with the electrostatic effects due to kathode rays. The experiments do not seem to fully justify the conclusion drawn, that kathode rays cannot be charged molecules. Sufficient account does not seem to have been taken of the shielding action of the conducting gas surrounding the kathode ray, nor of the way in which the potential is distributed between two electrodes in a gas. Hertz describes an experiment with two plates inside the tube kept at a considerable difference of potential. He says: “ The phosphorescent image of the Ruhmkorff coil: discharge appeared somewhat distorted through deflec- tion in the neighbourhood of the negative strip ; but the part of the shadow in the middle between the two strips was not visibly displaced.” Now this is exactly what one might expect, because the fall of potential between two such strips is very small indeed, except close to the negative strip, and there the electric force dd deflect the rays. Hence the conclusion is just the reverse of the one Hertz gives. From the experiment it appears that kathode rays do behave like electrified particles. It is very ‘ ———— NoveEMBER 5, 1896] NATO RE 9 remarkable that in all these investigations Hertz does not once even mention, as a thing to be explained, the repul- sive actions which Crookes observed, and which have been almost universally attributed to the impact of gas particles. The other important paper, on the transmission of kathode rays through thin metallic films, is particularly interesting as the starting-point for Lenard’s work, which has resulted in the discovery of the X-rays. A good deal of what Hertz observed would be accounted for by the production of X-rays where the kathode rays meet the diaphragms, and by the reproduction of kathode rays mixed with X-rays on the other side of the diaphragm, which would thus act as a sort of local electrode. That something exists in a vacuum on the far side of such a thin film, which does not ordinarily exist in X-rays in air, seems conclusively proved by there being something there which can be deflected by a magnet. There seems no doubt that kathode rays themselves are quite invisible, and that it is only where they are interfered with by gaseous molecules or by phosphorescent solids that they are sources of light. This is very much what one would expect. An electrified atom would not in general be a source of light unless its free movement were interfered with by impact. The concluding article, on his master Helmholtz’s seventieth birthday, isa noble and generous tribute to that great teacher's abilities and character. How truly he portrays the important characteristics of a University Professor! “It is true that Helmholtz never had the reputation of being a brilliant university teacher, as far as this depends upon communicating elementary facts to the beginners who usually fill the lecture-rooms. But it is quite another matter when we come to consider his influence on trained students, and his pre-eminent fitness for guiding them in original research.” The most important duty of a University is to increase the know- ledge of mankind, and to train up a new generation who may be able to continue the good work. It is thus mankind has advanced since the dawn of civilisation in Egypt. He who produced the most enthusiastic disciples has most advanced the well-being and the well-iiving of the race. Cab G. THE BOURBACGT OF ETHNOLOGY AT WASHINGTON, U.S.A.* | gh Bureau of Ethnology at Washington has, during the last sixteen years, been carrying quietly on a work of the importance of which, we feel sure, that a number of students of anthropology have no knowledge whatever ; we are equally sure that work itself, as well as those who labour in it, has not received due recognition. It is now nearly thirty years since the ex- ploration of the Colorado River of the West was begun by the Act of Congress in America, and it is nearly twenty years since the various geographical and geo- logical surveys which sprang up in connection there- with were dissolved, and since the foundation of the United States Geological Survey became an established fact. In the course of the work carried on by the Survey its various members made most exhaustive anthropologic researches among the North American Indians, and the myriads of facts which these self-sacrificing workers collected were fortunately rescued for the benefit of all students, and for all time, by the beneficent help of the Smithsonian Institution, which had secured provision for the publication of a series of monographs on almost every subject connected with the manners and customs, history, religion, and languages, &c., of the various Indian tribes with which they came in contact. Under 1 The Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, by J. W. Powell, Director. 13 Annual Reports. (Washington : Government Printing Office, 1881-1896.) NO. 1410, VOL. 55 | the authority of the Act of Congress, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution entrusted the management of this great work to the former Director of the Rocky Mountain Region Survey, Mr. J. W. Powell, and thus the Bureau of Ethnology was practically established. It is a pleasant thing to be able to record that Congress supported the work both with patronage and with pecuniary assistance, and all will confess that the con- tributors to the success of the Bureau have worked with a will so as to employ in the best possible manner, and to the best possible end, the funds which have been placed at their disposal. We have before us thirteen handsome volumes of Reports, each containing several hundred pages of closely-printed matter, and profusely illustrated with well-executed coloured plates, and many hundreds of woodcuts. No reviewer of these volumes could attempt to give an adequate account of them unless he had some scores of pages at his disposal, and it goes without saying that all that any writer can do here is to call attention to the plan of Mr. J. W. Powell’s volumes and to the general contents, hoping that the reader will devote some portion of his leisure to the perusal of aset of works which are at once of the greatest interest to those who study man and his ways, and of the first importance to the student of ethnography. In setting out on his work, Mr. J. W. Powell says that throughout “ prime attention has been given to language,” for “with little exception all sound anthropologic in- vestigation in the lower states of culture exhibited by tribes of men, as distinguished from nations, must have a firm foundation in language. Customs, laws, govern- ments, institutions, mythologies, religions, and even arts cannot be properly understood without a fundamental knowledge of the languages which express the ideas and thoughts embodied therein.” As a result of this opinion, the officials of the Bureau of Ethnology have devoted themselves to collecting materials for dictionaries of the North American languages, and for chrestomathies, and in time they hope to put grammars of the same before the world. With a view of enabling the philological student to determine what help he may or may not be able to obtain from these languages, the authors of the volumes before us give, every here and there, selected texts accompanied by interlinear transliterations, much in the same way as the early Egyptologists used to do in publishing hieroglyphic texts; and there is no doubt that this is a most useful plan. That it enables the careful reader, at times, to trip up his editor is true; but it is an honest method, and will be much appreciated by all painstaking students, for comparisons of words can thus easily be effected. Turning, though only for a moment, from language and from the characters which express language, that is to say writing, we see at a glance that the peoples of North America had many things in common with the most ancient civilised nations of antiquity. We do not for a moment believe that every custom and belief which may be found among them should be used to connect them with the ancient Chinese, or Indians, or Babylonians, or Egyptians ; but it seems perfectly clear that every primitive nation, wherever it may live on the globe, or whatever may he the cir- cumstances under which it lives, has certain fundamental ideas about the future life, and religion, and morality, which closely resemble those of other early nations. | It seems tolerably clear, too, that many anthropologists have erred somewhat in tracing connections between peoples of totally different races, which they have deduced from observing that they had many beliefs in common. A careful examination of the characters employed by early nations to express their ideas makes this quite plain, for as pictures were used by them all for this purpose, we have only to trace the con- ventional sign back to its oldest form to find out what fundamental ideas existed in their minds. Primitive 10 NATURE [| NoveMBER 5, 1896 man, wherever he existed, used as writing materials such natural objects as were readily obtainable. Strips of bark, dressed skins, pieces of wood, bones, flat pieces of slate or stone, rocks, clay, &c.; when he was sufficiently advanced to beat out or to cast plates of metal, iron and bronze were also used by him for this purpose. At a later period he found out the way to make papyrus and paper, and this once done the task of the writer was comparatively simple. His pen varied with the substance which he wrote upon ; wood, stone and metal demanded a hard, sharp instru- ment, and skin and paper demanded only an object which would transmit the writing fluid to their surface in regular quantities at the will of the writer. Ink was in its earliest form simply a mixture of water with some burnt vegetable substance or mineral earth. The style and character of the writing were modified by the materials used ; and this is only a natural result when we consider how easy it is to draw circles, curved lines, and intricate devices upon a smooth substance like dressed skin or paper, and how hard it becomes to cut the same in stone. From the Chinese and cuneiform characters we may learn how, little by little, the original picture forms disappeared before the general use of stone and clay, and we know that the style of writing which was used for State documents was very different from that employed in the ordinary business of life. In the clay tablets of the last Assyrian Empire, about B.C. 700, the cuneiform characters bear no resemblance whatever to those which are found on the monuments of the period of Entenna, about B.C. 4500 ; in the Demotic writing of Egypt, so far back as the period of the Ptolemies, the pictorial character of the ancient hieroglyphics (from which it was derived, through the intermediate form of the hieratic or cursive form of writing employed by the priests) has quite disappeared. When we come to consider the characters used for writing purposes among the North American Indians, so ably discussed by Mr. Garrick Mallery (see “Sign Language among North American Indians,” in the Fzrvst Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 263 ff.), we find many pictures which show that they have much in common with picture signs in other languages. The sun is represented by a circle, as in Egyptian and Babylonian; sometimes it has rays shooting out all round it, just as we may see it in one of the vignettes of the ninety-second chapter of the “ Book of the Dead.” Sunrise is symbolised by a part of the ‘disk showing above the ground ; in Egyptian the disk is seen rising between two mountains. The star is represented by a small circle with four rays shooting from it, each towards a cardinal point ; in Egyptian the star often has five points, but one of them probably represents the rope or chain by which the Egyptians thought it was hung out in the sky, and in Baby- lonian a star usually has eight points. The moon is represented by a crescent, as in Egyptian, Chinese, and Babylonian; heaven is a vaulted space, but in Egyptian it is drawn like the flat roof of a house, and has, moreover, supports by which it stands firm on the earth. To represent clouds a number of dark conical masses are drawn within the vault of heaven; the common Egyptian determinative for words meaning cloud is a tress of hair, and it is probable that this idea is common to both Egyptians and Indians. Similarly among both peoples rain was represented by lines of water falling from the sky. In fact it would seem that natural objects, both animate and inanimate, were written always in the same way, whether the writers were Chinese, or Egyptian, or Babylonian, or people of Western Asia, or the makers of the Cretan pictographs which Mr. A. J. Evans has discovered, or North American Indians. Abstract ideas were probably ex- pressed quite differently by all nations ; but even to touch on this far-reaching subject would be beyond the scope NO. 1410, VOL. 55] of this short notice. It must, however, be mentioned in passing that Mr. Garrick Mallery has collected a series of most important facts in connection with this subject in his “ Pictographs of the North-American Indians” (see Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology), a work which should be consulted by all who study the history of the development of writing in the world, and that he has further supplemented our knowledge of the subject by his later work, “ Picture-writing of the American Indians” (see Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology). \t is a curious fact that the peoples of North America did not invent an alphabet, as many of the other nations of the world have done, for it is clear to every one that a system of picture-writing, however simple, is really a cumbrous affair, and the mis- reading of a picture sign might be at times accompanied by dire consequences. At avery early period Chinese, Babylonians, and Egyptians introduced an alphabetic principle into their writing, and the Persians succeeded in abolishing entirely the picture element from their system. The other volumes of Reports are, each in its way, as interesting as those to which we have called attention, and from them we may learn that light and information can come from the West as well as from the East. The carefully made collections of ethnological facts, which we find in the series of works issued under the able direction of Mr. Powell, should do much to help and encourage other workers in their inquiries, and the scholarly way in which they have been set forth by his fellow-workers reflects the greatest credit upon the Smithsonian Institution, and upon all who have been connected with their publication. NOTES. It is stated that Lord Rayleigh has intimated to the Council of the Royal Society that he does not intend to seek re-election as one of the Secretaries of the Society. THE President of the Royal Society (Sir Joseph Lister) will preside at Prof. Dunstan’s lecture at the Imperial Institute next Monday evening. Lorp KELvin has been suffering for some time past from severe neuralgia in the head; but he is now much better, and was able on Saturday to attend at the Royal Society for an hour, THE celebration of the seventieth birthday of Prof. Stanislao Cannizzaro at Rome has been postponed to November 21, on account of the anniversary on July 12 falling in the University vacation. A Committee has been formed and has collected subscriptions, which are to be devoted partly to the production of a gold medal commemorative of the anniversary, the balance being handed to Prof. Cannizzaro to be applied at his discretion in the interests of science. Congratulatory addresses will be presented from various learned societies, and there will also be a ceremonial presentation of the medal and subscribed fund. THE recent Conference at Burlington House on the proposed International Catalogue of Scientific Publications appears to have stimulated interest in the subject-index to the Royal Society’s “Catalogue of Scientific Papers,” upon which the Society’s staff is already engaged. The College Section of the American Library Association at their meeting last month unanimously passed the following resolution:—‘‘That the Section has learned with great satisfaction that the Council of the Royal Society proposes to add to the debt which the scientific world already owes to it for its valuable ‘Catalogue of Scientific Papers,’ by making a subject-index to the papers contained therein.” NoveMBER 5, 1896] NATURE iat: A MEETING of the executive committee which has been formed in connection with the submarine telegraph memorial, was held on Friday last. Two resolutions were adopted as follows :—‘* That it is desirable to establish a memorial to the late Sir John Pender, G.C.M.G., to commemorate the leading part he took in the establishment and development of submarine telegraphy, and in its extension throughout the world.” ‘* That measures be taken for promoting in the year Igor a general international memorial recording the jubilee of international submarine telegraphy.” A meeting of the general committee will be held in about a fortnight, when the decision arrived at will be submitted for confirmation. CuRIstTMAS lectures specially adapted for children will this year be given at the Royal Institution by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, F.R.S., his subject being ‘‘ Visible and Invisible Light.” Prof. Augustus D. Waller, F.R.S., has been appointed Fullerian Professor of Physiology for three years, the appoint- ment to date from January 13, 1897; and Dr. Alexander Scott has been made the Superintendent of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory of the Royal Institution, the Directors being Lord Rayleigh and Prof. Dewar. Mr. R. ETHERIDGE, late of the Geological Department of the British Museum, has been awarded by the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall its first Bolitho gold medal, in consideration of his services to Palzeontological science. THE objects exhibited in the ethnographical section of the Millennial Exhibition at Budapest are to be used as the nucleus of an ethnographical museum. The collection of machines in the special exhibition of the means of transport are to form a rail- Way museum, and the bulk of the exhibits in the agricultural section will be used for the foundation of an agricultural museum, A REUTER correspondent at St. John’s reports further mineral discoveries in Newfoundland. An immense deposit of silver and lead ore has been discovered at Lawn, on Placentia Bay. The lode is said to be one mile long and 18 feet deep, and is described as very rich. An offer of £50,000 for the mining rights is reported to have already been made. Rich gold-bearing quartz reefs have been found at Ming’s Bight, 200 miles north of St. John’s. SCIENCE has just lost an eminent investigator and teacher by the death of Dr. H. Newell Martin, F.R.S., late professor of biology in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, U.S.A. In conjunction with Huxley, Prof. Martin wrote a manual of “* Practical Instruction in Elementary Biology,” which was pub- lished in 1875. He was also the author of a number of text- books of physiology ; and the seventh edition of his admirable volume on the structures and activities of ‘‘ The Human Body” reached us only a few days ago. Prof. Martin was in his forty-eighth year. Ir is reported in Sczence, upon the authority of the Honolulu correspondent of the United Associated Presses, that Mr. C. R. Bishop has authorised the Trustees of the Bishop Museum to expend 750,000 dols. in building an aquarium and marine bio- jogical station at Honolulu, for the scientific study of marine life in the Pacific. Prof. W. T. Brigham has just returned from visiting European aquariums, and is prepared to complete the plans. A body of professors and investigators will be maintained, and students will doubtless be attracted from Europe and America, WE regret to announce the death of Dr. Moritz Schiff, pro- fessor of physiology in the University of Geneva, at the age of seventy-six ; of Dr. Julius T. Wolff, the director of the private observatory—Photometrisches Observatorium—at Bonn, and NO. [410, VOL. 55] the last of Argelander’s pupils, at the age of seventy-six; of Prof. Dr. Eugen Sell, honorary professor of chemistry in Berlin University, at the age of fifty-four ; and of Prof. Gustav Kieseritski, professor of mathematics at the Polytechnic Institute in Riga. THE death is announced of M. Lucien Trécul, an eminent botanist, and member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. The Paris correspondent of the Chemzst and Druggist gives the following particulars as to Trécul’s life: —‘‘ He was seventy-eight years of age, having been born at Mondoubleau (Loir and Cher) in 1818. He studied pharmacy in Paris, and became a hospital pharmacist in 1841, his best-known contemporaries being MM. Chatin, a former director of the Paris School of Pharmacy, and Georges Ville, professor of agriculture at the Museum. About this time Trécul was attracted by the study of botany, and soon afterwards devoted himself entirely to it. Early in 1848, he was asked by the Minister of Agriculture and the Paris Natural History Museum to go to the United States to study the feculent roots used for alimentary purposes by the Indian tribes of North America. He left France early in the same year, and for a long time followed an Indian tribe in its wanderings over the prairies near the Rocky Mountains. He got together a superb collection of plants and animals. The ship carrying them to France was, however, lost in a storm during her voyage. M. Treécul, not discouraged, recommenced his work. He proceeded to Texas and Mexico, from whence he sent valuable collections to the Paris Museum.” He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and became a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1856. For the past forty years, or more, he lived a very secluded life, and was only heard of by occasional communications to the Paris Academy, and through his written works. NANSEN’S narrative, the forthcoming publication of which, in a newspaper, was warmly referred to in a note last week, appeared in the Daély Chronztcle of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Never before, in our knowledge, has such a stirring story been told of life amidst the ice and snow of the frozen north, and certainly never has the pages of a daily paper been embellished with such brilliant illustrations as those which accompany Nansen’s articles. Naturally the account deals almost entirely with the adventurous aspect of the expedition ; and as this was summarised (from telegrams communicated by Nansen to the Dazly Chronicle) in our issues of August 20 and September 3, no useful purpose would be served by repeating the descriptions then given. The geographical results of the expedition, so far as they have yet been made known, were brought together by Dr. Mill in an article which appeared in these columns on August 27. In his three articles in the Chronicle, Dr. Nansen carefully avoids going into any scientific details, and he is probably reserving these for the paper he will read before the Royal Geographical Society early next year. One or two natural history observations are, however, mentioned in the course of the narrative. In the neighbourhood of four islands in latitude 81° 38’ N. and longitude 63° E., in August 1895, large numbers of the rare Ross’s gull (Ahodostethia rosea) were seen. We read: ‘‘ This, the most markedly polar of all bird forms, is easily recognisable from other species of gull by its beautiful rose-coloured breast, its wedge-shaped tail, and airy flight. It is without comparison the most beautiful of all the animal forms of the frozen regions. Hitherto it has only been seen by chance on the utmost confines of the unknown Polar Sea, and no one knew whence it came or whither it went; but here we had unexpectedly come upon its native haunt, and. although it was too late in the year to find its nests, there could be no doubt about its breeding in this region.” From November 1895 to March 1896, no bears were seen, but foxes, both of the white variety and of the valuable dark-furred kind, constantly M4 NATURE | NovEMBER 5, 1896 came to the hut where Nansen and Johansen passed the winter. With the spring, a few days after the sun had appeared above the horizon, a flock of little auks was seen sailing past along the mountains to the north, and soon the mountains swarmed with them. The whole of that part of Franz Josef Land traversed by the two explorers consisted of basalt, and once formed a continuous basaltic land, which is now, however, cut up into small islands. On the south side of the country a deep stratum of Jurassic clay occurs beneath the basalt, and in it was found numerous ammonites and belemnites. The proprietors of the Daily Chronicle deserve every credit for their enterprise in arranging to pay Dr. Nansen so much as 1500/. for the tele- graphic account of his expedition, and 4000/. for the articles just published. WE are pleased to be able to report that Prof. W. J. Sollas returned to Dublin, in the best of health, on October 28, from his travels in the Pacific. It will be remembered that the Royal Society gave a grant to a Committee to investigate a coral reef by boring, sounding and other methods, and the island of Funafuti, in the Ellice Group, West Pacific, was selected as being a promising atoll. We have already (NATURE, vol. liv. p- 517) noted that the boring was unsatisfactory ; but the other portion of the programme was successfully carried out, and large collections of the land and marine fauna were severally made by Prof. Sollas, Mr. C. Hedley, of the Australian Museum, Sydney, and Mr. Stanley Gardiner. The party also collected plants and all the objects of ethnographical interest on the island. Dr. Collingwood made measurements of the natives, and other observations on their physical anthropology. Prof. Sollas carefully studied the physiography and geology of the island, and kept daily records of the maximum and minimum temperatures. The soundings made by the Pevgwzz, under Captain Field, were so complete that an accurate contour map can be made of the submarine slope ; probably in no case has a coral island been so accurately surveyed. Numerous photo- graphs were taken by Prof. Sollas and Dr. Collingwood. The expedition was eleven weeks on the island. Prof. Sollas then proceeded to Fiji, where he stayed about a month and made a special geological tour in the interior, accompanied by the Hon. | We understand that | Dr. Corney and the Hon. Mr. Udal. results of some importance will follow from this journey. After calling at Samoa, Prof. Sollas went to Honolulu and made some geological observations in the islands of Oahu and Hawaii. Mr. Hedley returned with his collections to Sydney, where he is working out his results. Mr. Gardiner is now in Rotumah. We hope that it will be possible to include a// the results of this expedition in a single publication, instead of their being published in scattered papers. If this were done, we should have such an account of the physical structure, flora, fauna, and anthropology of a single coral island as has never yet been brought together in one volume. The scientific men associated on the expedition are now so widely scattered, that no time should be lost if their various observations are to be collected and coordinated. THE committee appointed by the Entomological Society, for the protection of British Lepidoptera in danger of extermina- tion, held a meeting on October 14; Prof. Meldola, President of the Society, being in the chair. Letters from the City of London Entomological and Natural History Society, the North London Natural History Society, and the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, expressing warm sympathy with the object of the committee, were read. After discussion of the best methods of securing the object of the committee, it was resolved to invite information as to species in special danger of extermination, with a view to future action, HE is a bad workman who grumbles at his tools, and the student of science who neglects research because he does not NO. I410, VOL. 55] | increase. possess apparatus ready-made and varnished by the instrument- maker, lacks the spirit of the investigator. Test the efficiency of the things at your disposal is good advice, for the knowledge and experience gained by direct communion with nature, even through the roughest apparatus, is a very valuable educational training. Because this is so, and because we hold our highest function to be the encouragement of research, we have pleasure in noting that ‘a Yorkshirelad,” Mr. G. W.Watson, of Keighley, has obtained some wonderfully good Réntgen photographs by using an old home-made Wimshurst machine to illuminate a Crookes’ tube. The machine gave a spark about 1 inches in length, and was without condensers. With this primitive equipment, good radiographs of the bones of the hand were obtained in twenty minutes. One of these pictures, and also a radiograph of an abnormally developed elbow, have been submitted to us; and both are very creditable productions. The definition is unusually clear, and the hollow structure of the bones is distinctly visible. Mr. Watson’s success may induce others to see what they can do with simple means. WHILE the bison of North America is on the point of ex- tinction, the European bison, which is still found in Russia and the Caucasus, is sensibly decreasing in numbers, in spite of the efforts made for its protection by the Imperial Government. Herr Buchener (says the Zooogést), in a memoir on the subject recently presented to the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, regards it as likely soon to share the fate of its American In the forest of Bialowicksa, in the province of Lithuania, a herd of these fine animals has long been preserved, and forty years ago, namely in 1856, numbered about 1900, but of late years this has dwindled down to less than 500, and there is no encouraging sign of any material Our contemporary points out that if the Russian Government would only give instructions to have some of the Caucasian bison captured alive and transported to Lithuania for the purpose of resuscitating the herd there, no doubt in a few years a marked improvement might be effected. The enter- prise would necessarily be attended with considerable difficulty and great expense, but in view of the scientific importance which would attach to the result of the experiment, it would be well worth undertaking. relative. THE renowned “* Bourbon” sugar-cane is so subject to diseases, particularly toattacks of Rind fungus, that the question of the most profitable variety of cane for cultivation in the Leeward Islands is of much interest and importance to the colony. Some facts are brought to bear upon this question in a report by Mr. F. Watts and Mr. F. R. Shepherd, published as a supplement to the Leeward Islands Gazette, detailing the results of experi- ments on the cultivation of different varieties of sugar-cane with the view of ascertaining which varieties are best able to resist disease. The results of their observations show that the best canes for planting in Antigua are those designated White Trans- parent, Naga B, Red Ribbon, Caledonian Queen, and Queensland Creole. These varieties held their own under different condi- tions of drought and infection ; they were free from Rind fungus, , and yielded juices of high purity and great saccharine richness. The Keni Keni cane, which, when it was first introduced into the colony, gave the best yield of any, has now fallen prac- tically to the bottom of the list. It is an ally of the Bourbon, and is badly attacked by the Rind fungus. A curious fact is that both the Bourbon and Keni Keni canes should deteriorate in this manner, though the latter seems to have changed for the worse much more rapidly than the former. Further observation on this point would be of considerable interest in connection with the stability of varieties in relation to disease. Nor so very long ago, the proposal to raise sugar-canes from the seeds would have been treated with ridicule, but, thanks to the work at Demerara and Barbados, and the experiments at the NovEMBER 5, 1896] NATURE Vie) Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, it is now known that the sugar-cane will grow from seed, and that remarkable variations are produced. A short account of the share taken by the Trinidad Gardens in raising these seedlings is given in the Trinidad Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, by Mr. J. H. Hart, the Superintendent. As a result of the experiments, sugar-canes have been produced that have given 25 per cent. above the yield of varieties;commonly grown. _ If these varieties can be successfully got into plantations on a large scale, no further proof will be required of the value of the work done by Botanic Gardens. It is proposed to distribute cane plants of the new varieties early next year, and we trust that the results of their cultivation will be satisfactory in every sense of the word. Mr. Hart points out that the effort of the raisers of the sugar beet have long been directed to secure a strain of plants that would, while giving a large yield per acre, afford at the same time the maximum amount of sugar, and their efforts have been attended with great success, for it is well known that the yield from roots cultivated of recent years show a tremendous advance over the percentage yielded by the beet twenty years | lished in Lausanne, Switzerland, has recently celebrated the ago. Had the yield of the cane increased in the same propor- tion as that of beet, the sugar industry would not have suffered as it has done of late. Pror. RAtpH S. Tarr contributes to Sczence a descrip- tion of the recent expedition to Greenland, conducted by Lieut. Peary. The principal geological results are briefly stated as follows :—‘‘ At Turnavik, on the Labrador coast, evidence of recent glaciation is abundant. The hills are all rounded ; there has been little post-glacial decay, and the transported boulders, as well as the bed rock, are very fresh. Upon exposed rock faces, unprotected from the weather, glacial striz are still very distinct. Granting equality of weathering, this region has been much more recently glaciated than regions of similar geological structure in New England. The amount of glacial carving has not been sufficient to lower the surface of the gneiss to the level of the pre-glacial decay in the trap-dike valleys.” On Big Island and the neighbouring coast of Baffin Land, evidence of very recent elevation was found up to a height of 270 feet above sea-level. The results of the study of the Nugsuak peninsula are interesting. The peninsula extends twenty-four miles from the front of the Cornell glacier to the end at Wilcox Head, while the Duck Islands are at a distance of eight or ten miles from the mainland. The Cornell glacier was found to have undergone recently a rapid withdrawal, and its retreat is believed by Prof. Tarr to bea part of a general withdrawal of a vast ice sheet, which extended outward beyond the Duck Islands. The entire Nugsuak peninsula has been so recently glaciated, that striated rocks are still present even at the outer end. ACCORDING to the usually accepted theory of Crookes’ tube, antikathodic rays are produced wherever kathodic rays impinge on a fixed obstacle. In the Bulletin de 0 Académie Royale de Belgique, M. P. De Heen advances the theory that these rays result from encounters between molecules projected from the anode and kathode respectively. In verification of this view, experiments were made with a tube in which the usual anode was replaced by two parallel laminze of aluminium at a small oS Re: a Earth Tremors at Edinburgh between August 25 and September 6.—Thomas Heath .. . | eee, Whirlwind on ‘Rydal Water.” (L/ustrated.)— Henry J. (CigAnderson ies) teen 5 The ‘‘G” Section of the British Association. —Prof. H. S. Hele-Shaw . ft ee oS Suggested Reef Boring at the Bermuda Islands—W, K. Morrison : : 3 (koe cs OS Siemens’ Domestic Gas Fire.—Sir H. T. Wood .. 6 Diselectrification by Phosphorus.—Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S. wie ah, Jee | ee The Departure of Swallows.—J. Brown ; C, Leeson Prince d Je: a % 6 A Mechanical Problem.—E. E. Green : (ayn Hertz’s MisceNaneous Papers. ByG.F.F.G. .. 6 The Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, U.S.A. 9 Notes RPS CCR VG. 0... GeCMEEES conDmORS.. 2S) Our Astronomical Column:— Strassburg Observatory), . 5 anmmier Himmel und Erde. . So 0\ ep eee emmy er 5) The Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccina- tion 3a jp eR eee SRE he Some Engineering Advances in Sixty Years. Ly J. Wolfe Barry. (CiB Rui. ame ets) « - Soin) Botany at the British Association ........ 19 Report on Technological Examinations ey 950 ef 22 University and Educational Intelligence. . . . . . 23 Societies and Academies 6 0) oo oe 2s Diaryiof SOCicticS ohareci-) SeeCMRGE is + (-: - unerimemmeoel THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1896. GALOISTAN ALGEBRA. Lehrbuch der Algebra. Von Heinrich Weber. Erster Band. Pp. xvi+ 654. (Braunschweig: Vieweg und Sohn, 1895.) A “Treatise on Algebra” is rarely found to fulfil the 4 promise of its title. It is too often a mere collection of problems and examples, thrown together without much regard to order or method ; such theory as the book con- tains is often imperfect, and occasionally even incorrect ; and no attempt is made to suggest the idea of an ordered system of algebra, which proceeds along natural lines of development. Prof. Weber's treatise is a work of an entirely different stamp. It isdesigned upon a perfectly definite, well-con- sidered plan; its foundations are laid with the utmost care and precision ; and the reader is carried on from stage to stage until he is abreast of some of the most interesting, as well as the most recent, of mathematical discoveries. The work may be described, in general terms, as a treatise on ordinary algebra, with special reference to its arithmetical applications ; with the addi- tion, subsidiary to the main subject, but very important in itself, of the theory of groups. But in order to give any- thing like an adequate idea of the author’s scope and method, it will be necessary to analyse the different parts of his book in some detail. The introduction is entirely arithmetical ; at the same time it is an indispensable prelude to all that is to follow. It contains the elements of the theory of multiplicities, a rigorous theory of rational and irrational numbers, and a proof of the continuity of real numerical magnitude. The demonstrations are mostly inspired by Dedekind ; but itis shown that Cantor’s procedure leads to equivalent results. It is to be specially observed that the definitions of rational fractions, ratios, irrational, negative, and com- plex numbers are entirely independent of any hypothesis about the existence of divisible concrete quantities ; and similarly with regard to the statements and proofs of the various propositions. Perhaps in the whole range of mathematics no more abstract reasoning can be found than that by which the continuity of numerical magni- tude has been established ; and it is very instructive to compare the vague, illusive glimmering of the truth afforded by “intuition” with the precise and logical Begriff which has been developed by the persevering effort of mathematical speculation. This is one of the cases where ‘obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things ” have justified their stubbornness by leading to discoveries of the highest importance. Arithmetic, and consequently the whole of analysis, has now been absolutely and finally freed from all necessity of appealing to theories or assumptions foreign to its own nature ; and the effect of this liberation is already showing itself in many different ways. Thus, for example, in the first book of Prof. Weber's work will be found (pp. to1-126) a strictly arith- metical proof of the fundamental proposition that every algebraical equation in one variable with numerical co- No. 1411, VOL. 55] ee te 2 efficients has at least one real or complex numerical root- It is true that the proof is accompanied by a geometrical figure, but this is merely for the sake of convenience, and does not affect the real nature of the demonstration. The same thing applies to the proof (pp. 132-6) that the roots of an equation are continuous functions of its coefficients. The first Book is to a great extent preparatory. It treats, in order, of rational functions of one or more variables, determinants, the existence of roots of alge- braic equations, symmetric functions, invariants and covariants, and Tschirnhausen’s transformation. The portions most worthy of remark are the proof of the existence of roots as numerical quantities, already alluded to, and the chapter on the Tschirnhausen transformation, which gives a very clear account of Hermite’s modified form of the process, by means of which the coefficients of the transformed equation are expressible as simul- taneous invariants of the original quantic /(z) and a certain auxiliary quantic T(z). The method is applied to the reduction of the general quintic to the normal forms which are associated with the names of Bring (or Jerrard) and Brioschi. Book II. deals with the roots of algebraical equations, and comprises six chapters. Of these the first discusses the reality of the roots. The solution of quadratic, cubic, and biquadratic equations is followed by the proof of an important property of the Bezoutiant, namely, that if, by a real linear transformation, the Bezoutiant of /(z) is expressed as a sum of 7 positive and v negative squares which cannot be reduced to a smaller number, then 7 +yv +1 is the number of distinct roots of f(z)=0, and of these 7 — vy + I are real, and the rest imaginary. (It is understood, of course, that all the coefficients of /(z) are real.) This leads to a digression on Sylvester's Law of Inertia of quadratic forms; after which an application of the theorem about the Bezoutiant is made to the general cubic and biquadratic, and to two special quintic equations. The Law of Inertia itself is proved in Book I. (p, 183-4) : it may perhaps be remarked that on p. 184, line 17, the phrase, ‘‘aus diesen p» Gleichungen” is not very clear. What is really meant is the system of p» linear equations, by means of which (ex hyfothest) Z,, Z,... Z, are expressible in terms of Y,, Yo... Y», Z4,, Z4,.- .Z44. The supplementary articles on the law of inertia (pp. 255-265) explain how the characteristic numbers 7, v for a given quadratic form may be deduced from the coefficients of the form. Chapter viii., which next follows, contains an account of Sturm’s Theorem which is very fresh and interesting, and includes Hermite’s determinants, which may be used instead of the Sturmian functions proper. After this comes a sketch of Kronecker’s remarkable theory of character- istics, and an application of it to Gauss’s first proof of the existence of roots of equations. Chapters ix. and x. treat of the separation and ap- proximate calculation of roots. On the whole they follow the traditional lines ; and we confess that we did not find them so interesting as the rest of the work. From the author's own point of view, they are, in a sense, super- fluous ; and, in fact, no use is made of them subsequently, Then from the practical point of view it is hardly satis- (S 26 NATURE [ NoveMBER 12, 1896 factory to fillup three pages with an account of Daniel Bernoulli’s method of approximation, and omit all men- tion of Horner's algorithm. Still these chapters are re- deemed from commonplace by a very elementary proof of Newton’s Rule (first demonstrated by Sylvester), a geo- metrical excursus, after Klein, and some very curious theorems of Laguerre’s relating to equations with no imaginary roots. Chapter xi. discusses continued fractions, arithmetical equivalence, and the theory of the reduction of quadratic irrational numbers. A quadratic irrational (a, 6, G is defined to mean Vi iyi aS /D sr b_ 2a 2 JD -6 where D= 6 + 4ac, and a, 4,c are ordinary integers. Thus @ is a definite root of the equation cw =at bw; so that the author makes two alterations in the traditional notation of Gauss and Dirichlet. One of these, the substitution of 4 for 24, needs no justification, and has, indeed, become almost inevitable ; the reason for the change of sign in cis less obvious, especially as on p. 390 the typical quadratic equation is written A+B + Ca2=0 with B? - 4AC =D. It is true that, in consequence of this additional modi- fication, there is a trifling gain of typographical elegance ; but this seems to be outweighed by other disadvantages. This chapter concludes with the approximate calcula- tion of roots by means of continued fractions, a brief dis- cussion of rational roots, and a very meagre treatment of what is really a fundamental problem, namely the resolu- tion of a polynomial with integral coefficients into its irreducible factors. It is true that a method is given which is theoretically sufficient, but this is quite useless in practice ; while, on the other hand, the purely tentative method illustrated by an example can only be made con- clusive by special artifices. Some account ought, we think, to have been given of Kronecker’s algorithm (Crelle, vol. 92), which, although tedious, is really practicable, and has the advantage of giving a definite answer after a finite number of trials which may be estimated beforehand. Chapter xii. contains the elementary theory of the roots of unity, primitive roots to a modulus, indices, quadratic residues, and the law of quadratic reciprocity : the proof of this last is the trigonometrical one of Eisenstein. We now come to Book III., on “ Algebraical Quanti- ties,” and here the essential and characteristic part of the work may be said to begin. The key-note is struck at the commencement of chapter xili. by the definition of a numerical corpus (Zah/korper). The notion of a corpus, which is of the most fundamental character, is due to Dedekind, and is as follows. Let us take a finite or infinite system of elements a, B, y, &c., concerning which nothing is assumed except that they can enter into rational combination according to the rules of ordinary algebra ; then the totality of all rational functions of a, f, NO. [41 1, VOL.'55| y, &c., except those which involve division by zero, con- stitutes a corpus, denoted by Aa, Boy... -), The simplest corpus is that of all rational numbers. This is contained in every other corpus ; for if be any element of the corpus, then by definition the corpus con- tains w @, that is, unity ; and from this all other rational numbers may be derived by rational operations only. If the elements of a corpus are all numbers, it is called a numerical corpus; but the elements may be _ inde- pendent variables, or even variables subject to algebraical conditions. If Q(a, 8, y...) is any corpus, and x any quantity not contained in it, the corpus Q(x, a, 8, y...) is said to be derived from Q(a, 2, y .. .) by the adjunction of x. If z is an undetermined variable, the polynomial Je) = a2” + asm. t+ am is said to be a function in 9 when all the coefficients a,, . . a, belong to a. When Q@ is given, we may, if we like, regard all the quantities belonging to it as rational: for this reason Kronecker calls a corpus a domain of rationality. A function in @ is reducible (in @) if it can be resolved into the product of two functions in®, A function which is irreducible in @ may be reducible in a corpus derived from © by adjunction. Let /(z) be an irreducible function in Q, of the 7th degree in z ; then the equation 7 (s) =0 is assumed to have 7 conjugate roots 2,, 22...2,. If & is a numerical corpus, the roots have actual numerical values ; but this is really immaterial so far as the general algebraic theory of the corpus is concerned. By the separate adjunction of the roots, we obtain the conjugate corpora Q(2,), Q(z,) ... Q(z,), each of which is called an algebraical corpus of the zth degree. These conjugate corpora are not necessarily all different ; they may, in fact, be all identical, and the corpus is then called a Galoisian or normal corpus. In this case all the roots 2; are expressible as rational functions of any one of them, and this leads to the definition of a normal (or Galoisian) equation. In the chapter we are now considering, the author proves the important theorem that the simultaneous ad- junction of several algebraic quantities is equivalent to the adjunction of one only, provided that it be ap- propriately chosen; develops the distinction between primitive and imprimitive corpora ; defines the Galoisian resolvent of an equation; and shows that the corpus Q(z, 2... 2,), derived from # conjugate corpora, is normal. This last proposition is the master-key to the whole Galoisian theory. After this we have a discussion of the substitutions of a normal corpus ; it is important to observe that their number is equal to its degree. Then comes a brief digression on the elements of the theory of permutation-groups ; and this leads to the very important conclusion that the group of p sub- stitutions of a normal corpus which contains 7 conjugate algebraical corpora is isomorphic with a certain group of permutations of 7 things. This may be regarded as a vroup of permutations of the #7 conjugate roots, and Qy - NOVEMBER 12, 1896] NATURE 27 is then called the Galoisian group of the corresponding equation. The problem of the algebraical solution of an equation ultimately depends upon the nature of its Galoisian group, or, which comes to the same thing, of its Galoisian resolvent. The degree of this resolvent is equal to p, the degree of the Galoisian group ; if this is equal to 7 ! (7 being the degree of the proposed equation), the equation is said to have no Affect. So long as we confine our- selves to the corpus Q(a@, @,..-.a@n-), the general equation Gp" + a2". |. A dn =O has no Affect. But, by the adjunction of an appropriate algebraical quantity, the Galoisian resolvent may become reducible, and then any one of its irreducible factors is a Galoisian resolvent in the new domain of rationality. The process may admit of repetition, and we may say that the problem ultimately consists in finding alge- braical quantities of the simplest possible kind, so that by their successive adjunction we may obtain a series of resolvents of lower and lower degree. No such reduc- tion can be effected by the adjunction of irrationalities which are notcontained inthe normal corpus Q(2), 2, . . . 21) which is derived from the original equation. After the proof of this very important result (p. 516), the chapter concludes with a further discussion of imprimitive groups, with special reference to the Galoisian resolvent. Chapter xv., on cyclical equations, contains applications of the foregoing theory, and should be read concurrently with chapter xiv. by those to whom Galois’s theory is new. First of all, the general cubic and biquadratic are solved by a direct application of group-theory ; and we are then introduced to the theory of Abelian and cyclic equations. An Abelian equation is a normal equation whose Galoisian group is commutative. It is not neces- sarily irreducible; on the other hand, an irreducible equation with a commutative group is necessarily Abelian (p. 535). A cyclical equation is one whose group consists of a single cyclical substitution and its powers; in other words, when its roots may be arranged in such an order that all cyclical functions of them are rational. The solution of any Abelian equation may always be reduced to that of a system of cyclic equations (§ 163). The chapter concludes with the solution of cyclic equations by means of Lagrange’s resolvent. Chapter xvi., on cyclotomy, gives the theory of Gauss’s periods, of the auxiliary functions which Jacobi denotes by y,(a), of the solution of cyclotomic equations by their means, and of Gauss’s sums. It concludes with appli- cations to complex numbers of the forms x + yz, x + yp, p being a cube root of unity. It may be observed that the properties of the numbers ¥,(a) are very fully treated in Jacobi’s lectures on the theory of numbers. These are not included in his collected works ; but MS. copies of Rosenhain’s redaction of them may be picked up occasionally. Chapter xvii. contains a series of remarkable pro- positions, which are proved with comparative ease by means of the foregoing theory. First of all it is shown that if P, the group of an equation, is reduced by the adjunction of the roots of an Abelian equation, P has a NO. I41I, VOL. 55] normal divisor Q, the index of which is a prime; and, conversely, if P has a normal divisor of this kind, P may be reduced in the manner stated. (By a normal divisor of P is meant a self-conjugate sub-group, or, as calls it, an “ausgezeichnete Untergruppe.”) We then pass on to the theory of metacyclic equations. A metacyclic equation is defined as one whose complete solution may be made to depend on that of a series of cyclic equations. It is shown (p. 598) that the necessary and sufficient condition to be satisfied by a metacyclic equation is that there should exist a series of groups RP MIPA at (of which the first is the Galoisian group of the equation) such that each group is a normal divisor, with prime index, of the group immediately before it in the series. It is subsequently proved (§ 180) that the group of a metacyclic equation of prime degree is linear ; that is to say, if its roots are eal Coteienet Coiene! =) Dp Klein the group consists of the A(#—1) permutations of the suffixes defined by ’=at + 6(mod f) , where a may have any of the values I, 2,... any of the values 0, 1, 2... (f—1). Conversely every irreducible equation of prime degree whose group is linear, is metacyclic (p. 615). A function of the roots 2; which is unaltered by the permutations of the linear group, and by these only, is called a metacyclic function. Every metacylic function is a root of a rational equation F(y)=o of degree (7—2)! and the function y may be so chosen that this equation has no multiple roots. Assuming that y has been so chosen, the necessary and sufficient condition that a given equation /(x)=o may be soluble by radicals is that the resolvent F(y)=o has a rational root (p. 620). This very beautiful proposition is the complete answer to the ques- tion first definitely put by Abel, namely : What algebraical equations are soluble by radicals ? At the end of this chapter will. be found a very interesting application to metacyclic quintics. Among other things it is shown that if A and p are any two rational quantities, and ss, SIA *= (a — 1)i(A2 + 6A +25), the quintic (p—1), and 4 5°wA (A —1)*(A + 6A + 25) x +axr+B=0 may be solved by radicals. One problem still remains: the actual construction of all possible metacyclic equations. This is considered in chapter xviii, the last in vol. I. The complete solution was announced by Kronecker, in his usual oracular way, in the Berlin Wovatsberichte for 1853 and 1856. Prof. Weber here supplies us with a demonstration, which reproduces in an improved and simplified form his own Marburg memoir of 1892. It is based upon the properties of Lagrange’s resolvent ; and although it is impossible to analyse it in detail, the final result may be stated. “ Every root € of a metacyclic equation of prime degree n may be expressed in the form s=n-2 g=A+>d s=0 5 > . nf), r ae al where A is a rational quantity, t» = N/4s, K a rational rn—2 rn-3 ry - _n-2 Ky; Te+1 + Ts+u-2 28 function of 4, the form of which is the same for all values of s. The quantities #, are the roots, different from each other, and from zero, of a cyclical equation of degree (7-1). The exponents 7, 7,-- +7 :-9 are the least positive residues of 1, g, g*,.-..g" * to the modulus 2; ¢ being a primitive root of 7. The 7 values of é, obtained from this formula by giving to the radicals r, their different values, are the roots of one and the same rational equation. ““ Moreover every quantity & of this form is the root of an equation of the zth degree rational in the corpus k, whose elements are the coefficients of the equation satisfied by 4, 2, .-- 4n-». This equation in §€ is irre- ducible, except in the special case when one of its roots is rational.” (With regard to the last clause, see the Corrigenda at the end of vol. II.) If the corpus K is real, the quantities # are either all real or all imaginary (see p. 551); in the first case one root € is real and the rest imaginary, in the second case all the roots € are real. The last five pages of this volume contain the explicit determination of all metacyclic quintic equations. An account of vol. II., and a general review of the whole work, is reserved for another article. G. B. M. OUR BOOK SHELF. Hours with Nature. By Rambramha Sanyal, C.M.Z.S. Pp. 168, (Calcutta: Lahiri, 1896.) As a first attempt on the part of a native Indian naturalist to familiarise his countrymen with some of the lead- ing facts in nature, and to cultivate in them the faculty of observation, this little volume is clearly entitled to a welcome at our hands. To criticise the English would obviously be unfair, seeing that the author is writing in a foreign tongue ; and, indeed, if this be borne in mind, his work is worthy of all praise, so far as this point is concerned. Babu Sanyal, as stated on the title-page, is Super- intendent of the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, where he has many opportunities of observing the habits of animals but little known in Europe. One communication from his pen—on the habits of Bennett’s Mungoose (Cynoga/e bennett?) —has already appeared in the London Zoological Society’s Proceedings ; and it is a matter for regret that other observations on the habits of animals under his charge have not found a place in this volume. As the book is essentially a medley, to give an account of its contents is somewhat difficult. It commences with the description of an excursion in Bengal, in the course of which we are introduced to the Gangetic dolphin, king- fisher, and various other birds, squirrels, and the famous Botanical Garden at Calcutta. Chapter i. gives us a history of the former superintendents of that institution, mainly compiled from the official handbook. In the third chapter the author takes the misapplication of the term ‘“ mole” to the Indian musk-shrew as the text for a NATURE sermon on moles and shrews ; while in the next section | We pass to such a widely different subject as an aquarium and its denizens. Of the other chapters, we can only mention that the sixth describes the tour of a party of Bengalis round the Indian Museum, Calcutta, while the ninth relates to Indian snakes; perhaps the best in the book, the author emphasising the “ rib-walking ” character of these animals. If the book reaches a second edition, we would, however, advise him to study Mr. Boulenger’s works, when he would probably amend his NO. I4II, VOL. 55] [ NoveMBER 12, 1896 classification of reptiles, and point out some means of distinguishing between snakes and limbless lizards. It may be hoped that this little work may succeed in its object of awakening a love of nature, and exciting observation among our Bengali fellow-subjects. 15 Ie Elements of Astronomy. By Sir Robert Ball, LL.D., F.R.S. New edition, thoroughly revised. Pp. 469. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) THIS edition has been subjected by the author to a thorough revision, special attention having been paid to the last chapter, which deals exclusively with astro- nomical constants. These latter will be found most interesting and valuable to all classes of astronomical students, for besides being presented with the facts in each case, references as to the source of information are always added. Little need be said about the other chapters, as the revision seems to have been very thorough, although occasional omissions have been found. We may, however, mention that the illustra- tion on page 44 seems to be rather out of date, and might have been changed for one more modern. In paragraphs relating to stellar classification, perhaps it would have been better to refer to a more recent classifi- cation, in which we have every reason to believe that stars do not simply decrease in temperature, but both increase and decrease. Putting aside these two minor details, the book will prove an excellent text-book for those wishing to acquire a knowledge of the more im- portant problems relating to astronomy. The admirable index attached will be found most complete. Practical Work in Physics. By W. G. Woollcombe, M.A., B.Sc. Part iii. Light and Sound. Pp. x + 94. (Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1896.) THIS is the third part of a course of practical physics, the two previous ones dealing with heat and general physics. A fourth part, on electricity and magnetism, will complete the work. The optical experiments in the present volume illustrate photometry, reflection at plane and at spherical surfaces, refraction at plane surfaces, and through lenses. The experiments in sound demon- strate the laws of transverse vibrations of wires, velocity of sound through gases and through solids, and inter- ference of sound-waves. Only inexpensive apparatus is needed in order to carry out the experiments described, and the instructions, both as to construction of apparatus and performance with it, are clear and _ practicable. Experiments in sound depend upon the physiological perception of tone, and some students are unable to accurately perform them. The number of students with no “ear for music” (musicians will, perhaps, pardon the designation of the twanging of a monochord as music) is, however, very small. Mr. Woollcombe says that only five per cent. of his students have so little musical sense that the experiments in sound he describes cannot be satisfactorily carried out by them ; and his experience is about the same as that of most teachers and demonstrators of physics. Peasblossom. The Story of a Pet Plant. By Caroline Pridham. Pp. 180. (London: John Heywood.) TAKEN altogether, this book is very attractively written. The descriptions are couched in the simplest words, and no botanical terms are used without full explanation. Observation is the basis of the text, and the development of a plant is traced from germination upwards, all the parts and all the stages being considered. The book will interest young readers, and will encourage them to study the life-history of common plants ; the knowledge they will thus gain from text and nature will be worth having. NovEMBER 12, 1896] NATURE 29 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 zs taken of anonymous communications. | The Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land. IN common with all who take an interest in Arctic research, I was very much surprised to learn, on the return of the W2nad- ward, last year, that the Jackson-Harmsworth polar expedition had detected, what seemed to them, extraordinary inaccuracies in Payer’s map of Franz Josef Land. Finding, however, that Mr. Jackson’s sledge journeys had only been directed along the very outskirts of the region laid down by Lieut. Payer, I came to the conclusion that the discrepancies pointed out were no greater than might he expected in a part of the map, where the Austrian explorer had obviously meant rather to indicate the presence of some geographical feature, than to give its exact position. I also hoped that Mr. Jackson’s persevering endeavours would eventually lead him to some point where he could effect a satisfactory juncture of his own survey with that of his pre- decessor: When, however, on August 13 last, I had the great ‘pleasure of meeting Dr. Nansen at Vard6, a few hours after he had landed from the Wzuzdward, 1 was absolutely astounded when he informed me, with evident distress, that the northern part of the well-known map of Austria Sound was utterly wrong. Indeed the circumstantial and graphic telegrams, which at that moment were being flashed round the whole globe, told how Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen, on their unparalleled return journey, had failed to identify a single geographical feature dis- covered by the intrepid Austrian explorer; how, on the con- trary, they had, on August 6, 1895, found three snow-covered islands in 81° 38’ N. lat. and about 63° E. long., and how they afterwards slowly worked their way to their winter quarters in 81° 12’N. lat. and 56° E. long. ; thus, to all appearance, actually crossing Payer’s sledge tracks without finding any agreement with his map. The three islands just mentioned would, ac- cording to Dr. Nansen’s determination, come in the very middle of Lieut. Payer’s Dove Glacier. The publication of Dr. Nansen’s book can alone enable geographers to decide as to the relative positions that Austria Sound and the three islands of the Norwegian explorers have to occupy on the map. Respecting the accuracy of the southern part of Lieut. Payer’s map, there can be no doubt whatever ; for if we turn to the third section of the ‘‘ Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der | Wissenschaften,” Band xxxv., Vienna, 1878,! we shall find from Weyprecht’s paper on the astronomical and geodetic results of the Austro-Hungarian Arctic expedition, that the latitudes and longitudes of the Zegetthoff in the land ice, and of certain points on the neighbouring coast, notably Cape Tegetthoff and the western extremity of Wilczek Island, have all the precision that could be obtained from a long series of meridian altitudes, and no less than 218 lunar distances,” combined with a systematic triangulation. This triangulation was connected with all the néighbouring islands within a dis- tance of some 30 or 40 miles. The satisfactory character of this part of the map was proved by Mr. Leigh Smith, who, during his first voyage to Franz Josef Land, passed close under Cape Tegetthoff and the south-western shore of Wilczek Island, where he saw, but did not visit, the large cairn in which the Austrian explorers placed a number of documents and a mini- mum thermometer. (See ‘‘ Denkschriften,” /.c., p. 67, where the late Lieut. Weyprecht placed on record directions for opening the cairn without moving the thermometer from its horizontal position, and thus sacrificing the valuable indication it may yet afford. ) Naturally the survey grew less accurate when it came to be extended up Austiia Sound ; but even there the latitudes, at least, must be very near the truth, as they are founded on numerous meridian altitudes of the sun. Fortunately an observation was secured in 81° 57’ N. lat. within a few miles of the most northern point reached. Hence there is no reason whatever to 1 This volume is devoted exclusively to the scientific results of the ex- pedition under Payer and Weyprecht. ® Near the poles lunar distances define the observer's position much more accurately than in lower latitudes, not only because the degrees of longitude are less, but also on account of the smaller parallax in right ascension. It is therefore earnestly to be desired that explorers on boat or sledge journeys should avail themselves of this invaluable method. NO. I41I, VOL. 55] doubt that Lieut. Payer and his two companions, Midshipman | Orel and the seaman Zaninovich, attained the latitude of 82° 5’, as detailed in the document now lying in a bottle on the summit of Cape Fligely. Unfortunately there is not the same certainty with regard to the longitudes, at least in the northern part of the map, as they rest solely on compass azimuths or bearings taken with the theodolite, often observed under very unfavourable con- ditions. (See Payer’s ‘‘ New Lands within the Arctic Circle,” vol. ii. p. 77.) Had circumstances permitted the astronomical determination of a single longitude near the northern limit of the survey, no uncertainty as to the position of even the remoter parts of Austria Sound could have arisen. In conclusion, it may be mentioned that Lieut. Payer has deposited with the Royal Geographical Society all the materials used in the construction of his map ; it is quite possible that a careful revision of these papers may remove the remaining uncertainty which, at present, hangs over the position of the northern part of the land which my old comrade explored in the face of so many difficulties. RALPH COPELAND. Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, November 6. The Inheritance of Specific Characters. Pror. MELDOLA (NATURE, October 22, p. 594), referring to the increasing breadth of carapace in growing crabs, suggests as an alternative to selection acting during the present life of the individuals, that ‘* breadth of carapace . . . had a selection value in the phylogeny ; now this character appears at a late stage in the ontogeny.” Before accepting this interesting sug- gestion as plausible, one would like to hear, from Prof. Meldola or any one else, of other instances in which a character that has been of selection value ‘‘in the past history of the species ” does not appear until a late stage in the present individual history. My own knowledge does not extend further than the fact that such characters tend to be inherited at an earlier stage; of their inheritance at a later stage, I know no instances. Were this a universal principle, the selection of broader carapaced individuals must have taken place not very long ago, the conditions can hardly have been very different to now, and, as now, the character must have appeared at a late state in the ontogeny ; in short, Prof. Meldola’s alternative would only shift the need for an explanation a little distance back. The principle, however, may not be so general in its application as many of us have been led to believe. But, since in zoological speculation an hypothesis should be proved consonant wlth some known fact, Prof Meldola may fairly be asked to adduce facts in harmony with the idea which he states he has always entertained. Since your report of the discussion on Neo-Lamarckism in Section D at the British Association meeting will doubtless be regarded as authoritative, may I take this opportunity of cor- recting the sentence, ‘‘ Mr. F. A. Bather thought the Ammonites afforded at least some proof of the Neo-Lamarckian doctrine.” | He may have ‘‘ thought” so, though I greatly doubt it, but he certainly did not say so, He was using the Ammonites as an example, to ask Prof. Lloyd Morgan how a modification of the senile parent could affect the limits of variation in its offspring, most of which had already been produced ; or how modification even of the adult could affect the limits of variation in its off- spring, which do not present the character of the assumed modi- fication until they themselves become adult. The point of these questions would be more obvious to your readers, had your report alluded to the thesis that I imagined to constitute Prof. Lloyd Morgan’s main contribution to the discussion. F. A, BATHER, IN the first place, I will take the opportunity afforded me by Mr. Bather, of correcting a slip in my letter ; it is narrowness of carapace that is being, or has been, selected, and not breadth, as I stated. This, however, in no way affects the suggestion. In the next place, I must part company from Mr. Bather ona point of fundamental principle. I decline to accept, as a canon of scientific method, that a zoological (why particularly ‘‘ zoo- logical?) hypothesis put forward in explanation of a body of facts still under investigation, and, possibly, leading us on to new principles, should, in order to become plausible, “* be proved consonant with some known fact.” I take it that, in making tentative suggestions for the interpretation of results obtained by observation, as in the case under consideration, it is sufficient, if the hypothesis is not opposed by any known fact. I did not lay it down as a dogma that selection must have acted in the way 30 NATURE [ NoveMBER 12, 1896 stated. In fact, Prof. Weldon’s original interpretation has not yet been, and never may, be disproved, and, for all we know to the contrary, selection may still be acting in the direction indi- cated by his measurements. Mr. Bather will see, on reference to my letter, that I advanced the idea ‘‘ for whatever that idea may be worth.” It appears necessary to point out that the ‘‘ facts” are before us in this case; it is a question of interpretation. The difficulty raised by your correspondent is one of his own creation, and not one of mine. Where have I stated, or even suggested, that the appearance of a character which formerly was of selec- tion value, and which now appears in the later stage of indi- vidual development, is a ‘‘ universal principle” ? If the sugges- tion which I made with reference to the interpretation of Prof. Weldon’s results is sound in principle, it is obvious that it refers to a (comparatively) recent cessation of selection, and so far Mr. Bather has correctly grasped my meaning. When, however, he lays it down, on his own responsibility, that the conditions then ‘‘can hardly have been very different to now,” he is laying claim to a knowledge of the past and present conditions of life and toa familiarity with the time necessary to bring about the modification of species, at which I can only stand aside with envy and admiration. If Mr. Bather really must have some “known fact ” after this distinct dissociation of myself from his methods, I will refer him to those cases of mimetic butterflies which have no models. There is good reason for believing that certain butterflies which are undoubted mimics, since they depart from their allies in type of pattern, have for some un- known reason survived, while the species which they imitated have, also for unknown reasons, become extinct. The mimics still retain their mimetic pattern and colouring, but the selective process which produced this type can no longer (in the absence of the model) be regarded as in active operation. Neverthe- less, the mimetic disguise is retained by virtue of heredity, and appears in the last stage of the ontogeny. Your correspondent will, I hope, pardon any apparent discourtesy if I state that the correspondence on this subject is, so far as I am concerned, now closed. I can assure him that he shall hear more about the results of Prof. Weldon’s measurements at no very distant future. Rk. MELDOLA, Measurements of Crabs. Mr. CUNNINGHAM, in NATURE of October 29, raises a doubt as to the trustworthiness of the results of my measurements of crabs. on the ground that the specimens of the year 1893 had been longer in spirit than those of 1895. The value of measurements made on animals preserved in spirit naturally depends on the animal so preserved ; and to any one who is acquainted with the rigid nature of the calcareous carapace of Carctnus muenas, it seems difficult to admit the pos- sibility of distortion from such a cause. All specimens that were not quite rigid (a condition due to the animal having moulted just Defore capture) were rejected as a matter of course. The fact that a deficiency in one dimension was ‘‘com- pensated” by an excess in the other dimension, so far from suggesting to Mr. Cunningham a suspicion of the specimens having ‘* undergone an artificial change of shape,” would, I think, have seemed not only natural, but a feature to be expected, had he realised that every crab during its growth passes through a similar change of shape, in which the relative Increase in size of the one dimension (the dentary margin) is accompanied by a corresponding relative diminution in size of the other dimension (frontal breadth). The table appended to the paper in question shows that, while the dentary margin in the youngest crabs measured increased on an average from 414 thousandths of the carapace length to 498 thousandths in the adult, the frontal breadth, on the other hand, diminished in relative size from 813 thousandths in the young to 595 thou- sandths in the adult; so that a compensatory relation between these two parts of the hard skeleton is a normal phenomenon in these animals. I would venture to add that observations in recent years, on the variability of both animals and plants, tend to show that species are much more unstable than was once supposed. The changes recorded in these crabs in the space of two years are very minute, but they are persistently in one and the same direction in all the twenty-six stages of growth measured. If such a rate of change exceed what we should have expected, it may be because hitherto we have had no collections of comparative facts on which to base any reasonable expectation. H. THomrson. October 30. NO. I411, VOL. 55] I Am able to offer Mr. Cunningham direct experimental evidence that the hard carapace of a young shore-crab is not sensibly distorted by immersion in spirit for six months. I have lately had occasion to compare the mean frontal breadth in three samples of young female crabs, gathered from the same locality in Plymouth Sound. The range of size was the same in all the samples. The samples were (1) a large number of individuals, collected in 1892 and 1893, measured after immersion in spirit during a period varying between six months and a year: the mean frontal breadth in these crabs was compared (2) with that of 569 individuals, collected during the summer of 1895, and measured fresh while still wet with sea- water ; and (3) with that of 595 crabs, gathered also during the summer of 1895, but preserved in spirit for about six months before measurement. The mean difference between the frontal breadth in the spirit specimens of 1892-3 and that of the fresh specimens of 1895, was 1°47276 of Mr. Thompson’s units; the difference between the crabs of 1892-3 and the spirit specimens of 1895 was 1°58992 units. The difference between the two results obtained from crabs of 1895 was therefore only 0°11716 unit—a difference so small, com- pared with those observed by Mr. Thompson, that it may safely be neglected, even if it be assumed to be due entirely to the spirit, and not ,to be within the probable error of the determination. As for the distribution of deviations from the mean in the two samples, it would take too much space to compare them in detail here; I hope to do so before very long in connection with another problem, and therefore I will only now say that the “*standard deviation ”’ (= error of mean square) of the series of fresh shells was in Mr. Thompson’s units 11°7955, that of the spirit specimens being 1179628 of the same units. These figures seem to me sufficient to justify Mr. Thompson’s conclusion ; and it must therefore be held that a change, whether of oscillation or of evolution, is going on at a measurable rate among Carcénuzs menas in Plymouth Sound. The very great importance of this result to all students of animal evolution is evident; for the careful study of cases in which change is actually going on so rapidly that it can be watched and measured in a reasonably short space of time will assuredly be found to give the best, if not the only clue to the process of evolution in general. W. F. R. WELDON. University College, London, October 31. The X-Rays produced by a Wimshurst Machine. IN my’two papers of June 4 and June IS respectively, I proved the existence of non-homogeneity in the X-rays, and gave a simple method of strengthening and maintaining the discharge of these rays from an ordinary focus tube by means of a con- ductor wrapped round the part of the tube level with and behind the kathode, and separated by a small sparking gap from either an earthed wire or the kathode’s external wire loop, or the wire leading from the induction coil to the kathode itself. Since then my attention has been chiefly turned to the most remarkable results which can be attained with a Wimshurst machine, with which this paper is concerned. My Wimshurst has two 15-inch plates, and, not being of the latest type, has the old-fashioned metallic sectors and buttons, instead of the plain varnished glass disc, though I do not imagine that the results will be found materially different with the simpler, and probably better, form, weer At first I drove the machine by hand, and hand driving is sufficient for the results mentioned in this paper—a most im- portant fact, seeing that it renders unnecessary any other form of engine than the hand, and brings the copious production of any kind of X-rays within the reach of those who have neither battery nor dynamo—afterwards, for securing greater personal freedom and uniformity of turning force, ¥ drove the Wimshurst by a small motor, an easy and most convenient plan, using a platinum electrode acidulated water resistance by which the rate of rotation is easily governed. To me, accustomed only to the effects given by a 44” spark induction coil, the brilliancy of the shadows given by simply connecting my tube’s electrodes to the brass knob terminals of the Wimshurst used without condensers was surprising, and the steadiness of the image a most grateful rest to the eyes. The bones seemed more transparent than I had ever seen them, and though at first I thought this might be only the effect of the lessening contrast brought about by increased general illumina- tion, this does not prove to be the case. The two faults to be NoOvEMBER 12, 1896] found with the Wimshurst used in this way are, first, that after | a rest or complete discharge the polarity of the machine is apt to reverse, the cure being either (2) to completely discharge again and trust that the desired reversal will take place on re- starting, a very uncertain plan; (4) to interchange the wires, probably best by disconnecting them at the tube and turning the tube suitably ; or (c) by discharging completely and starting the electrical action of the machine by holding in some position, found easily by experiment, a body electrified and whose elec- tification is of known sign—e.g. a glass rod rubbed quickly and lightly on a piece of silk or flannel. The second fault is that in this way of using the Wimshurst, whether the condensers are in circuit or not, after a time the character | of the discharge is apt to alter. Beautiful patches and streaks of very bright grass-green make their appearance on the inner sur- face of the glass ; and when one of these has formed, the \-ray discharge becomes weaker, and two or three are altogether fatal to it, even if the machine be in excellent working order. When once a patch is formed, too, it seems to cling obstinately to the place where it develops. It was suggested to me that these patches were invariably associated with bubbles in the glass of ‘the tube, but on touching the tube lightly with a camel’s-hair brush dipped in rather dry Indian ink, and thus painting over these green spots whilst they were visible, and afterwards re- moving the ink spot by spot and examining for bubbles, I found in many cases they were not present, and also that there were many bubbles where no fluorescent spot had been painted. These spots lie in the shortest lines which can be drawn on the glass from the kathode to the anode. They are far more numerous mear the kathode, forming near it, and often gradually elongating towards the anode. Blowing gently on the middle part of the tube causes their retreat towards their birthplace, and often ex- tinguishes them altogether. Their forms seem to be those which slightly divergent jets of matter would take if they were thrown out from different points on the sharp edges of the kathode and impinged on the inner surface of the bulb very near the kathode, exciting fluorescence so long as the matter maintained a velocity above a certain limit. If this is so, and the matter is negatively charged, and if the glass surface acts to it as a rough surface does to a stone, perhaps on account of its high electrical resistance, it is easy to see why the patches are small and slowly spread when a higher E.M.F. is used, and how it is that the dissipation of the positive charge which lies on the outside of the bulb leaves these jets of negatively electrified particles more free to take a shorter path tothe anode. Thus, if they hit the glass at all, they will do so further and further from the kathode ; and this explains why the fluorescent patches travel towards the anode region of the bulb, when the neighbourhood of the kathode is deprived of its positive charge by gently breathing on the glass in this part of the bulb. Similarly it also explains why the | patches travel kathode-wards when the middle and anodal region is drained in any way of its positive charge, for then the at- traction in the kathodal region is practically strengthened by the destruction of the attraction to other glass parts of the tube. Not only do these jets impinge on the inner side of the glass just by the kathode under ordinary circumstances, when no pains are taken to drain the external positive charge of the tube, but they are partly reflected, and, owing to the attraction of the positive charge, the path of the reflected particles is bent towards the glass surface, and in many cases a fainter patch of longer shape is formed further from the kathode, and I believe a third may be, so that the inner surface of the tube tends to become filled with patches smallest, brightest, nearest together and least elliptical, near the kathode; and becoming pro- gressively larger, fainter, further apart, and longer in proportion the nearer they approach the anode. This has a very important application, for seeing that the formation of the patches is, by experiment, inimical to the creation of the X-rays, anything which tends to their formation must be avoided; and if, as lam convinced, they are due to the sharp edges and small irregulari- ties of the circular kathode, no pains should be spared to give that electrode a perfect polish on the side facing the anode, and to make its edge circular, and not square, as the circular kathode’s edges are in my tubes. Another way of partly overcoming this difficulty is to make the tube very wide round the kathode, or, which amounts to the same thing, push the kathode well forward into the globular part of the tube. This last is done in some tubes, I believe, with excellent results. A striking experiment _is to arrange a tube and Wimshurst to give the green patches, and then to breathe rather strongly on the kathode half of the NO. I41I, VOL. 55] WA TRORE ai re) tube two or three times if necessary, and watch how the phos- phorescent patches fly towards the anode as the external positive charge is dissipated and, at last, just meet behind the anode (which region becomes brightly fluorescent); finally, if the positive charge is sufficiently dissipated, part creeping and part bounding along the glass tube which, in my tube, encloses the anode’s wire support, into which support, or the actual back of the anode, they finally yield their negative charge. I think that any one, who will take the trouble to make the very easy experiments here recorded for himself, will feel convinced that this is the true explanation of many of the—so far as I know—widely observed, but unexplained variations in the behaviour of the X-ray tubes, and the last experiment suggests that it would be a good thing to (i.) completely surround the anode stem and the back of the anode itself with some insulator—glass would probably prove best —and if the anode be platinum, to make the anode’s edges very blunt and smooth ; and it may be well, but of this I cannot feel certain without experiment, to make a small area, large enough to include the point from which the X-rays seem to emanate, rough with, say, platinum black, in order that over this area, to put it in old-fashioned language, the density of the positive electrical charge may be as great as possible. In these ways, perhaps, the stray negative ‘‘ jets ~ may be pre- vented, and a tube made to emit the X-rays more easily and steadily than any at present used. It seems natural, from these conclusions, to suppose that pushing both anode and kathode far into the tube so that they are fairly close together, is a very good plan. for it would cer- tainly tend to prevent leakage to the internal surface of the glass. I have heard that very excellent results have been obtained with tubes in which the electrodes are but a very few millimetres apart. The same reasoning would indicate that it would be well to make the kathode convex towards the anode, and fairly small, but not very small ; for each tube there will be aspecial size which will be best. Whatever the nature of the ‘‘ jets” may be —and I suppose most will be inclined to believe (with Crookes) that they are par- ticles of the residual air, for there is very little evidence of any scattering of an aluminium kathode, save just round its edge—it is clear that the effect of the external positive charge is to create a higher vacuum in the central portion by drawing the particles to the sides of the tube; and this accounts for the action of a flame on the glass bulb, which is two-fold—for it not only drives off from the sides, and possibly from the electrodes, particles of moisture or occluded gases held by some force other than electrical, but also speedily dissipates the external charge, and thus frees the ‘‘ electrically bound” molecules, distributing the matter more evenly over the internal space, and thus making the passage of electricity between the electrodes easier. At the same time the phosphorescence, which is produced by their impact on the glass, becomes evenly distributed over the tube, and itis whilst hot that the X,-rays are emitted (to which wood is transparent, but flesh opaque); and it should be particularly noted that these X,-rays are in this case emitted when the tube offers less resistance to the electrical discharge than when the X,-rays (which penetrate flesh, but to which bone is fairly opaque) are being emitted. Several observers—in particular, Mr. Swinton—have men- tioned that under some conditions a tube is capable of emitting rays to which bone is almost as transparent as flesh. These I shall call throughout the rest of this paper X3, and in the experi- ment Iam about to describe it will be found that it is possible— and, indeed, very easy—to cause a tube to emit either X,, Nj, or X,-rays ; and not only so, but inasmuch as the change from X, through X, to X, is perfectly continuous, it is simplest to believe they differ, not in kind, but only in some one inherent quality, such as frequency, which varies continuously. I may say, before- hand, that the following experiment seems to me a very im- portant one, and the study of it likely to lead to some definite conclusions as to the undulatory nature, and even evaluation of the wave-lengths of the X-rays. ; Two small Leyden jars then are attached to the Wimshurst in the ordinary way; two well-coiled insulated wires, which are supported on insulating posts, terminate in brass knobs at the ends next the prime conductors of the Wimshurst, and in care- fully-made small smooth loops of bare wire at the four ends. There are thus four spark gaps (and it is impossible to over- tate the importance of the adjustment of these spark gaps in using the Wimshurst for this, or any other experiments where fluorescent screen or photographic effects are require’/—why, 32 NATURE [NoveMBER 12, 1896 will appear later). thus :— (N) Gap between negative knob terminal of Wimshurst and coiled wire to kathode. (KX) Gap between coiled wire to kathode and the kathode external wire loop. (P) Gap between positive knob terminal of Wimshurst and coiled wire to anode. (A) Gap between coiled wire to anode and the anode’s external wire loop. Experiment i.—Make N and P about 4”, A exceedingly small, and K about +”. The result, when the machine is being turned by hand as quickly as is convenient, is a series of discharges, during each of which the tube flashes out a brilliant, almost orange- green, giving on my fluorescent screen a light so bright as to be trying to the eyes ; the hand will show at once that X,-rays are being emitted, and with this arrangement I have shown the ordinary shadow experiments to a large room-full at once. Three or four persons can see at the same time the back-bone and ribs of a man if a little care is taken to exclude extraneous light ; and what I expect will interest a great many people who are not scientific, I have seen (to put it popularly, though of course incorrectly) through a brick wall, ze. through 84 inches of solid brick. To speak exactly—the rays which come through the brick are suffi- ciently powerful to show dullish flashes on the screen, and a piece of platinum foil placed just behind the screen is distinctly visible, though badly defined, during the flashes. It is necessary, of course, to be careful to avoid any ordinary light reaching the screen, or any X-rays from reaching it except through the wall ; but the experiment has been performed carefully many times now, and there is no doubt whatever as to the power of the rays from even my small tubes to penetrate this thickness of brick. These X-rays have wonderful penetrating power, and experiments with them are well worth making. The X-light is able to penetrate a little over 13” of glass, and 3” of water easily, and 37” of wood. In this experiment, unless the spark gaps are adjusted carefully (and the measurements I give are only intended as a rough guide), sparks pass along the outside of the tube in a way which at first made me anxious for the tube’s life ; but so long as the tube’s loops are nearer to the coiled wires than any other part of the tube, experience teaches me there is no danger. Even during the passage of these external and noisy sparks, there is a discharge inside the tube sufficient to show a faint and very transparent hand shadow on the screen, the bones being scarcely distinguish- able from the flesh—these being the most transparent shadows I have yet seen. Experiment ii.—Arrange so that A is exceedingly small, and N and P about equal, and so that the discharge by long sparks along the tube and outside it are just avoided ; then take a piece of thoroughly wet string, and fasten one end of it to the kathode loop, and the other to the end of the coiled kathode wire (a few strands of lamp-wick answer even better), and move the kathode coiled wire away from the tube’s neighbourhood, carrying (of course) one end of the string with it until there is no direct sparking through the air, and all the discharge goes through the string. If the radiation from the tube be now examined by the screen with the hand held close behind it, the shadow of the flesh will be very dark indeed, and the bones scarcely visible ; in fact, it is fairly easy to secure a quite black shadow whilst the rest of the screen is brightly illuminated. These are, therefore, the X-rays. By shortening the string gradually the shadow changes, the flesh becoming more and more transparent, the bones’ shadows remaining black for some time, until when the direct disruptive discharge through the air begins the X,-rays are immediately restored, and the radiation penetrates easily both flesh and bone. Thus, by ‘‘ loading” the circuit more or less, the character of the radiation isaltered. We know that the discharge of a Leyden jar is oscillatory, and the frequency of vibration very high, also that the frequency is lowered and the oscillations damped by the use of a wet string For brevity I designate the spark gaps cr other resistance placed in the jar’s discharge circuit ; hence | it appears reasonable to suppose that it is this slackening of the electrical oscillations which produces the corresponding change | in the X-rays, and that this slackening can be produced by altering resistance outside as wellas inside the tube, at any point, perhaps, in the circuit, so long as the discharge is kept disruptive in character. In this experiment the discharge through the three spark gaps, and so through the whole circuit, is certainly disruptive ; but the influence of the wet string on the whole circuit, including, of course, these gaps, is shown strikingly by NO. f4NT, VOL sai) the altered appearance and sound of the sparks at N and P-. The wet string, therefore, causes the tube to produce rays of the same kind as the heating of the tube, and if heat increases the general conductivity, it would seem that the wet string must do the same thing. It is, besides, obvious that the wet string takes the place of a rather wide air gap, and it can be very easily proved by experiment that the air gap possesses the greater resistance. Hence it might be thought that the vibrations in the case of air would be more slowly executed ; but in these experiments we have to do, not with the ordinary resistances of air and wet string, but with their resistances during the disruptive discharge ; to put it into popular language, the air can stand a great electrical stress without giving way, but when once its initial and great resistance is overcome, its resistance may be for the time very greatly diminished, so that the electri- city surges backwards and forwards, it may be, many millions of times ina second ; whereas in the case of the wet string, although it opposes at first far less than.the air, yet its resistance never breaks down completely, for this very reason. The air and the string may be compared in this respect to an oak and a reed ina gale of wind; the reed, though it bends still resists, is always resisting, and the more it is bent the more it resists; the oak stands unmoved till it is broken or uprooted, and its resistance overcome. That the oscillatory discharge is necessary for the production of the X-rays I feel no doubt, though it would be an extremely interesting experiment for any one, who had the means and leisure, to try whether they could be produced by a so-called continuous current from a battery. A very few thousands of cells would seem likely to be necessary ; but if any one should construct a tube according to the hints and instructions given in this letter, I think that the number which would be found necessary might be a good deal less. The discharge of a Wimshurst without Leydens, and with the four spark gaps nil, is still disruptive, though I expect less so when (unlike mine) the plates have no metal buttons and sectors on them; the rotating mirror, I believe, shows that even the silent brush discharge is disruptive—certainly the thin blue sparks are so, and the discharges from the revolving plates on to the combs and between the two plates themselves, are all disruptive. Experiment iii.—The spark gaps being arranged as in Experi- ment ii., instead of the wet string the secondary circuit of my 44” spark induction coil was inserted, the rays given off by the tube were then X,-rays, which gave most exquisitely bright and clear pictures on the screen, whilst at the same time the discharge through the coil gave rise to very decided Hertz effects for a considerable distance. It is clear that a rheostat of some fine wire of high resistance would be convenient to use with a tube, and that by its means we could adjust the kind of X-ray evolved very nicely. The nature of the spark discharges at N and P during the emission of the X-rays deserves close attention. At times the spark seems like a string of equidistant silver beads strung on a bluish violet thread, and suggests stationary waves. Perhaps I may add that my work is necessarily interrupted for some weeks at least. I hope that any one who finds in this letter suggestions he would like to follow up experimentally, will not fail to carry out his wishes. The form of kathode I should recommend is a concave mirror focused on the anode, the outer rim being bent back so that the edge is well concealed behind the mirror, a section through the centre of the mirror face having a form something like a very shallow sign of Aries. Eton College, July 24. T. C. PORTER. Extension of the Visible Spectrum. REFERRING to the interesting letter on the above subject, from Prof. Oliver Lodge and Mr. B. Davies, in your issue for the 20th ult., I should like to mention that I have observed a similar extension of the visible spectrum when thrown upon a fluorescent screen of barium platino-cyanide. I may add that a screen of this description becomes brilliantly luminescent when brought into the vicinity of the brush discharge from a large Wimshurst machine, or, better still, froma Tesla coil. In the latter case the fluorescent surface will become luminescent at a considerable distance from the electrical discharge, if facing the latter ; but if the screen is held with its opaque backing towards the discharge, the platino-cyanide will only luminesce if actually penetrated by the streamers of the discharge. This screen will also fluoresce brightly at several yards distance from an ordinary Geissler vacuum tube. NovEMBER 12, 1896] NATURE 22 pore) A striking contrast is afforded by placing a piece of plain white paper over a portion of the screen, and observing the whole by the light either of a Geissler tube or of the Tesla brush. Under these conditions the white paper will appear very dark, while the fluorescent surface is brilliantly luminous. | A. A. C. SWINTON. 66 Victoria Street, London, S.W., November 3. IN continuation of ‘our letter of October 29, we find that a re- flexion grating does not show the bands so well asa quartz prism, because metals, ¢.g. silver-on-glass, do not reflect all this kind of light completely except at grazing incidence. The furthest band shown by a Rowland grating at incidence 45° has wave-length 2200 tenth-metres, whereas the extreme ultra-violet usually quoted (the Fraunhofer line U) is 2948 tenth-metres, and the bright bands shown by quinine are about 3250 and 3830 respectively. With a quartz prism the fluorescence caused by light of shorter wave-length than 2200 can beseen. But it is quite possible that Sir George Stokes in 1852 saw as far as we can see to-day. OLIVER J. LODGE. November 7. BENJAMIN DAVIES. Osmotic Pressure. As Mr. Whetham has called attention in your columns to my attempt to give a mechanical hypothesis for osmotic pressure, in the October number of the Phzlosophical Magazine, perhaps you will allow me to give some explanation of my somewhat faulty use of the term ‘‘ dissociation hypothesis,” which, as Prof. Ramsay has pointed out to me, may easily be misunderstood. I have used the term to signify not the separation of the ions in electrolytes, but rather the freedom of the solute molecules in non-electrolytes, and of the atoms in electrolytes—their dissociation, in fact, from the molecules of solvent. It appears to me that in some statements of the facts of osmotic pressure, the idea is strongly suggested that the molecules or atoms of the solute are moving about among the molecules of the solvent, and, as far as pressure at any rate is concerned, dissociated from them, and producing an independent effect, the osmotic pressure being directly due to the solute. My aim is to show that we may more reasonably account for the facts by supposing that the solute molecules or atoms are associated with the solvent molecules, entering into some kind of more or less unstable combination with them, and that the solution is not to be regarded as consisting of two parts producing independent pressures. The extra osmotic pressure is, of course, due to the solute in one sense, in that it would not exist without it ; but it is an indirect effect, due to the modified compound molecules formed. The first effect is a decrease in ‘‘ mobility” of the solution, so that the exchange in the two directions through a semi-permeable membrane is unequal, and it is only rendered equal when the solution is put under the extra pressure which we call osmotic pressure. Mr. Whetham has shown, in a very simple way, that my hypothesis does not necessarily conflict with the facts of electro- lysis, and that the idea of dissociation of the ions from each other may easily be reconciled with it. J. H. Poyntinc. Mason College, Birmingham, October 31. “Purple Patches.” I sHOULD be very glad if I could obtain information as to the cause and nature of certain ‘‘ purple patches” which I have noticed from time to time for many years past, but have been unable to get explained. The patches in question occur during, or immediately after, rain, on the pavement or roadway ; dashes of vivid purple, or rather violet, varying in size from small splashes or drops to patches as large as the palm of one’s hand, but most commonly they are about the size of a shilling. When quite fresh, sometimes a little clot is observable in the centre of the splash. Sometimes I find one patch completely isolated, sometimes two or three in close proximity ; sometimes, again, numerous little drops scattered over a certain space; once I counted twenty or thirty tiny dashes in about ten yards of pavement. When quite wet the violet colour can be rubbed up with a hand- kerchief or paper, which it stains as with “‘aniline purple” dye, as it does the pavement, and when once dry it is quite inerasible, and lasts till it is worn away by exposure, or the feet of passers- by. I observe it to occur chiefly during warm rain after a dry or cold spell; xever during dry weather, whether in summer or winter. During the past hot summer there was none to be NO. IAII, VOL. 55] ’ found, but directly the weather changed in July, I saw it in various localities. This was also the case in the long cold winter of 1895, when on the breaking up of the frost there were plentiful patches to be seen up and down the streets ; there was also a complete absence during the following summer, till the drought gave, and then again I found this appearance recur. I naturally observe it most in Bath, where I live ; but it is not at all confined to one place or situation. I have found good specimens at such widely different places as the doorway of a hotel at Oban ; the Castle Hill, Edinburgh ; railway platform at Morecambe ; doorstep at Windermere ; in streets and roads at Cambridge, Bude, Penzance, St. Ives, Clevedon; once in a London street (Pall Mall East), and once some was found in a cold water bath. I have from time to time made inquiries from various people who I thought would know, but have not been fortunate enough to meet any scientific person who has observed it. But one learned professor to whom I described the ‘‘ patches,” suggested whether ‘‘ purple bacteria’? would prove a solution to the mystery, and recommended me to inquire through the medium of your columns. I should be much obliged if some one would enlighten me, or mention some authority to whom I could refer. A. PEDDER. 13 Somerset Place, Bath, October 27. Note on ‘“‘ Plasmodiophora brassice.” ALTHOUGH it is well known that Plasmodiophora brassice attacks the great majority of cruciferous plants, yet no instance of the common Shepherd’s purse (Capsed/a bursa-pastoris, D.C.) being attacked is recorded in this country. Thus Massee (Prec. Roy. Soc., vol. lvii.) quotes the Shepherd’s purse as being reported by Halsted to be attacked in America, but says ‘‘ It has not been observed to be diseased in this country, although one of our commonest weeds.” During the past summer my attention was drawn to some plants of Cafse//a with swollen roots, grow- ing in a sandy field near Coventry, on land upon which crops of swedes and turnips were grown in the usual rotation, and I had no difficulty in finding several additional specimens. These roots, On examination, were found to have the characteristic plasmodium in their cells. The Shepherd’s purse must now be numbered among the plants in this country which provide a home for Plasmodiophora, and probably help it to maintain its existence in the ground from year to year, thus proving a possible source of injury to cruciferous crops. The length of time for which Plasmodzophora can retain its vitality in the soil in the absence of any cruciferous plants, is still a matter of uncertainty. In order to ascertain this, in November 1893, I established a series of experiments (fully de- scribed in my annual report to the Newcastle Farmers’ Club, 1895), intended to extend over a period of six years. In these experiments, six beds (A-F) and six large 18-inch flower-pots (A-F) were prepared, and each strongly infected with pieces of turnip badly diseased with ‘‘ Finger-and-Toe,” one bed and one flower-pot being sown with turnips each successive spring. The beds and pots acted as duplicate experiments, and the soil in both remained unmanured, and was carefully guarded from the intrusion of P¥lasmodiophora, while all cruciferous plants were rigidly excluded. In 1894, in both pot A and bed A ‘‘ Finger-and-Toe” ap- peared ; in 1895, in the pot B ‘‘ Finger-and-Toe” was found upon four plants out of six; and in the bed B, 8 per cent. were diseased. In 1896 the same result was strikingly shown ; after a period of three years, the bed C and pot C were still found to be diseased, four out of five plants being affected in the latter, and 10 per cent. in the former. Massee had previously shown that the germs of disease retain their vitality for two years, and my experiment this year shows that this period can be increased to at least three years. M. C. Porrer. Durham College of Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, October 24. Sparrows and Wheat. In vol. vii. part iii. p. 522 of the /owrnal of the Royal Agricultural Society it is stated that, in the Leicester district, Rivett’s wheat is much grown, the reason being that sparrows do not attack it, while they do other varieties. Can any of your readers assign a cause for the exemption from attack of this particular variety ? It is most curious if correct; and the authority quoted apparently is a good one. ia r F. G. BRook-Fox. Port Navis Cove, Penryn, Cornwall. November 1. 34 THE NEWEST GERMAN POLYTECHNIC. V HETHER there is any sufficient ground for the opinion that Germany, by reason of her superior educational system, is gaining at our expense an undue share of trade and commerce, is a question on which statistics of exports and imports necessarily throw much light, although they fail to completely satisfy those who have watched the recent rapid development of German enterprise. Be that as it may, there can be no doubt as to the efforts which Germany is making to improve her trade by taking advantage of every application of science that may seem likely to help in developing her industrial ‘operations. We are sometimes apt to think that, whilst we aie gradually improving our educational machinery at home, Germany is standing still. But this is not so. On the contrary, experience seems to have strengthened her belief in the value of the higher scientific education, and there is no unwillingness on the part of the several German States to incur the expenditure needed to render NATURE [NoveMBER 12, 1896 The necessity for extending the old technical school was soon recognised by the State authorities, who at once offered to provide £16,000 for the erection of special electro-technic laboratories, and £11,250 for equipment. Simultaneously with this offer came a suggestion from the city of Darmstadt to take over the old buildings in which the Polytechnic had been housed, and to contribute towards the erection of a completely new school the sum of £60,000, it being understood that with the payment of this amount all duties and obligations of the city towards the school should cease. This generous offer was at once accepted by the State, and a site measuring about 24,000 square yards was provided in the beautiful gardens ad- joining the city. The preparation of the plans was entrusted to the official State architect, with whom, how- ever, were wisely associated the two Professors of Architecture, Dr. Wagner and Dr. Marx, who had been connected with the school for over twenty years, and were thoroughly familiar with the requirements of the The Darmstadt Polytechnic—Main Building. its benefits readily accessible. Darmstadt is a case in point. For many years Darmstadt has had in the Aaped/plats a technical high school, which had gradually grown in size till it occupied eight separate buildings. Latterly, however, it became too small for the increasing number of its students, and the question of its further extension was carefully considered. The immediate cause, how- ever, of the erection of a new building, was the recent rapid development of the electro-technic school, which, commenced on a very small scale in 1882, has now become the most important section of the new institute. It is interesting to note that we in England were the first to establish a school for the study of the technical applications of electrical science. For a short time the Finsbury College had no rival, and in 1882 the appliances in German schools for practical instruction in electrical engineering were meagre in the extreme. things now is very different, and the institution at Darmstadt is a good example of recent progress. NO. T4TT, VOL. 55 | The new Polytechnic at | rooms. he 1 _ house, from which electric light and power and heat are | supplied to all three buildings. The state of different taculties, and were able easily to ascertain the wants of their several colleagues. : The main building, as shown in the sketch, is three- storeyed, and has a north frontage. There are three wings at right angles to it, which are given up to the teaching of mathematics and some branches of natural science, and to the schools of architecture and engineering. In these wings first year’s students receive their instruc- tion. Opposite the front entrance of the building, and on the other side of the road, are two separate institutes _—one of which contains the physical and electro-technic schools, and the other the chemical laboratories and class- In the rear of the main building is the engine- In the fitting and equipment of the several laboratories, class-rooms, and lecture-rooms, all the professors lent their aid, each advising with respect to his own particular department ; and to the expert assistance thus obtained is undoubtedly due the completeness and the economy NoveMBER 12, 1896] NATURE 35 effected in the details of all the arrangements for practical instruction and experimental work. The build- ing was begun in February 1893, and was completed in October 1895. The cost of the entire institute, including fittings, furniture, machinery and apparatus, did not exceed £120,000. The cost of the main building alone was £46,485, which works out to about 57d. a cubic foot ; and this gives some idea of the apparently cheaper rate at which such buildings are erected in Germany. The main building contains the usual series of drawing offices—a special feature of every technical college in Germany—rooms for collections of various models, the engineering laboratories, class-rooms, lecture-rooms, a large hall, a library, and the administra- tion offices. The arrangement of rooms on the first floor, mainly devoted to mechanical engineering, is shown on the annexed plan. : The most interesting department of the institute is undoubtedly the building devoted to the physical and electro-technic schools. This is divided into two distinct sections—the one for instruction in physics proper, including electricity, and the other for the technical applications of elec- tricity. In the annexed plan of the ground floor, the rooms on the left of the central court belong to the physical, those on the right, including the annex containing the dynamo and motor machinery, belong for students admission to the State railway works, or to the machine shops of well-known electrical firms. The apparatus of the two divisions of the physical and technical institute is necessarily, to some ; extent, duplicated, and the more so, as the schools are kept quite distinct ; but there are some advantages in the two departments being housed in the same building. Each department contains separate laboratories carefully fitted for experimental work, and provided with the necessary apparatus and apphances for accurate measurements. In the basement ° 1 x it ) i to the technical section. Each section contains workshops for the making and the repairing of apparatus, but these shops are not used by the students. Indeed, workshop training does not, even now, form any part of the curriculum of students at a technical high Main Building—First Floor Plan. of the physical department is a room specially fitted with double walls for experiments requiring uniform tem- perature, rooms for chemical and photographic work, an engine-room containing a gas motor, dynamos, and other machines. On the ground floor are separate laboratories for the Pro- fessor of Physics, Dr. Schering, and for the chief assistant, a laboratory Ground Floor Plan of adjoining Physical and Electro-technic Institute. school. They are required however, during their course of study, to spend parts of their long vacations in engineering shops ; and no difficulty is found in obtaining NO. I41I, VOL. 55] for magnetic experiments free from iron fittings, and other separate labora- tories for galvanic, optical, and photo- metric work ; and above this floor are the balance rooms, two lecture theatres and preparation rooms, and addi- tional laboratories for exercises and experiments in heat and light. The electro-technic section of this building has, on the basement, rooms for accumulators, for testing arc and glow lamps, for the testing of cables, besides the dynamo and engine laboratories. These are all carefully equipped with appropriate instruments and apparatus. Above are the private laboratories of the Professor, Dr. Kittler, and of his assistants ; laboratories for measuring the strength of dif- ferent currents, for magnetic investigations, for determining resistances, coefficients of induction, &c. The arrange- ments for lighting the lecture-rooms, and for the convey- ance of currents from different combinations of batteries are very complete, and give evidence of the thought and care expended on the equipment of the school. To each laboratory separate currents are supplied from the galvanic batteries and dynamos, from the main current machine, from the accumulators, and from the central electric station in the rear of the main building. The network of wires, which can be connected in different combinations for experimental purposes, has been fitted by Messrs. Schuckert, of Niirnberg, in whose works are found a large number of the students who have received their training at this school. There are already over three hundred students in this one department of the Darmstadt High sSchool, and 36 WAT ORE [ NovEMBER 12, 1896 the building, which was completed in October 1895, is now being extended. The course of instruction covers four years: the-first year is spent in the main building, in a general course of scientific study ; the second is given up to physics, and the last two years are devoted to practical exercises in the electro-technic institute. The chemical school is housed in another separate build- ing, whichalso consists of two departments—the one for the study of pure chemistry, and the other for the study of chemical technology, electro-chemistry and pharmacy. The department for pure chemistry consists of three large laboratories for analysis and preparation work, and of a number of smaller laboratories for special researches. It has accommodation for sixty to seventy students. There are separate rooms for thermo-chemical, spectro- scopic, photometric, and other physical experiments, as well as rooms for chemical investigations connected with secondary and other batteries. The other side of the chemical school is mainly devoted to the study of electro-chemistry, and is equipped with the necessary apparatus and machinery, including continuous and alternating current dynamos, for ex- periments and researches in this special branch of applied chemistry. The foregoing sketch gives only an outline of the facili- ties for the higher scientific education which are provided in the Darmstadt Institute, the most recently equipped of the many German technical high schools. The attend- ance of students during the recent summer semester 1s given as follows :— Regular Occasional Departments. students. students. Total. Architecture = i 74. 13 87 Engineering and machine \ > g 2c] 3 288 construction ee | 2 37 ) Electro-technology si 307 23 330 Chemistry... rE a 89 13 102 General science 29 18 47 850 104 954 In the chemical department, 39 are returned as students in the electro-chemical section. The teaching staff for these 954 students might seem to us excessive. It consists of 27 ordinary and of 6 extraordinary professors, of 22 demonstrators or in- structors, and of 22 assistants, making a total of 77. The students’ fees vary from £8 to £12 a year, and the whole of the deficit on the cost of maintenance is defrayed by the State. PHILIP MAGNUS. A VISIT TO AN ENGLISH WOAD MILL. REFERENCE to any old gazetteer under the name Wisbech will show that this town was once an important centre of the English woad industry. It is not generally known, however, that woad is still grown and worked up in a few localities, and it was with some surprise that we learnt that the processes connected with the manufacture might be seen in operation at Parson Drove, near Wisbech, at the present time. There are said to be three other places where the plant is culti- vated and worked up for use by dyers—one near Boston and two near Holbeach, in Lincolnshire ; but at these centres the introduction of steam power has destroyed the primitive character of the manufacture. As an in- teresting survival of the past, the mill at Parson Drove is well worthy of a visit. NO. I411, VOL. 55] It is hardly to be expected that a feeble tinctorial substance, such as woad, can retain a permanent footing as an English product in view of the circumstance that it has to compete with indigo, as well as with its modern coal-tar substitutes. The thought that this old-time industry, like the potash-making in Essex,! is sooner or later destined to become extinct, has led us to place upon record the information which we gathered during a visit to the Parson Drove mill in July of this year. We may add that descriptions of this mill were given in the Gardeners’ Chronicle in 18817 and 1882; but, as we obtained later and more detailed statements on the spot, concerning the actual operations as now conducted, it may be of interest to chronicle the facts once again while it is still possible to get particulars from the woad- men at first hand. The leaves of the plant (/satzs tinctoria) are wrenched off at the base by the pickers, the root being left un- disturbed, so as to permit the growth of a second crop. The first process consists in crushing the leaves to a pulp under rollers. The latter, of which there are three at the Parson Drove mill, are hollow, slightly conical, wooden drums, with about two dozen iron cross-bars arranged round the circumference, these iron bars furnishing the effective crushing edges. The three rollers are geared to a long projecting horizontal pole, which is made to move round by means of a horse. The pulpy mass resulting from the crushing operation is. ‘then kneaded by hand into balls, about the size of cricket- balls, on a wooden stage, the balls, when made, being placed in three rows on wooden trays, which, as they are packed, are pushed up a sloping plank till high enough to go on to the head of a man who stands at the end to receive them. Each tray, as it is delivered, is carried to the drying sheds. The balls are allowed to dry in the air for about four weeks, and are for this purpose transferred from the trays to wooden gratings arranged in tiers in the roofed, open framework sheds, known locally as “ranges” (shown in the illustration). When dry, the balls are again ground up under the rollers, and the material then conveyed to the floor of another roofed -shed, where it is sprinkled with water, and allowed to ferment for a period of nine weeks. The shed in which this process goes on is known as the “couching-house.” The fermenting mass is constantly turned over by the workmen, and water added from time to time. We were told that the fermentation is at first very vigorous, the mass getting quite hot and steaming. At the end of the process in the couching-house the woad is ready for the market, and is simply packed tightly into wooden casks for sending away. The primitive character of the manufacture makes it not only of interest as a lingering survival of an ancient rural industry, but the antiquarian and lover of folk-lore may derive instruction from the mode of construction of the rough sheds, and from the technicalities used by the workmen. Thus the term ‘“couching” is used in a similar sense by maltsters, and is no doubt a Norman survival (Fr. Coucher) ; the sloping plank is called the “firm” (? form), and the tray on which the pulp is kneaded is known as the “balling-horse.” The balls were formerly dried on wattles, known as “fleaks,” a term apparently identical with the word still used for hurdles in Scotland ; but these are no longer used at Parson Drove. The central circular shed containing the rollers is built of wooden planks and posts, and thatched with a conical roof; the lateral couching-house is con- structed of thick turf walls, with the slabs arranged in a peculiar herring-bone form, and also roofed with thatch. 1 See a paper by Henry Laver in the Zssea Naturadist, vol. ix. p. 119. 2 The writer of this article acknowledges, as the source of his information, a recent paper in the Friends’ Quarterly Examiner. An interesting popular account of the mill appeared in Awst Judy's Annual yolume in 1883. NoveMBER 12, 1896] NATURE 37 The whole construction was evidently framed with a view to cheapness and simplicity, so.as to be easily removable. In the palmy days of the industry the sheds were not permanent erections, but were moved about from one place to another, so as to be near the crops. We content ourselves with recording the bare facts without comment or criticism. Any science that lurks behind this ancient manufacture has been found out empirically, and handed down by tradition from a remote past. The imaginative person may indulge his fancy by | carrying back the woad industry to that period when the early inhabitants of this country furnished that solitary scrap of personal information which is still the historical stock-in-trade of the average schoolboy. It may be well, however, to point out in this connection that Isatis tinctoria appears not to be a native of Britain.! We were told that in former times the woad-men Woad Mill at Parson Drove. Two ‘ balling-horses lifting one of the trays on which the balls are carried to the were limited to certain families, and that they had traditional chants of their own; but these are passing into oblivion, and we were unable to ascertain the words.” The object of drying the pulp first, and then wetting it again before allowing it to ferment, i is not at first sight obvious, nor could we learn why this practice has been found advantageous. The fermentation itself is no doubt 1 In the ‘Flora of the British Islands” (ed. 1870), Hooker says: ‘‘ The ancient Britons stained themselves with this plant; later the Saxons imported it.” Can it be that even at that remote period the British colour industry could not hold out against continental competition ? 2 A verse is recorded by Miss Peckover in the article in 4unt Judy's 1896'0. z= 146 54!) log g = 0°06722 NATURE [NoveMBER 12, 1Sgu Ephemerts for Berlin Midnight. 1896. , R.A. Deel. Log A. Br. ae m. Nov. 10... 20 9'6 +19 3 0°206 1'0 Te see ZOU 530 laces 16 12 219 bie) Mop eee ZO TBs} a LBA ee i eRe 10 2 ee LOGS i2 nes 1) 246 09 26) meen 09) 55°90 >. rasp do 259 o'9 Prof. Holden has also communicated elements calculated from observations made on November 2, 3, and 4. These are some- what different from those given above, but the computed posi- tion for November 18 is not far from that given in the above ephemeris, being R.A. 20h. 1°8s., Decl. 13° 57’. On the roth the comet was nearly in a straight line, joining 5 and y Sagittee, being about as far from + as 6 is, only on the opposite side. The motion in declination is in the direction of a'Aquila, near which star the comet will be found on the 26th. Tue Leonips.—In a preceding number of NATURE (vol. liv. p- 623), Mr. Denning gave full information for those wishing to observe this star shower with the naked eye, but, curiously enough, he did not mention the great advantage photography would afford us in obtaining a very accurate determination of the radiant point. One can quite understand that, by placing a small camera on a telescope equatorially mounted, and employ- ing a wide angle lens oriented towards the radiant point, a large space in the sky can be included on the plate sufficient to catch many of the streaks if they be at all numerous. The plates can be changed every thirty minutes or so. It was the intention of the writer of this note, some fourteen days ago, to adopt this principle, and he has already been able to get the necessary apparatus ready. The use of a wide angle lens necessitates that, if an equatorial be used, the camera must be placed at the extreme end (object-glass end) of the telescope, otherwise the opening in the shutters will cut off some of the field, and in con- sequence neutralise to some extent the value of the wide angle. This was found to be so ; but, by the kindness of Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, a siderostat was placed at his disposal. The instru- ment not having yet been set up since its return from the eclipse expedition, it was erected temporarily ina good position open towards the eastward. Captain Abney has very generously lent a Cooke’s lens, invented by Mr. Dennis Taylor, giving a field of about 75° and of about five inches focal length, so that only now fine weather is required. It may be mentioned that the current (November) number of The Observatory contains an interesting article by Dr. Johnstone Stoney on the ‘* Leonids,” in which he quotes an extract from a letter received from General Tennant, who advises practically the same method described above. The appendix to this article contains a reference to the literature on the subject of the Leonids, from which we make the following summary. Prof. H. A. Newton, Sz//iman’s Journad, 1864, vols. xxxvii. and xxxviil. pp. 377 and 53 respectively. Prof. Adams, Comptes vendus, March 25, 1867, p. 651, and Monthly Notices R.A.S., April 1867, p. 247. Signor Schiaparelli, Les Jondes, December 1866, and beginning of 1867. English outline of Schiaparelli's work, by Prof. Newton, Phzlosophical Magazine for July 1867, p. 34. M. Le Verrier, Com/tes rendus, January 21, 1867, p- 94. Dr. Johnstone Stoney, AZonthly Notices R.A. Se June 1867, p. 271, and Philosophical Magazine, September 1867, p. 188. Sunspots, COMETS, AND CLIMATE VARIATIONS. —A problem of considerable interest is suggested by the paper which Herrn Johannes Unterweger contributes to vol. Ixiv. of the Devk- schriften der Math. Natur. Wissen. Classe der Kats. Akad. der Wess. of Vienna. The pamphlet, which has been printed separately, is entitled, ‘*‘ Ueber zwei Trigonometrische Reihen fiir Sonnenflecken, Kometen und Klimatschwankungen,” and contains a preliminary statement of the investigation in question. The main result of the work is that there seems to be found a striking similarity between the variations of a certain function obtained from periodic comets near perihelion and the curves illustrating sunspot and climate variations. This function is obtained from a formula (see Denxkschriften Kats. Akad. Ween., vol. lix.) that he has previously published, which gives a relationship between the function and the inclinations and perihelion distances of well-observed periodic comets. The comets dealt with are divided into two groups, according as their perihelia he to the north or south of the solar equator, and the NO. I411, VOL. 55| mean of those which pass through their perihelia during each year is taken. The author then finds two trigonometrical series which represent the periods of both sunspot frequency and the variations of this cometary function, the former of which includes a secular variation of about 70 years, while the latter indicates a 35-year variation corresponding with that due to climate varia- tions. In the curves shown, Herrn Unterweger indicates a variation in the minima as well as in the maxima in the case of the calculated frequency of sunspots, the former of which does not really occur as observation shows. The investigation is, however, full of interest, and perhaps the more detailed dis- cussion which he promises will throw more light on this question. THE EXPLOSIVE PROPERTIES OF ACETYLENE. N view of attempts to extend the use of acetylene as an illuminant, the disastrous explosion in Paris, to which refer- ence was made in our issue of October 22, has created a good deal of anxiety in this country. In this connection it may interest our readers to have a further account of the memoir on the explosive properties of acetylene recently presented to the French Academy by MM. Berthelot and Vieille (see NATURE, vol. liv. p. 591). The authors state that in acetylene at ordinary pressures neither an electric spark, nor a flame, nor an explosion of fulminate will cause more than a local dissociation of the gas (a fact already established by Prof. H. B. Dixon), but that if the gas be compressed beyond two atmospheres, the dissociation, once started, is propagated without sensible diminution through- out the whole mass of gas. In this way dissociation of the gas was effected in a tube 20 millimetres in diameter and 4 metres long. The acetylene splits up into pure hydrogen and a friable mass of carbon, which forms a cast of the containing vessel, and can be withdrawn intact. At a pressure of 20 atmospheres, which is about half the tension of the saturated vapour of liquid acetylene at 20°C., the explosion develops a tenfold pressure, but the rate of propagation is much below that of true explosive wave of sucha mixture as electrolytic gas. The temperature due to the explosion at this pressure is calculated to be 2750° C. As the violence of the explosion increases with increasing initial compression, it was to be expected that liquid acetylene would exhibit the character of a ‘“‘high” explosive. This MM. Berthelot and Vieille have shown to be the case. Eighteen grammes of liquid acetylene exploded in a steel bomb of 49 c.c. capacity by a hot wire developed a pressure of 5564 kilogrammes per square centimetre. This corresponds to an explosion pres- sure for the liquid alone of about 9500 atmospheres—a value approaching that of guncotton. The decomposition of liquid acetylene by simple ignition is relatively slow, and appears to take place in two stages, one corresponding to the decomposition of the gas, the other that of the liquid. In an experiment where the liquid occupied ‘15 of the containing vessel, a maximum pressure of 1500 kilogrammes per square centimetre was re- corded. Experiments were made to determine whether the compressed gas or liquid could be exploded by mechanical shock. The results were, strictly speaking, negative. Neither by fall, nor crushing with a ram, nor by the impact of a bullet which pierced the containing cylinder, was the acetylene exploded. In the case of liquid acetylene, an explosion followed the shock after a short interval, but this was shown to be due to the ignition of the escaping gas, after admixture with air, by a spark from the breaking metal. A small charge of fulminate of mercury fired in the middle ofa cylinder of liquid acetylene detonated the liquid, and shattered the cylinder in the manner of a true explosive. The authors describe the conditions under which danger may arise by casual elevation of temperature during the manipulation of acetylene. In the first place they note that in generating acetylene by the action of a small quantity of water or excess of calcium carbide in a closed vessel, the carbide may become in- candescent and lead to the detonation of the gas. At least one accident due to this cause has already been recorded. Sudden compression of the gas in filling cylinders, or in admitting it into a reducing valve, may likewise raise the temperature to the point of danger. A sharp mechanical shock breaking the containing vessel may cause sparks capable of firing the explosive mixture formed by the escaping gas with the external air. In conclusion MM. Berthelot and Vieille express their opinion NoveMBER 12, 1896] NATURE 43 that the dangers of acetylene are not such as to outweigh its ad- vantages as an illuminant. They add that by simple precautions, such as the slow transference of the compressed gas from vessel to vessel, and the careful cooling of the vessels in which the gas is being compressed, the dangers which they have explained may be easily avoided. The comfort afforded by these concluding remarks is some- what abated by the fact that the explosion at M. Pictet’s factory was subsequent to the publication of MM. Berthelot and Vieille’s memoir. There is no occasion for panic, but the matter evi- dently demands the most careful attention from the authorities in this as well as in other countries. A. SMITHELLS. THE PRINCETON SESQUICENTENNIAL. ‘THE celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Princeton University, held October 20-22, was doubtless, in some respects, the most brilliant and impressive academic event in all American history. Certainly no other celebration can be compared with it than the Harvard Quarter Millennial of 1888. Most of the leading universities, and many of the smaller universities of America, sent their president ; Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Chicago, Johns Hop- kins, Pennsylvania, and Toronto were thus represented. Of the great universities in the United States, Yale alone sent a > delegate other than the President, who is now abroad. The visiting delegates from Europe delivered a series of lectures the week before the anniversary exercises. Prof. Edward Dowden, of Dublin, gave six lectures on ‘* The French Revolution and English Literature”; Prof. Felix Klein, of Gottingen, gave four lectures on ‘‘ The Mathematical Theory of the Top”; Prof. J. J. Thomson, of Cambridge, four on “‘The Discharge of Electricity in Gases” ; Prof. Andrew Seth, of Edinburgh, gave two on ‘‘ Theism”; and single lectures were delivered by Prof. Carl Brugmann, of Leipzig, on ‘‘ The Nature and Origin of the Noun Genders in the Indogermanic Languages”; and Prof. A. A. W. Hubrecht, of Utrecht, on ‘The Descent of the Primates.” Among other foreign dele- gates were Prof. Henri Moissan, of Paris, Demetrius Botassi, of Athens, and Goldwin Smith, late of Oxford. Among the proceedings was the unveiling of a table in Nassau Hall, commemorative of the change of name of the University from that of the ‘‘ College of New Jersey,” which has always been its official designation, to ‘‘ Princeton Univer- sity,”’ which has already long been its popular designation. Gifts, amounting to 1,350,000 dollars, have been contributed in honour of the Sesquicentennial, and to mark the change in the Institution’s title. The honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon the following delegates, among others :—Wilhelm D6rpfeld, First Secretary of the German Archeological Institute, Athens, Greece; A. A. W. Hubrecht, Professor of Zoology in. the University of Utrecht; Felix Klein, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Gottingen; Henri Moissan, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Paris, and Member of the French Academy of Sciences; Edward Baynall Poulton, Hope Professor of Zoology in the University of Oxford ; Joseph John Thomson, Cavendish Professor of Physics in the University of Cambridge; J. Willard Gibbs, Pro- fessor of Mathematical Physics in Yale University, New Haven, Ct.; Daniel Coit Gilman, President of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. ; George Lincoln Goodale, Fisher Professor of Natural History, and Director of the Botanical Garden in Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. ; George William Ilill, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society, West Nyack, N.Y. ; William James, Professor of Psychology in Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. ; Joseph LeConte, Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of California, and President of the American Geological Society, Berkeley, California; John W. Mallet, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Virginia, Char- lottesville, Virginia; Silas Weir Mitchell, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Simon Newcomb, Nautical Almanac, Navy Department, Washington, D.C. ; William Peterson, Principal ‘of McGill University, and Professor of Classics, Montreal, Canada ; Ira Remsen, Professor of Chemistry, and Director of the Chemical NO. I41I, VOL. 55| Laboratory in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. ; Henry A. Rowland, Professor of Physics, and Director of the Physical Laboratory in the Johns Hopkins University. The degree was also conferred upon Lord Kelvin and Prof. Otto Struve 77 absentia. One of the most pleasing and hopeful features of the Princeton celebration was the note of peace and good will to all mankind, which such international gatherings powerfully pro- mote. The first sentiment which called out applause was the hope expressed by President Patton in his opening sermon, that the peace and harmony now happily existing between the two great English-speaking nations might henceforth nevermore be broken ; and when in the afternoon of the same day Prof. Thomson, of Cambridge, at the reception of delegates, said that he was glad the revolutionary war had resulted in inde- pendence of the United States, as he considered that the best solution of the question, and that England, as well as America, now rejoiced in this outcome of the struggle, the applause was unstinted. Wn. H. HALe. THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE GATTY MARINE LABORATORY, UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS. THE formal opening of the Gatty Marine Laboratory, the general arrangement of which has been already described in NATuRE, took place on Friday, October 30, by Lord Reay, a former Rector of the University, in the presence of the Principal and Professors, the representatives of various scientific societies, universities, and colleges, and a distinguished company. In his address Lord Reay paid a tribute to Dr. Gatty for his discriminating generosity. He observed that in countries such as France money was more readily forthcoming for science. He spoke in warm praise of the labours of the late Lord Dal- housie in the cause of the fisheries, and pointed out how im- portant scientific knowledge was in regard to fisheries legislation. Moreover, that whatever revelations science has in store for us cannot be evaded. He was inclined to think that a few central institutions thoroughly well equipped, were better than many incomplete and inefficient schools. The work in the Gatty Marine Laboratory would be of a purely scientific character, but it would be of the utmost value to all who were interested in the prosperity of our fisheries. A glance at the papers published since the opening of the old Laboratory in 1884, showed how essential their contents were for those who wish to protect our fisheries, and who often attempt it in the wrong way. He drew attention to the unique position of the University in regard to the study of marine biology. Prof. Sir William Flower then followed, and he traced the growth of the study of marine animals during the last fifty years. In former days the zoologist had to depend on the rock-pools, or specimens stranded by storms, or had to work on board ship. Especially he pointed out the development of aquaria from their simplest form to the present great tanks. He then adverted to the growth of zoological stations over the world, and considered that St. Andrews, by its work, had come to be a centre for the study of problems connected with the fisheries. Its laboratory was the first that was fairly established in the 3ritish Isles; and while he knew that Edinburgh was often called the Athens of the North, he would now say that St. Andrews had many claims to be called the Naples of the North. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts then presented the following gentlemen for the degree of LL.D. :—Prof. Sir William Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S_ ; Rev. Dr. Henry B. Tristram, F.R.S. ; Prof. Michael Foster, Sec.R.S.; and Prof. Gustave Gilson, Louvain. Dr. C. H. Gatty then expressed his gratification at the interest taken in the new Laboratory, and handed to Lord Reay a silver key wherewith to open the door. ett Prof. McIntosh, on behalf of the University and the scientific workers, conveyed their thanks to Dr. Gatty for his munificent gift. Thereafter the Laboratory was inspected by the company. In addition to the living animals in the tanks, the walls of the lobby were hung with coloured drawings of marine animals—enlarged to various degrees, and many beautifully and softly painted—all by the late Mrs. Giinther. These drawings consisted almost entirely of cepresentations of living forms from St. Andrews 44 NATURE | NovEMBER 12, 1896 Bay, coloured from life. A few were also hung in each room. In the tank-room were various nets (surface, large mid-water and bottom), circular flounder-nets, mussel and other dredges, mussel and cockle implements, Italian eel-spear, hand-nets, scoops, water-telescope, thermometers (surface, deep-sea, and open-air), sieves, and various models of trawls, crab pots, &c. In the Director's room were the multitudes of preparations connected with the life-histories of the, food fishes, rare pelagic forms, such as the larval Polygordius, Mitraria, Tornaria, and the wonderful larva of Zzdza. In the specimen-room were the type-series of the pelagic fauna of the Bay from January to December, an extensive collection of pelagic ova of fishes from various parts of the eastern and western shores of Scotland, a series of preparations connected with the life-history of the salmon, a reference-collection of invertebrates, including an in- teresting series of the mussels of the Eden, oysters from the Forth and from Whitstable, a series of fishes, and other preparations. THE INSTI1UTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. @* the evenings of Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the 4th and 5th inst., an ordinary general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was held in London, the theatre of the Institution of Civil Engineers having been lent for the purpose. The President, Mr. E. Windsor Richards, occupied the chair on both evenings. There were three papers set down for reading, as follows :— “* Research Committee on the Value of the Steam-Jacket ; | Experiment on a Locomotive Engine,” by Prof. T. Hudson Beare and Mr. Bryan Donkin. “Transmission of Heat from Surface Condensation through Metal Cylinders,” by Lieut.-Colonel English and Mr. Bryan Donkin. “Breakdowns of Stationary Steam-Engines,” by Mr. Michael | Longridge, of Manchester. The two first papers were taken on Wednesday, Thursday evening being devoted to Mr, Longridge’s memoir. The Research Committee on the Value of the Steam-Jacket has been in existence for a long time now, and has proved one of the least, if not actually the least satisfactory of all the research committees constituted by the Council of the Institution. Most of these committees have done admirable work, and added largely to the stock of professional knowledge and accumulated data which engineers have todraw. Steam-jacketing is perhaps the most abstruse question which has been made the subject of an inquiry, comprising, as it does, problems extending beyond engineering proper far into the province of physical science. Nevertheless, in the present day of enlightenment, with the professor so widely abroad, more ought to have been done than has been done by this committee. It would be difficult to select an engine more unfitted for making an_ inquiry upon as to the value of the steam-jacket than an ordinary locomotive. Its rapid piston speed—or, rather, the high rate of turning—alone is sufficient to render it unsuitable for this inquiry ; but, in any case, a locomotive is the most difficult engine from which to obtain experimental data. It is an athletic feat of no mean order to take even indicator diagrams, when one has to hang on to the side of an engine travelling at a speed varying from anything up to sixty, or perhaps eighty miles an hour. Then a locomotive, even with constant train load—a condition which can hardly be ensured in ordinary work—is seldom for five minutes at a time exerting the same power, owing to varying gradient, state of the rails, and force or direction of wind—the latter a most important consideration. Steam may be shut completely off when descending asteep bank, or the regulator may be full open and link in the last notch under exactly opposite conditions. Between these two states we have all grades of linking-up, an operation which so affects the distribution of steam—compression, expansion, &c.—that one would think the steam-jacket would finally give its job up in disgust from fair despair of knowing what it should do. The result of all this is shown in the report, which possesses the merit of being absolutely honest and straightforward. Four trial runs were made between Manchester and York during ordinary working, with its attendant stoppages and delays. The Steam-jacket fitted was of a temporary nature, and the method of testing was to make one run each way with the jackets in NO. I411, VOL. 55] steam, and a like number of runs with the jackets empty. Coal was weighed and feed-water measured by a Siemens’ meter. Mr. Michael Longridge drew off samples of chimney gases for analysis. Jacket-water was also drawn off and measured. Speed was taken by a Boyer recorder, and the revolutions assumed from its records. In spite of the fact that we know nothing niore about the value of the steam-jacket than we did before the experiments were made, the trials added, as a by-product, something to the know- ledge of railway engineers on the performance of the locomotive ; but, in any case, the thanks of the Institution are due to the authors of the paper for their disinterested labours. The second paper was a complement to the first ; for the rate of transmission of heat to and through metal is the chier thing necessary to be known for determining the value or steam-jacketing of engine cylinders. The problem is a vexed one, and no inquiry yet made has taken us beyond its threshold. The authors have attacked the subject by an en- deavour to ascertain the actual temperature in the interior of the metal, and by observing the exact appearance of the film of water deposited, and, further, by determining whether such a phenomenon as cloudy steam really exists. Their apparatus consisted of a strong vertical glass cylinder about 52 inches in diameter and 2} inches high. Inside this was placed a metallic cylinder. The annular space between the glass cylinder and the enclosed metallic cylinder was filled with steam, whilst through the interior of the metal cylinder an ascending stream of cooling water was made to circulate. In order to deter- mine the thermal gradients in the metal, when its thickness allowed of so doing, the temperatures of the interior were taken in vertical holes 1/8 or 1/16 of an inch in diameter, drilled at different distances from the condensing surfaces, and filled with mercury, into which slender thermometers were inserted. Illustrations of the apparatus were hung on the walls of the theatre, and will be reproduced in the published volume of the Zyansactzons of the Institution. The pressure of steam, volume and temperature, of circulating water, and other trial conditions were controlled by suitable apparatus. The first result arrived at was that the authors consider it was not possible to trace the slightest appearance of cloudiness or mist, or of water suspended in the body of the condensing steam. The water of condensation was deposited on the surfaces. A reproduction was given of a photograph of the film of water on the surface of smooth cast-iron as it appeared through the glass cylinder, the steam pressure being 20 Ibs. per square inch, and the rate of condensation somewhat slow. The velocity of circulating water varied between 0°032 and 0°415 feet per second. The different metallic cylinders tried | were made from cast-iron with both rough and smooth surfaces 11/32 and 31/32 of an inch thick,-:copper, and brass with smooth surfaces 2/32 of an inch thick, and smooth steel 1/32 and 10/32 of an inch thick. The rate of heat transmission was found by observing the rise of temperature in a known quantity of circulating water, and by noting the weight of steam condensed. Corrections were made to allow of accidental losses. Without publishing the diagrams on which the results of the experiments were plotted, it would be impossible to give details of the observed results unless we printed the voluminous tables attached to the papers. The greatest quantity of heat transmitted per second was about thirty-five thermal units, and the least seven thermal units per square foot of internal surface of cylinder. The authors consider that the film of water deposited by condensation, and adherent to a metallic surface, resists the transmission of heat in exactly the same way as an equivalent greater thickness of metal would do. The thick- ness of the water films, as determined by the difference of temperature, is less on a smooth surface of cast-iron than ona rough one, and is apparently not affected by the admission of steam-jets to sweep the surfaces. There is, the paper says, no apparent difference in the resistance to transmission of heat between the surface-layer of metal and the next to it; or, in other words, there is no drop in temperature on entering or leaving the metal. The thermal gradient at any point in the metal would be uniform in a flat plate, and becomes steeper towards the interior of a hollow cylinder as the circumference diminishes. At any point on the surface of the metal next to the circulating water, the temperature, owing to an adherent film in which the thermal gradient exists, is much in excess of the mean temperature of the circulating water at the same point. In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, NoveMBER 12, 1896] NA TLORE 45 Mr. Longridge said that the observed result of the steam being not cloudy, all the moisture being concentrated in a film on the walls of the cylinder, would materially affect the condi- tions involved in passing steam from a jacket to a cylinder, as the steam would not carry condensed water with it. Mr. Halpin questioned the fact of there being no additional resist- ance to the transmission of heat owing to multiplication of surfaces. The authors’ statements on this point are opposed to the opinions held by many engineers ; and even if they are right | in regard to areas absolutely in metallic contact—like floating surface plates—those perfect conditions are not present in practical engineering work. The second evening of the meeting was devoted entirely to Mr. Longridge’s paper ; a most useful contribution to the 7razs- actions of the Institution, although not very easy to follow without the aid of illustrations. The paper dealt with 1000 break-downs of factory engines which had come before the author's notice. These Mr. Longridge had analysed and classified in order to show which parts of the engines gave way first, and as far as possible the causes of failure were stated. In some instances the author suggested steps which should be taken to avoid similar mischances in the future. The thousand break- downs were divided into 23 groups, and these were again sub- divided into divisions. Thus there were 213 accidents due to the giving way of ‘‘valves and valve gear,” and in these were included the giving way of 46 valve spindles, 24 eccentric straps, 3 rocking shafts and levers, 21 nuts, cotters, and pins, 18 eccentric rods, 17 slide valves, besides other parts of valve gear in lesser proportions. It is notable, considering how much dread some millowners have of the “clattering Corliss gear,” that only seven accidents are chronicled against this method of steam distribution, especially when one remembers how largely it is now used in Mr. Longridge’s district of Lancashire. Valve spindles break when screwed, and this fact leads the author very properly to exclaim against the use of V-threads. Gas threads, he says, are better ; and round threads best of all. The sharp V-thread is like the commencement of a tear. Next to valve gear “‘spur wheels” come on the list, with a total of 124 accidents. Mr. Longridge only includes wheels on the crank shaft ; if he had taken second-motion shafts, the total would have been incomparably greater. Back-lash is the most fruitful source of mishap with toothed wheels, and a most fruitful source of back-lash is placing spur gearing and rope or belt pulleys on the same shaft, when the second motion shaft is apt to overrun the main shaft. Uniform load, a heavy fly-wheel, and slow speed of ropes, are points that need to be observed in such cases. Vibration is also a frequent cause of accident with spur gearing. Machine-moulded teeth are best, and it is desirable to carry the toothed quadrants on the arms of the fly-wheel rather than have teeth on its periphery. Air-pump motions are next ; they caused 121 breakdowns. The chief heading in this division is ** weak- ness, wear and tear, or neglect” ; causes which speak for them- selves. Air-pump buckets and valves were responsible for eighty-eight out of the thousand accidents. These mishaps were mostly due to the giving way of parts, foot-valves being the chief delinquents. In reference to accidents through broken packing rings in buckets, the author said he would as soon have plain buckets, packing rings being ‘“‘expensive, dangerous, and entirely use- less,” One speaker, Mr. Saxon, who himself has had consider- able experience with mill engines in the same district, agreed with the author in regard to low lifts, but if a high lift were required, he considered packing necessary. ‘‘ Columns, entablatures, bedplates, and pedestals” accounted for eighty-six break-downs. The settlement of foundations is the most frequent cause in this division, and the author warns engineers against setting-up holding-down bolts in columns when the masonry settles, as this naturally brings undue stresses upon the structure of the engine. The difficulty is that engineers very often do not recognise that the masonry foundations are settling when a column becomes loose on its seating. The chief cause of the decay of foundations appears to be the deterioration of stones, and cement or mortar by oil getting to them. One speaker during the discussion—Mr. Rounthwaite, a marine engineer— asked why the designers of mill engines were so fond of brick- work, and suggested that it would be preferable if very deep _ cast-iron bedplates were used so as to reduce the masonry required. The author said that the gradual spread of the vertical or inverted type of engine facilitated the use of deeper metal bedplates. The horizontal engine had held its position NO. 1411, VOL. 55] so firmly because it gavea long stroke, but with the speeding up of mill machinery, characteristic of modern practice, a higher rate of revolutions was required, and this made _ shorter stroke engines preferable, so that the vertical type was gaining ground. Main shafts were the cause of forty-nine accidents, some of them the most interesting of the Series. By far the greater number of shafts that broke down’ gave way through wear and tear. One veteran made 176 million revolutions before being taken out, owing to a mysterious grooving under an eccentric sheave. A Whitworth fluid-compressed steel shaft gave poor results, running only 614 revolutions, and giving way under the low stress of 4600 lbs. per square inch. This single case, however, will not be sufficient to destroy the high reputation of Whitworth shafts. Connecting rods, of which forty-one gave way, break almost invariably in the connections, gibs cotters, open-ended straps or bolts giving way ; one instance of a body failure, through an imperfect weld, alone being recorded, although there were six failures of forked ends. Cylinders and valve chests, with which there were thirty-five accidents, mostly break on flat surfaces, covers, or doors; the presence of water being the chief cause. Parallel motions account for thirty-five breakages, mostly in eye shafts. Governors supplied twenty-eight accidents to the list, and piston-rods twenty-seven ; cotter-holes being again the weak point. The author very rightly warns designers against abrupt changes of section in piston-rods, for though the average draughtsman appears to be quite alive to this evil in regard to castings, yet he often appears to think it produces no bad effect where the effects of unequal cooling are not to be anticipated. Piston-rod crop-heads afford twenty-seven examples of break- downs, mostly from “‘ wear and tear” ; the giving way of pistons supplies an equal number of mishaps, whilst the breaking of links contributes twenty-one accidents towards the total. Nineteen break-downs of fly-wheels are recorded, the chief cause being internal stress—due presumably to ill-proportioned castings—whilst eight bosses were cracked, five by driving keys too hard. The author made some pertinent remarks on the question of keying fly-wheels on to shafts, describing the Lancashire method of ‘‘staking,” which is the best plan for giving a true running and rigidly secured wheel without strain- ing the boss. Mr. Holroyd Smith, in the discussion, sketched an improved form of key which appeared to be designed on sound principles. Air-pumps and condensers gave way thirteen times, gudgeons in beams twelve times, and cranks twelve times. Of the latter eleven were of cast-iron, so there is not much need to comment upon them. Eleven crank-pins broke ; in one case a Whitworth steel pin gave way through the skin being injured by shrinking in the crark web. The tear being started, failure was but the result of time. There were only six instances of broken engine beams. One the author attributes simply to fatigue. The engine was made in 1847 and worked until 1892, when some fine cracks were noticed near the middle of the beam, which was of cast-iron. These cracks developed, extended, and joined up, so that the beam was condemned. Prof. Hudson Beare joined issue with the author on the pro- priety of attributing the failure of this beam to fatigue. He said that once the original crack was set up, the beam was ina less advantageous position to bear the load put upon it, so that the crack would be further developed until it finally succumbed. The remaining causes of accident were failures of slide-bars five, and of ropes three; whilst an ‘‘entire smash,” no cause ascertained, completes the roll of a thousand break-downs. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—The following science teachers in the Uni- versity were, on November 7, elected members of the Council of the Senate: Alex Hill, M.D., Master of Downing, and University Lecturer in Advanced Anatomy ; R. T. Glazebrook, F.R.S., Assistant Director of the Cavendish Laboratory ; and A. E. Shipley, University Lecturer in the Morphology of Verte- brates, and Secretary of the Museums Syndicate. Dr. R. C. Jebb, M.P., and Dr. J. N. Keynes, Secretary of the Local Examinations Syndicate, were also among the successful candidates. The Professorship of Surgery has been again suspended until the first day of next term, to give time for the further considera- tion’ of the stipend and conditions of tenure. It appears 46 INGA RAE [ NovEMBER 12, 1896 probable that an effort will be made to obtain at once the full stipend of £500. F Dr. J. T. Bottomley, F.R.S., has been appointed an Examiner in Physics, and Mr. L. Fletcher, F.R.S., an Examiner in Mineralogy, for the Natural Sciences Tripos. At St. John’s College, the following awards in natural science, for candidates not yet in residence, were made on November 9 : O. May, Tollington Park College, and G, A. Ticehurst, Ton- bridge School, Foundation Scholarships of £70 a year; L. Lewton-Brain, Firth College, Sheffield, Foundation Scholarship of £50 a year; L. Miall, Yorkshire College, Leeds, Minor Scholarship of £50 a year; A.J. Harding, Christ’s College, Brecon, Johnson Exhibition. Prof. A. C. Haddon, of the Royal College of Science, Dublin, has been approved for the degree of Doctor of Science. We regret to announce the death, at Naples, on November 8, of Mr, J. E. Gray, of King’s College, Harkness Scholar, who had just been appointed to occupy the University’s table in the Zoological Station under Dr. Dohrn. At St. John’s College, the subjects included in the examina- tions for Entrance Scholarships and Exhibitions in Natural Sciences. held in and after 1897 will be Chemistry, Physics, Zoology, Botany, Physiology and Physical Geography. Copies of the new scheme showing the scope of the examination in Chemistry, Physics, Botany and Physical Geography, and including specimen papers in Zoology and Physiology, may be obtained on application to any of the Tutors—Dr. Sandys, Dr. Donald MacAlister, or the Rev. C. E. Graves. THE East Riding County Council have decided to devote £2000 of the grant received under the Local Taxation Act, 1890, to the relief of the rates. We looked for better things from York- shire. The action affords another argument in favour of a Bill for securing the whole of the ‘‘ whisky money ”’ to education. DONATIONS amounting to about four million dollars have recently been conferred on, or promised to, the University of California; the largest gifts being from Mrs. Phebe Hearst, widow of the millionaire Senator. The money is to be paid after the State has expended half a million dollars in erecting new buildings. Mrs. Hearst has sent a note to the trustees, enclosing 15,000 dols. to be used in securing plans for the build- ings. The architects of all nations will be invited to compete and to submit plans for a group of buildings of similar design, which will surpass anything of the kind in the world. Mrs. Hearst stated that she would erect two buildings at her own expense, one of which would be a memorial to her late husband. WHEN it was decided to do something for technical education, six years ago, no worse blunder was ever committed than that of entrusting to newly-created Technical Education Committees the whole of the funds arising from the Customs and Excise dues, instead of allocating a definite proportion of the money to the already existing University Colleges, and for scientific investiga- tion. The result of the neglect is that several of the University Colleges are continually in need of funds, and their development is checked on all sides by the ogre of expense, while Technical Education Committees in different parts of the country have a difficulty in spending the moneys under their control. The University College at Bristol is an example of an institution which has suffered, rather than profited by the Local Taxation Act of 1890. The Calendar shows that complete instruction for the London University degrees in science, art, and medicine, can be obtained at the college ; and systematic instruction is given in those branches of applied science which are more nearly connected with the artsand manufactures. The results obtained, and the constitution of the professoriate, are sufficient evidence of the thoroughness of the instruction given; yet the college has practically no endowment—a paltry £75 a year, and that derived from a fund started by the students, and called ‘‘ The Students’ Endowment Fund.” The other sources of income are: £1200 from the Government, £500 from the Bristol Town Council (for the maintenance of ten free students), £100 from the Company of Clothworkers, a few odd amounts, and the balance from students’ fees. The income from annual subscriptions amounts to about £600. It is hardly necessary to say that the college cannot be kept going on such a small budget. Last year the accounts showed an adverse balance of £950, and a total indebtedness of more than £6000, part of which is due to a decrease of the Sustentation Fund, while the rest has been spent in building. An appeal for £10,000 was made in the early summer, and £8044 has been collected, £2000 of this NO. I4II, VOL. 55 | being contributed by the Bristol Town Council, on condition that it should be used in the building of an engineering wing, which has now been completed, and was opened last week. There still remains £2000 to be collected if the college is to be kept out of debt ; and we trust that some of the rich merchants in Bristol will subscribe this amount in recognition of the valuable work done, and of the high reputation the college has earned. If any of the great Livery Companies of London are look- ing for a worthy object to take under their fostering care, as the Drapers’ Company have taken the University College at Cardiff, | we commend to their attention the University College at Bristol. Two or three weeks ago the Home Secretary held out hopes that there would be an increase of the grant which the State now gives to University Colleges ; and this assistance, when it arrives, should place the college at Bristol in a more satisfactory position, though it will not do everything. Never has it been more necessary than now that the various professions and industries should receive the benefits of special scientific education. To let institutions where sound secondary and university education can be obtained be perpetually struggling for existence is, there- fore, to neglect one of the most, if not the most, important branch of our educational system. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, vol. iii. No. 1.—The number opens with an account of the third summer meeting of the Society, which was held in the week after the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in deference to the desire expressed by that body. The titles ofthe papers read, and abstracts of them follow. We give the ensuing abstract of Prof. J. McMahon’s paper on the hypo- thesis of the successive transmission of gravity, and the possible perturbative effect on the earth’s orbit. Suppose that the sun is moving in a straight line with velocity #, and that the whole system shares this translatory motion. Suppose, also, that the gravitational influence issues continually from the sun in waves that move outward with velocity w (perhaps equal to the velocity of light), and that when any wave reaches the earth the latter is attracted towards the wave-centre or point of space from which the wave issued. This effective centre of acceleration is at a distance from the sun, which varies between the limits 4a (1 —e) and a (1 + e) where / is the ratio of z to 7, a is the semi-axis major and ¢ the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit. Then the orbit of the earth relatively to the sun is that which would be due to a centre of force that performs small oscillations about its mean position. The law of this oscillatory motion was determined, and the equations of acceleration of the earth in its orbit, along and perpendicular to the radius vector, were corrected for this small disturbance. Appropriate solutions of the resulting dif- ferential equations were given as far as terms in Ze, The most important perturbative terms were examined, and their effect on the orbit determined.—‘‘ Celestial Mechanics” is a review, in Prof. E. W. Brown’s exhaustive style, of astronomical papers prepared for the use of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac (vols. v., vi., vii. ; Washington, 1894~5).—Especial attention is directed to a result obtained in a memoir by Prof. Newcomb. ‘‘If the coefficients in the time in the argu- ments and of the periodic terms in Delaunay’s results were all expressed in terms of L, G, H, a’, e’, the perturbations due to the indirect actions of the planets would be obtained by merely in- serting the variable instead of the constant values of a’, e’.” Prof. Newcomb remarks that this curious theorem may embody some principle applicable to the disturbed motion of three bodies which has not yet been fully mastered. It seems probable, in Prof. Brown’s opinion, from the way in which the result has been obtained, that it is a direct consequence of the use of canonical equations, and of the form in which the time appears in the result. The notes are very full, as also is the list of new publications. Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 10.— Measurement of low temperatures, by L. Holborn and W. Wien. Baths of pure liquid oxygen are very constant, and may be used for maintaining a temperature of —182°C. Liquid air changes from — 189*1" to — 184°8° in half an hour, owing to the evaporation of the nitrogen. Oxygen with 7°6 per cent. nitrogen boils at —183°2° under atmospheric pressure. Higher tem- peratures may be maintained by melting ethylbromide ( — 129°5°), ether (—117°6°), carbon bisulphide (—112°8°), methyl formate (—107°5°), toluol (-102°0), and ammonia (-78:8°).—Tem- NovEMBER 12, 1896] NARORE 47 peratures inside vacuum tubes, by Rk. W. Wood. These are measured by a platinum spiral acting as a bolometer. At an internal pressure of 0°3 mm, the rise of temperature ranged from 13° to 25°7° C. as the current varied from o*0015 to 070036 amperes. At greater pressures the variation for the same current was higher. The author measured the tempera- tures of the bright and dark spaces by mounting the spiral on a glass arm penetrating into a Torricellian vacuum, and passing down through the mercury and up through the tank. This arm could be shifted up and down without interfering with the vacuum. In every case, the bright spaces were a few degrees hotter than the dark ones.—Electrostatic deflection of kathode rays, by G. Jaumann. When a quiet line of light is produced in a vacuum tube by a feeble current, it may be temporarily deflected by moving a rubbed glass or ebonite rod in its neigh- bourhood. The author used an influence machine driven by an electric motor as a generator, and immersed a pear-shaped tube in oil, with the anode outside in the liquid, and not fused into the glass. A spot anda ring are produced opposite the kathode, and the former is deflected as described. As soonas the motion of the electrified body ceases, the spot returns to its first posi- tion, after a few oscillations. This phenonemonis quite distinct from the permanent deflection produced by neighbouring con- ductors. —A simple method of separating alternating discharges in vacuum tubes, by R. Hildebrand. Describes various arrange- ments of tinfoil and other conductors producing permanent deflection and curvature of kathode rays, such as are usually produced by magnets. Also confirms Jaumann’s observations of temporary deflections by electrified rods, but uses an induction coil as a source.—The foundations of electrodynamics, by E. Wiechert. Introduces the conception of a rotor as representing the magnetic displacement instead of a vector, and proves its utility in explaining Rontgen and aberration phenomena.— Some properties of Rontgen rays, by A. Winkelmann and R. Straubel. Attempts to discover refraction by prisms of iron, copper, zinc, silver, lead, and platinum failed. The re‘ractive index of iron for X-rays does not differ more than 0°00005 from unity, and is smaller, if anything. Exposures for shadowgraphs may be considerably lessened by placing the sensitive plate face downwards upon a plate of fluorspar.—Wave-length of Rontgen rays, by L. Fomm. A diffraction experiment gave 0000014 mm. as the upper limit of the wave-length. This is about fifteen times smaller than the smallest ultra-violet wave-lengths hitherto measured. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Entomological Society, October 21.—Prof. Raphael Meldola, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. J. J. Walker exhibited a specimen of Emus hirtus, L., taken at Gore Court Park, Sittingbourne, Kent, on May 30 last.—Mr. W. B. Spence sent, from Florence, for exhibition, some specimens of a cricket, Gry//us campestvis, in small wire cages, which he stated were, in accordance with an ancient custom, sold by the Italians on Ascension-day.—Mr. I. Enock exhibited a specimen of the curious aquatic Hymenopteron Prestwechia aguatica, 9, which Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., first captured in 1862, but which had not been recorded since that date until its. rediscovery in May 1896. Mr. Enock said that the male had remained un- known until June last, when he captured several swimming about ina pond at Epping. The male was micropterous, and, like the female, used its legs for propelling itself through the water.—Mr. Tutt exhibited a beautiful aberration of Zephrosia bistortata (crepuscularia), in which the ochreous ground-colour was much intensified, and the transverse shade between the median and subterminal line was developed into a brown band ; the transverse basal, median and subterminal lines on the fore- wings, and the median and subterminal lines on the hind-wings, being particularly strongly marked in dark brown. Mr. Tutt also exhibited the cocoons, pupal-skin and aberrations of the imago of Zygena exulans. The cocoons were spun upon one another, five in a cluster, and Mr. Tutt stated that the species was exceedingly abundant in the pupal and imaginal stages during the first week of August on the mountain slopes above Le Lautaret, in the Dauphiné Alps, at from 7000 to go00 feet elevation. The pupa-skin was very similar to those of other Zygenids. The imagines exhibited were all aberrations.—Dr. Sharp, F.R.S., exhibited a caterpillar which had received the NO. I41I, VOL. 55] eggs of a parasite on the anterior part of the body, the abdomen, nevertheless, went on to the pupal metamorphosis, while the head and thorax remained attached to itin the caterpillar stage. He also called attention to some peculiarities in the pupa of Plusia moneta ; in this species the pigmentation varies greatly in extent, and is sometimes entirely absent —Mr. Blandford called attention to the recent discoveries relating to the Tsetse fly, made by Surgeon-Major Bruce in Zululand, which proved that this insect affected animals by injecting them with a_ parasitic Protozoon. The parasite was communicated from wild animals to domestic animals, and was more widely distributed than was generally believed ; it, or a closely allied form, having been found in India and England in sewer rats. He said that Surgeon- Major Bruce had proved that the Tsetse fly was pupiparous, which was of importance as affecting the classification of the Diptera. Dr. Sharp said that in his opinion the Tsetse fly would cease to be troublesome with the advance of civilisation.—Mr. C. G. Barrett exhibited the pupa-skin, cocoon and eggs of Hesperia comma, L., found on chalk hills near Reading. He also exhibited and remarked on a series of both forms of Zephrosia crepuscularia and 7. bzundiularza, showing an unbroken line of variation from brown to white and also to grey and black. In addition, he showed several second brood specimens of both forms obtained in the past summer by Mrs. Bazzett, of Reading. —Mr. Tutt read a paper entitled ‘‘On the specific identity of Canonympha tphis and C. satyrion,” and exhibited a long series of specimens.—The Rey. T. A. Marshall communicated a paper entitled ‘* A Monograph of British Braconidze. Part vii.”—Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell communicated a paper entitled ‘“‘ New Hymenoptera from the Mesilla Valley, New Mexico.”—Mr. E. Meyrick contributed a paper entitled ‘‘On Lepidoptera from the Malay Archipelago.”—Dr. Sharp read a paper by Mr. G. D. Haviland and himself entitled ‘‘ Termites in Captivity in England.’ Royal Microscopical Society, October 21.—Dr. R. G. Hebb, Vice-President, in the chair.—The diploma and medal awarded to the Society for photomicrographs exhibited at the Columbian Exhibition, Chicago, was laid on the table.—Lieut. - Colonel Siddons exhibited and described a new portable dissecting stand, and also a lens-carrier for use as a dissecting microscope. —Mr. C. Beck made a communication on the new screw-tools for objectives. —Prof. F. J. Bell reported that the microscopes of historical interest belonging to the Society had been exhibited at a conyersazione of the Pathological Society, and were now on view.—Mr. J. Butterworth read a paper on a photomicro- graphic camera designed chiefly to facilitate the study of opaque objects, illustrating his remarks by a series of lantern slides shown on the screen.—Mr. T. Comber read a paper on the occurrence of endocysts in the genus Zha/asséostra.—Mr. G. Murray detailed some observations made in connection with this subject.—Mr. F. Chapman gave a réseé of the ninth part of his memoir ‘On the Foraminifera of the Gault of Folkestone.”-—Mr. E. M. Nelson read a paper on a method of measuring the apertures of objectives. MANCHESTER. Literary and Philosophical Society, October 20.—Mr. Charles Bailey, Vice-President, in the chair.—Mr. A. Griffiths read a paper on concurrent observations of viscosity and electric conductivity of a salt solution containing gelatine, which was allowed to set slowly at a constant temperature. He finds that the resistance does not appreciably alter even when the viscosity becomes very great. Mr. Griffiths subsequently communicated a note on the resistance of a conducting jelly, containing iron filings, in the magnetic field. He finds that a resistance so constituted becomes less by 25 per cent. ina field of 2000C.G.S. units. PaRIs. Academy of Sciences, November 2.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—On the disaggregation of comets, by M. O. Callandreau. The disaggregation of a comet swarm is found to depend on its density and on the nature of its path, being more marked in an elongated orbit.—The gyroscopic horizon of Admiral Fleuriais, by M. E. Guyou. A description of the adaptation of the gyro- scope by the late Admiral Fleuriais for giving the vertical plane at sea. It possesses considerable practical advantages over the pendulum, and is particularly serviceable in places where the horizon is hidden by haze or fog, but where the sun can be seen. The rotation of the earth is clearly indicated by this instrument, anda small correction has to be made on this account.—New 45 researches on the tubercles of the Leguminosie, by M,C, Naudin, After reviewing the theories of previous workers on the fixation by free nitrogen by the tubercles in the Leguminose, the results of experiments ave given in which plants were grown from seed in sterilised earth, In many cases the plants germinated five or six days sooner than plants grown in ordinary, non-sterilised earth, and were stronger, greener, and flowered sooner than the latter, The eonelusion is drawn that the germs of the tubercle (bacteria, spores, or mycelium) must have been present in the seed or its envelopes. Many of the Leguminose, however, are refractory to infection, and it is suggested that the fixation of nitrogen may be a property of the protoplasm of the plant itself,—Note by M, BE. Perrier, accompanying the presentation of the fourth part of his “*Traité de Zoologie.”—M, Duclaux submitted a work entitled “Pasteur, histoire d'un esprit,”=-On the production of floods, by M. Tarry.—The causes of universal attraction; the ether and the law of gravitation, by M. A. Baudouin,—Surface tension, by M. Langlois.—-Note on the satellites attributed to the planet Venus, by M, Triboulet.--Note on storms, by M. Bougon,——On the deformation of surfaces, by M. Paul Stacckel. Some applications of a theorem, by N, Peterson,.—On the theory of partial differential equations of the second order, by M. 1%, Goursat.-Linear forms of the divisors of «* + A, by M. P, Pepin, —-On the gyroscopic horizon of Admiral Fleuriais, by M, A. Schwerer. The results of experiments carried out at sea show that the maximum error in the determination of the altitude of the sun was 2’, while the mean error was less than 1’, After more than forty observations no appreciable wear of the pivot could be detected, —On the Rontgen phenomena, by M, B. Buguet.—On a method of measuring the temperature of incan- descent lamps, by M, P. Janet, The method depends upon the assumption that the filament is pure carbon, The total heat lost by radiation between the maximum temperature attained by the filament and that of the air is measured, and the results of M. Violle on the specific heat of carbon are applied to this.- Measurement of the force acting upon non-electrified dielectric liquids placed in an electric held, by M. H. Pellat. Two vessels containing the liquid are connected, one being placed in the field and the other outside of it, and the alteration in the levels measured, The differences observed, which are very small (‘06 mm, and under), agree with the calculated figures within the limits of experimental error.—-On the heat of forma- tion of lithium hydride, by M. Guntz. The heat of formation was found to be 21°6 calories, a mi wgnitude in keeping with the great stability of the substance, A repetition of the determina. tion of the heat of solution of lithium in water, showed the number previously obtained by Thomsen (49’08 calories) was too low, the correct figure being 53°2 calories. The difference is due to the presence of impurities in the metal used by Thomsen. At its melting point, 680", the dissociation tension of lithium hydride is about 27 mm,, showing a marked difference in this respect from the hydrides of sodium and_potassium,— The uniformity of distribution of argon in the atmosphere, by M, Th, Schleesing. Samples of air from very different sources showed a remarkable uniformity in the percentage of argon, the average value being 1°184 per cent. of the total volume of nitrogen and argon.—On a method of reproduction of double silicates of potassium and other bases, by M. André Duboin,— On French essence of roses, by MM. J. Dupont and J, Guerlain, Whilst samples of French attar of roses of two successive years agreed generally in properties, they differed from a Bulgarian sample in containing more stearoptine.——Development of Lithocystis Schnetdert, a parasite of Lchinocardium cordatun, by M. L. Léger. On a viviparous ephemerid, by M. Causard, Specimens of Chieopsis déptera lived over three ae after being captured, but in spite of their relatively long life, they lumes of gases at O° at corresponding pressures, a pressure of 1/76th of the critical pressure was chosen, so that the values fell between 35 and 113 centimetres of mercury. By means of a modified Regnault apparatus, the variations from Boyle’s law were measured in the cases of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, hydrogen chloride, ammonia, and sulphur di- oxide. —A method of studying the expansion of liquids by means Two balances of equal sensibility, with their planes of oscillation at right angles, carry two weight thermometers, one containing the liquid under examination, and the other mercury. A ray of light is reflected from two mirrors, one on each beam, and this records on a sensitive plate a curve analogous to Lissajou’s figures. This curve is the graphical representation of the expansion of the liquid.—On some abnormal cases of solubility, by M. Le Chatelier.—Action of aluminium chloride upon camphoric anhydride, by M. G. Blanc. By carrying out the reaction in presence of an inert solvent, such as chloroform, a new acid C,H, ,0, is obtained, the salts, ethers, and chloride of which are described.—On essence of roses, by MM. Eug. Charabot and G. Chiris. This essence appears to contain minute quantities of anether, to the presence of which in French essences the latter probably owe their more fragrant odour.—On a new ferment in the blood, by M. Hanrict. Under the name of lipase, a new ferment of blood serum is described, which is characterised by its power of saponifying fatty ethers. This ferment is destroyed by heating to 90° C.—On a chemical method of valuing commercial wheaten flours, by M. E. Fleurent. The gluten is shown to consist of two substances, to which the fiz NATURE [ NoveMBER 19, 1896 names gliadine and glutenine are given. The baking value is shown to depend upon the ratio in which these two are present in the flour.—On the origin of the beetroot disease, by M. Paul Vuillemin. It is shown that the parasite named ZAxty/oma leproideum by M. Trabat, and Qdomyces leproides by M. Saccardo, is not a new species, but is identical with the Cladochytrium pulposum of Fischer.—New observations on scab in potatoes, by M. K. Roze.—On the mode of formation of zeolites, by M. A. Lacroix. In the Pyrenees, zeolites are found in considerable quantity which have been formed by the action of nearly pure water, at temperatures near oO Cx upon nasic felspathic rocks.—The application of Réntgen rays to Paleontology, by M. Lemoine.—On the apparent density of clays deposited from water, by M. J. Thoulet.—On the return of some exceptional meteorological phenomena in November 1896, by M. Chapel.—On the destruction of Heterodera schachttz, and other animals prejudicial to the culture of the beet- root, by M. Willot. New Souru WALES. Linnean Society, September 30.—The President, Mr. Henry Deane, in the chair.—The Sooty-Mould (Capnodium cttricolum, n.sp.) of Citrus trees: a study in polymorphism, by D. McAlpine. The species so far as known is peculiar to Australia. It has a remarkable life-history, and well illustrates the phenomenon of polymorphism.—Australian Lampreys, by J. Douglas Ogilby.—On the botany of the Rylestone and Goulburn River Districts, N.S.W., by R. T. Baker.—Note on Cyprea angustata, Gray, var. subcarnea, Ancey, by C. E. Beddome.—Mr. Edgar R. Waite contributed a note on the range of the Platypus. The northern habitat is extended to 16° 45'S. and localities quoted on the Gulf of Carpentaria 140° 56’ E., the most north-westerly point hitherto recorded.—Mr. T. Whitelegge exhibited a rare and curious Isopod, A mphorotdea australiensis, originally described from N.S. Wales by Dana in 1852, since when it appears to have escaped notice. The specimen | exhibited was obtained on seaweed at Maroubra Bay last June ; when alive it was bright olive-green, and of a similar'tint to the | seaweed to which it was adhering.—Prof. David contributed the following note on a remarkable radiolarian rock from Tamworth, N.S.W. :—‘‘ On September 10, in company with Mr. D. S. Porter, I observed the occurrence of a remarkable radiolarian rock on the Tamworth Temporary Common. Of this rock a hand specimen and section prepared for the microscope are now exhibited. The section is an opaque one prepared by cementing a slice of the rock about one-tenth of an inch thick on to an ordinary glass slip with Canada balsam and then etching its upper surface with dilute hydrochloric acid. The rock being partially calcareous, probably an old radiolarian ooze, the lime filling in the delicately latticed shells and interstices between the spines of the radiolaria is dissolved out, and the siliceous shells of the radiolaria become exposed to view. Some of them are exquisitely preserved for palcozoic radiolaria. The rock of which they constitute by far the larger proportion weathers into a brown pulverulent friable material like bath brick. The unweathered portions are dark bluish-grey and compact. The radiolaria appear to. be chiefly referable to the porulose division of the Legion Spumel/arza. This discovery confirms the previous determinations by me of radiolarian casts in the rocks of the New England district, and of the Jenolan Caves, N.S. Wales. The geological age of the formation in which this rock occurs is probably either Devonian or Lower Carboniferous, as Zefzdo- dendron australe appears to occur on a horizon not far removed from that of this radiolarian rock. The Moor Creek limestone, near Tamworth, I find also contains numerous radiolaria.”” BOOKS, PAMPHLETS,and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—The Elements of Physics: E. L. Nichols and W. S. Franklin. Vol. 2. Electricity and Magnetism (Macmillan).—The Gases of the Atmo= sphere; the History of their Discovery: Prof. W. Ramsay (Macmillan).— A New Speculation on the Past and Future Temperature of the Sun and Earth: W. H. (J. Heywood).—Colliery Working and Management : H. F. Bulman and R. A. S. Redmayne (Lockwood).—Autobiography of Sir George Biddell Airy (Cambridge University Press) —Cat and Bird Stories (Unwin).—Cowham's Graphic Lessons in Physical and Astronomical Geography, 6th edition (Westminster School Book Depét).—New Zealand Papers and Reports relating to Minerals and Mining (Wellington, Mackay). —Experimental Science : A. Hubble (Chapman).—Light: W. T. A. Emtage (Longmans).—Physiography for Beginners : A. T. Simmons (Macmillan).— Alternating Currents and Alternating Current Machinery: Profs. D. C. and J. P. Jackson (Macmillan).—The Buddhist Praying Wheel: W. Simpson (Macmillan).—Physics Note-Book (Macmillan).—An Introduction to Structural Botany: Dr. D. H. Scott, Part 2 (Black).—Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps: Rev. W. Weston (Murray).—The Scientific Papers of John Couch Adams. Vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press).—Catalogue des Bibliographies Géologiques : E, de Margerie (Paris, NO. I412, VOL. 55] Gauthier-Villars).— L’Eclairage : Eclairage électrique: Prof. J. Lefévre (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Bibliographia Physiologica, 1895: Prof. Ch. Richet (Paris, Alcan) —Fuel and Refractory Materials: Prof. A. H. Sexton (Blackie). —Versuch einer Philosophischen Selektionstheorie : Dr. if Unbehaun (Jena, Fischer).—Das Klima von Frankfurt am Main (Frankfurt a.M.).—A Text-Book of Special Pathological Anatomy; Prof. FE. Ziegler, translated and edited by Drs. MacAlister and Cattell, Sections i. to viii. (Macmillan).--Hand-Atlas der Anatomie des Menschen: Profs. His and Spaltcholz, 2 Band, 1 Abthg. (Leipzig, Hirzel).—Elementary Solid Geometry and Mensuration: Prof. H. D. Thompson (Macmillan).—Life in Ponds and Streams: W. Furneaux (Longmans).—Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson : Sir W. W. Hunter (Murray).—The Principles of Sociology: Herbert Spencer, Vol. 3 (Williams).—The Survival of the Unlike : L. H. Bailey (Macmillan). —Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1893-94, Vol. 1, Part 1 (Washington).—Lehrbuch der Vergleichenden Mikroskopischen Anatomie: Dr. H. Fol, 2 (Schluss) Liefg. (Leipzig, Engelmann).—Physio- logische Pflanzenanatomie: Dr. G. Haberlandt (Leipzig, Engelmann).— Festschrift zum Siebenzigsten Geburtstage von Carl Gegenbaur Am 21 Aug., 1896, 2 Vols. (Leipzig, Engelmann).—De Ja Double Réfraction Elliptique et de la Tétraréfringence du Quartz: Dr. G. Quesneville. I. Examen et Critique des Recherches Anterieures (Paris, Wontteur Scientifique). PamPuLets.—Rules for regulating Nomenclature: Lord Walsingham and J. H. Durrant (Longmans).—A Short Catechism of Chemistry: A. J. Wilcox, Part 1 (Simpkin).—Demeter und Baubo: E. Hahn (Libeck, Schmidt).—Agricultural Science, its Place in a University Education : Prof. R. Warington (Frowde). Ser1aLs.—Geographical Journal, November (Stanford).—Scribner's Magazine, November (S.Low).—Observatory, November (Taylor).—Pro- ceedings of the Physical Society of Londan, November (Taylor).—Humani- tarian, November (Hutchinson).—Strand Magazine, November (Newnes). —Psychological Review, Monograph Suppleinent. No. 3. The Mental De- velopment of a Child : K. C. Moore (Macmillan).— Journal of the Chemical Society. November (Gurney),—Veterinarian, November (Adlard).—American Journal of Science, November (New Haven).—Transactions of the Edin- burgh Field Naturalists’ and Microscopical Society, Sessions 1894-96 (Blackwood).—Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, No 208 (Longmans).—Engineering Magazine, November (Tucker).—Journal of the Franklin Institute, November (Philadelphia).—Psychological Review, November (Macmillan).—Zeitschrift fiir Physikalische Chemie, xxi. Band, 2 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—Bulletin of the Geological Institution of the University of Upsala, Vol. 2, Part 2, No. 4 (Upsala).—Beitrage zur Geo- physik. iii. Band, 1 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—L’ Anthropologie, tome vii. No. 5 (Paris, Masson).—American Naturalist, November (Philadelphia). CONTENTS. PAGE The Force of One Pound. By Prof. John Perry, BURISS . 2. a ae eee The Formation of the Family. By Edward B. Tylor, URIS 2 27h) lee eaten eo ea) Our Book Shelf :— ‘Annales dé\Geopraphie:+ ses quent .< 021 een Cornish: “‘ Animals at Work and Play; their Activities and Bnmictions 25 00-1) Seen Barfield : ‘*‘ Model Drawing and Shading from Casts” 52. Wilcox: ‘* A Short Catechism of Chemistry ” eae Letters to the Editor :— The Austro-Hungarian Map of Franz Josef Land.— Arthur Montefiore-Brice.... . ot 4 OSE Tournefort and the Latitudinal and Altitudinal Distri- bution of Plants.—W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S. 52 The Work of Local Societies.—Prof. R. Meldola, af RS S., and TeeVegeolmesmee ev. “ahs aeins Floating Mercury on Water.—C. E. Stromeyer 53 The Swallows.—Henry Cecil ants ere Gi African Rinderpest. By Sir John Kirk, G.C.M.G., KCIB. FE UR:S.° eae eae nee een Suits; e253 The Leonid Meteor Shower, 1896. By W. F. Denning; Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer; C. T. Whitmell 54 The Mouthe Cave... ona t= poets Seren est) Henry Newell Martin. By Prof. M. Foster, Sec.R.S. 56 Notes)... 6 25 ee eee ec) fay Oc Our Astronomical Column:— Partial Impact of Celestial Bodies ........ 6L The Companions of Procyon and Sirius . Semoe) Brisbane Astronomical Society Se OP: 2) a Bulletin de la Société Astronomique de France . . . . 62 The Work of the Scientific and Technical Depart- ment of the Imperial Institute. (///ustrated.) By Prof. Wyndham R, Dunstan, F.R.S. ...... 62 Experiments on Rontgen Rays. By Dr. John Macintyre... . |. ASenneiona ites cs) ss ecuenre Jumping Cocoons) be Wertman, esas nS Mechanical Conceptions of Electrical Phenomena, By Prof A. E.Dolbearsen gear mane. = si pees University and Educational Intelligence. . . . . . 69 Societiesiand Academies) sesrpena)..). © -:, ki 7o Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received. . . 72 We Lh Es 73 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1896. SIR JOSEPH BANKS’S JOURNAL. Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., K.B., P.R.S., during Captain Cook's First Voyagein H.M.S. “ Endeavour” in 1768-71 to Terra del Fuego, Otahite, New Zealand, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, &c. Edited by Sir Joseph D. Hooker. Pp. li + 466. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) HIS journal, which now sees the light after varying vicissitudes, will take fitting place on our book- shelves by the side of Darwin’s “ Voyage of the Beag/e” and Moseley’s “ Challenger Notes” as one of the classics of scientific travel. Sir Joseph Hooker, in realising a hope he has indulged, as he tells us, since he was a boy, adds another to the many services he has rendered to science by presenting to us this journal in the delightful form it has assumed under his editing. In an interesting preface to the volume he states the aims with which he has undertaken the task he has just completed, and from this, as well as from the charming biographical notice with which the journal is introduced, we do not scruple to quote in noticing with gratitude the appearance of this book. “ My principal motive,” he says, “for editing the journal kept by Sir Joseph Banks during Lieut. Cook’s first voyage round the world is to give prominence to his indefatigable labours as an accomplished observer and ardent collector during the whole period occupied by that expedition, and thus to present him as the pioneer of those naturalist voyagers of later years, of whom Darwin is the great example. This appears to me to be the more desirable, because in no biographical notice of Banks’ are his labours and studies as a working naturalist adequately set forth.” ... “In respect of Cook’s first voyage, this is in a measure due to the course pursued by Dr. Hawkesworth in publishing the account of the expedition, when Banks, with singular disinterestedness, placed his journal in that editor’s hands, with permission | to make what use of it he thought proper. The result was that Hawkesworth selected only such portions as would interest the general public, incorporating them with Cook’s journal, often without allusion to their author, and not unfrequently introducing into them reflections of his own as being those of Cook or of Banks. Another motive for editing Banks’s journal is to emphasise the important service which its author rendered to the ex- pedition. It needs no reading between the lines of the great navigators journal, to discover his estimation of the ability of his companion, of the value of his re- searches, and of the importance of his active co-operation on many occasions. It was Banks who rapidly mastered the language of the Otahitans, and became the inter- preter of the party, and who was the investigator of the customs, habits, &c., of these and of the natives of New Zealand. It was often through his activity that the commissariat was supplied with food. He was on various occasions the thief-taker, especially in the case of his hazardous expedition for the recovery of the stolen quadrant, upon the use of which, in observing the transit of Venus across the sun’s disc, the success of the ex- pedition so greatly depended. And, above all, it is to Banks’s forethought, and at his own risk, that an Otahitan man and boy were taken on board, through whom Banks directed, when in New Zealand, those inquiries into the customs of the inhabitants, which are the foundation ot our knowledge of that interesting people. And when NO. 1413, VOL. 55 | it is considered that the information obtained was at comparatively few points, and those on the coast only, the fulness and accuracy of the description of the New Zealanders, even as viewed in the light of modern know ledge, are very remarkable. Nor should it be forgotten that it was to the drawings made by the artists whom Banks took in his suite that the public is indebted for the magnificent series of plates that adorn Hawkesworth’s account of the voyage. Still another motive is, that Banks’s journal gives a life-like portrait of a naturalist’s daily occupation at sea and ashore nearly one hundred and thirty years ago ; and thus supplements the history of a voyage which, for extent and importance of geo- graphic and hydrographic results, was unique, and ‘to the English nation the most momentous voyage of dis- covery that has ever taken place’ (Wharton's * Cook,’ Preface), and which has, moreover, directly led to the prosperity of the empire ; for it was owing to the reports of Cook and Banks, and, it is believed, to the represen- tation of the latter on the advantages of Botany Bay as a site for a settlement, that Australia was first colonised.” The question that every one will no doubt ask himself is, how does it come about that a journal of sc much interest, written in 1769-71, the author of which survived until 1820, occupying for no less a period than forty years the premier position in the scientific world in Great Britain, is only published now—a century and a quarter after the events which it relates. On this point the editor leaves us in no doubt, and the story as he tells it is an interesting bit of history, not without a touch of romance, and withal with features not altogether credit- able to some of those concerned in it. Although only returned from the first voyage in 1771, Banks accepted an invitation to join, as naturalist, Cook’s second voyage, preparations for which began in 1772. This proposal called forth a strong protest from Linnzeus, prophetic as things turned out of the fate awaiting the results of the first voyage. In a letter to Mr. Ellis, he says: “Whilst the whole botanical world, like myself, has been looking for the most transcendent benefits to our science, from the unrivalled exertions of your countrymen, all their matchless and truly astonishing collection, such as has never been seen before nor may ever be seen again, is to be put aside untouched, to be thrust into some corner, to become perhaps the prey of insects and of destruction.” Banks eventually abandoned the intention to join the expedition, but nevertheless to it must be ascribed in the first instance the withholding from the public of his journal. Writing in 1782, Banks says: “The reason I have not published the account of my travels is that the first from want of time necessarily brought on by the many preparations for my second voyage was entrusted to Dr. Hawkesworth, and since that I have been engaged in a botanical work, which | hope soon to publish, as I have near 700 folio plates prepared ; it is to give an account of all such new plants discovered in my voyage round the world, somewhat above 800.” It is indeed remarkable that in course of his long life Banks did not give to the public his story of travel, but neither it nor yet the botanical work to which he refers in the above extract appeared. The death of his librarian and companion, Dr. Solander, is usually supposed to have led to the suppression of his botanical work—that for the fate of which Linnzeus was so much concerned. One cannot help thinking when one regards the whole amount of the published writings of Sir 15) 74 WA RORE [ NoveMBER 26, 1896 Joseph Banks, surprisingly little, as his editor points out, that whilst he was energetic in his correspondence and methodical in his records of the scientific observations he made, and always ready to help others in their work, he himself must have had a dislike to printer’s proofs and preparing his papers for the press. To whatever cause we ascribe his action or inaction (and whether we shall ever know the real inwardness of the matter, seems now doubtful, owing to the dispersion of so much of his correspondence), the fact remains that “ five folio books of neat manuscript, and the coppers of about 7oo plates of plants rest in the hands of the British Museum Trustees ”—the botanical results of the voyage of the Endeavour ; a monument of energetic labour, skill, and knowledge, and all lost to science. last before us. With the death of Banks no better fate immediately awaited his journal. Robert Brown, unable to write the life of Banks as he intended, had the materials for this, including the journal, transferred to Mr. Dawson Turner, maternal grandfather of Sir Joseph Hooker, who caused a transcription to be made of the journal, but did not bring out the life. Subsequently, the task of writing the life not having been accomplished, the papers reached the British Museum, whence, however, they were claimed by the Peer, the representative of the Hugessen family, to which Banks’s wife belonged, fortunately, however, not before the Dawson Turner transcript of the journal had been lodged in the Botanical Department of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. A haggling over a price for the documents appears to have ensued between the British Museum and the Peer pos- sessor, and in the result the whole collection of papers was sold off by auction in London, bringing in the sum of £182 19s.! Noblesse oblige!’ Well may Mr. Carruthers, in a letter to the editor, speak of this story as a distressing one. Sir Joseph Hooker has been able to trace the original document of the journal to Australia; but had the publication depended upon this, we should still have been in ignorance of the merits of Banks’s work. Fortunately there was the transcript left in this country, which has enabled the editor to bring out the welcome volume before us. If the barque of Banks’s reputation has suffered on the rocks of neglect or ignor- ance in the past, it is fortunate that so distinguished a pilot as the present editor-—heir likewise as he was to a portion of the equipment prepared by Banks for the second voyage (p. 27, note)—has taken it in hand, placing it beyond further danger. The appearance of the journal will undoubtedly achieve the primary aims of the editor in his self-appointed task. As a narrative the journal is full of charm. It comes before us, old as it is, with all the freshness of first im- The journal is at pression. Familiar as much of what is told has now become through the writings of later travellers and modern facilities for globe-trotting, there is an unstrained interest attaching to scenes depicted by one who, almost in touch with the present generation, yet is able to de- scribe Cape Town while it was still a Dutch settlement, and Mauritius was as yet the Isle of France, who sailed round New Zealand and determined it to be an island, and who tells us of people and places before all- levelling civilisation had removed the landmarks of NO, 1413, VOL. 55 | natural evolution. The journal throughout abounds in evidences of Banks’s keenness of observation and ardent devotion to scientific investigation ; and whilst the bulk of itis descriptive, there are not wanting shrewd reflec- tions and comments to show that problems of distribu- tion and adaptation, the discussion of which gives zest to so many of the modern books of scientific travel, engaged the mind of the last-century naturalist. It is not necessary for the purpose of this notice, and it would take us too far, were we to follow with comments the narrative of the expedition ; suffice it that we say the guarantee implied in the names of author and editor is not belied. Of the adjuncts to the journal in its present guise—we have already spoken in praise of the narrative of Banks's life by the editor—there is also to be commended an admirable life of Dr. Solander, contributed by Mr. Daydon Jackson ; andaseries of notices of early voyagers and naturalists, compiled by Mr. Reginald Hooker, is a useful guide. Finally, excellent reproductions by pho- tography of the portraits of Banks and Solander in the collections of the Royal and Linnean Societies, re- spectively, help to give attractiveness to this most delightful book of voyage. THREE NEW BOOKS ON HISTOLOGY. Handbuch Gewebelehre der Menschen. Von A. Koelliker. 6te Auflage, Erster Band, pp. 409, 1889 : Zweiter Band, Erste Halfte, pp. 372, 1893; Zweiter Band, Zweite Halfte, pp. 4oo, 1896, (Leipzig: Engel- mann.) , Lehrbuch der Histologie der Menschen, einschliesslich der mikroskopischen Technik. Von A. Bohm und M. von Davidoff. Pp. 404. (Wiesbaden: J. Bergmann, 1895. Lehrbuch der vergleichenden mikroskopischen Anatomie der Wirbelthiere. Von Albert Oppel. Erster Theil, Der Magen. Pp. 543. (Jena: Fischer, 1896.) Wh place the classical treatise of the famous Wiirzburg professor in a list of new books on histology, must at once strike all readers who have any acquaintance with that science as manifestly absurd. Is not this the book from whose stores of knowledge our predecessors in the teaching of the subject drew so largely, and which has served ever since as the foundation upon which modern histology has been built? Is not this the book, the translation of which by Busk and Huxley, under the auspices of the Sydenham Society, rendered the names both of its author and of its translators familiar to a'‘long past generation of students ? Whilst to these interrogatories an affirmative answer must be given, none the less is it true that the book before us is to all intents and purposes a mew book, giving us a presentation of the most recent advances in histology, either based upon or confirmed by the careful personal work of its author, whilst still being founded upon, and an amplification of, the important works, “Mikroskopische Anatomie” and ‘“ Handbuch der Gewebelehre,” the appearance of which in the early fifties at once placed their author upon the topmost pinnacle of histological science. In turning over the leaves of this edition we cannot fail to recognise many an old familiar der NovEMBER 26, 1896] figure, schematised after the manner which was current in the old days, but not always on that account the less actually true as a representation of the parts which it was the business of the author to describe. And we need not complain of the continued presence of these well-worn delineations, for they not only have served, but still serve their purpose, nor do they any longer stand alone as in the old days, but side by side with them there now appear representations as true to nature as the skill of the artist and of the engraver can produce, and ex- hibiting the intricacies of structure of cells and tissues such as only the most modern microscopes and methods have been able to reveal. The first volume of this edition of “ Kélliker’s His- tology,” which appeared as long ago as 1889, and is itself twenty-two years subsequent to the publication of | the previous edition, deals with cell-structure, with the | simple tissues, with the structure and formation of the bones, of muscles and of the integument. The second volume, consisting in all of 874 pages, is devoted entirely to the finer structure of the nervous system! From which statement, combined with the reputation of the author, it will be rightly inferred that the volume is indeed a compendious account of the structure of this, the most important, system in the body, such as has never previously been in the hands of the student. And what ‘constitutes the most remarkable fact regarding this part of the work, is that it is an actual record of personal ‘observations, not as with most works of the kind, mainly a vechaugé of the observations of other people. Need- less also to add, that the methods used are of the most modern description, and that the illustrations are both clear and abundant. If Kolliker had néver written any- thing besides this monograph of the structure of the nervous system, his reputation would have been suffi- ciently made. What that reputation is, with the un- remitting work of sixty or more years superadded to this achievement, is known to the whole world. The second book. upon our list is one of an entirely different type, and, it may be added, of a type which we are accustomed to associate with French rather than with German authors. It gives a clear and succinct account, firstly, of the chief modern histological methods, secondly, of the structure of the cells and tissues, and thirdly, of the organs of the body, the whole being illustrated by excellent drawings, which are entirely new, and which give a stamp of originality to the work. Moreover, the reproduction of the drawings leaves little or nothing to be desired, and with the exception of one ‘or two, which only purport to be diagrams, it will at once appear that they are on the whole extremely good representations of structure. If there is any fault to be found, it is in the somewhat meagre manner in which the central nervous system is dealt with. On the other hand, it must be admitted that to deal with this at any length, would necessarily have carried the dimensions of the book beyond what may be justly regarded as the limit of an ordinary text-book for students; which is the standard aimed at in the work before us. The third book is one of a much more ambitious character, as the title sufficiently indicates. The aim of the author is to give a comparative account of the minute structure of every organ of the body in the whole NO. 1413, VOL. 55] NATURE | | range of Vertebrata. Since the classical work of Leydig appeared forty years ago—a work which may still be referred to by the student with manifest advantage—no adequate attempt has been made to provide a compara- tive account of the structure of the body, and the litera- ture of the subject is so enormous, and the amount of material that would be required to be studied so pro- digious, that no one person could by any means ade- quately expect to cope with it. It is but fair to say that this is recognised by the author, who, in his preface, refers to the probable necessity of the work being taken up and continued by others. The present instalment deals with the comparative anatomy of the stomach alone, in a volume of 543 royal octavo pages. Beginning with the structure of this organ in fishes, it continues with it through various amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals, concluding with man! The book is mainly a compilation, but the fullest references are everywhere given; and therefore, although it lacks the interest which more originality would have conferred upon it (in which respect it differs conspicuously from Leydig), there can be no doubt of its value as a book of reference for all who are working either at the histology or physiology of the organ dealt with. About thirty pages are occupied alone by the titles of works referred to, and this will give some idea of the extensive literary researches which the author must have made in order to render the work as complete as it is. -The illustrations are of two kinds, viz. figures on wood or zinc throughout the text, with a certain number of lithographed plates at the end of the book. Neither the author nor the publisher has spared pains to render the work excellent of its kind, and it is to be hoped that future instalments may each require far less time to produce than the seven years which the author admits that he has devoted to this present part. It is certainly not a little remarkable that after the lapse of many years without the appearance of an im- portant work on histology in the German language, three books, such as these, so different from one another, but all in their way important, should have appeared almost simultaneously. The fact may probably be taken as a sign of the revival of active interest in general histology, most of the interest of histologists having of late been centred upon the structure of the cell and the relations of the cells of the nervous system to one another. E. A. SCHAFER. ASPECTS OF GARDENING. A History of Gardening in England. By the Hon. Alicia Amherst. Second edition. Pp. xiv + 405. (London : Bernard Quaritch, 1896.) 1G NTIL attention is specially drawn to the subject, the variety of the interest attaching to gardens and to gardening is not realised. One man estimates his garden by the amount and quality of the produce it yields for his table. Another finds his esthetic sense satisfied by the flowers it contains. The exercise and recreation afforded by garden pursuits are keenly appre- ciated by yet another class; whilst to the naturalist cultivated plants are living beings, replete with all the interest begot of the study of the phenomena and functions of life. 76 NATURE [ NovEMBER 26, 1896 In the garden the student may obtain a knowledge of form, structure, and affinity with greater facility than in the field or in the museum. In the garden, too, he can prosecute his experiments, even upon living things, without the chance of his objects being misinterpreted, with no fear of exciting the ire of well-intentioned senti- mentalists, and no risk of being harassed by restrictive legislation. On another side the artist has in the garden scope for the realisation of his ideas, be they in an artificial or formal direction, or in one that is, or is supposed to be, natural. As the surroundings and conditions are so extremely varied, so there is corresponding diversity in practice. There is, in fact, ample room for differences of opinion and for diversities of taste ; unfortunately, we must add for controversy, not always so amiably conducted as the nature of the subject would seem to necessitate. Miss Amherst, in presenting to the public a history of gardening in England from the earliest times to the middle of the nineteenth century, has, with few excep- tions, to which we shall hereafter refer, neglected none of these different aspects of gardening. It does not appear from her book that she is herself a specialist in horticulture, in botany, or in landscape gardening. But that she is endowed with sympathetic intelligence, aptitude for research, and love of her subject, is evidenced throughout. Her book is well planned, well put together, and accurately, yet withal pleasantly, written. It must form for a long time the standard work on the subject. Of course the history of gardening is in its degree the reflex of that of the period. At one time gardens were enclosed within monastery walls or castle garths. They were small in extent, and utilitarian in object. As more peaceful times came, the gardens became less restricted, both in space and in object. The utilitarian side was not neglected, but an increasing sense of security led to greater refinement and to a greater appreciation of the elegancies of life. At the same time travel became easier, and travellers more numerous. The consequence of this was that “outlandish plants” were freely intro- duced. Art also made its way into the garden as into other departments, and, as we have seen, it manifested itself in two opposite directions. Science found her place in the botanic gardens and in the various experi- ments made by the curious, experiments to which, in very large measure, we owe the profusion and excellence of the flowers and fruits of the present day. Nowadays, unless we except Orchids and some few other plants, more is done by hybridisation and cross-breeding of already introduced plants than by the importation of new and hitherto untried subjects. The plants of to-day are largely products of the gardener’s skill. There is nothing in nature precisely corresponding with the tuberous Begonias. They have originated from repeated processes of hybridisation and cross-fertilisation, and to some extent they reproduce their kind as ordinary species do. Neither Japan nor China can show ina wild state such Chrysanthemums as now excite the wonder of the spectator. They are the issue of cross-fertilisation, rigid selection, and of the suppression of some buds to the advantage of one only. NO. I413, VOL. 55] The enormous advance in commercial horticulture—in what is called market-gardening, more particularly—is hardly touched on by Miss Amherst, perhaps because she did not consider that it came within the scope she allotted to herself. It is nevertheless, so far as gardening goes, the great feature of the day, and when confronted with the depressed state of agriculture, it affords a mar- vellous contrast for the consideration of the economist and statesman, as well as for the historian of gardening. GEOMORPHOLOGICAL SPECULATION. Schopfungs-Geschichte. Von Hermann Habenicht. Mit 7 Karten-Beilagen und 2 Text-Illustrationen. Pp. vili + 136. (Wien, Pest, Leipzig: A. Hartleben’s Verlag.) [Preface dated 1896. | HIS “exact history of creation” is neither so clear nor so credible as the first chapter of Genesis, with which the author tries to harmonise it, nor does it appear to come any nearer to agreement with the views of modern geologists ; yet the aim of the work is distinct and noble. The preface begins :— “This book is the fruit of nearly forty years’ profes- sional study of the known surface of the Earth and of Geophysics, chiefly from the morphological point of view, according to the best existing original works which, for the most part, were official. It is the first attempt fo refer to one single fundamental natural daw, not only the position and structure of our planet, its continents, ocean- basins, and great mountain chains, but also the conditions of the stratification of rocks, fossilisation, earthquakes and volcanoes, ice-ages, &c., even the endless profusion of the organic world and the origin of species itself. It is the first attempt to coordinate the definitely ascer- tamed facts of Astro-, Geo-, and Experimental-Physics.” Grundriss einer exacten It is strange that forty years of that laborious and con- scientious study, which have made the name of Habenicht illustrious in his own department of cartography, did not reveal to him even one prior attempt to simplify the bewildering history of the formation of the earth. Man- kind is surely not so backward in cosmical speculation as that seems to imply. But of course these specula- tions do not appear in official reports ; they see the light in imaginative pamphlets and books published usually at the author’s risk, we fear, in more senses than the financial. This new attempt is a republication of papers which have appeared at various dates during the last twenty years, and are now grouped to form three parts. Part i. —‘“ Scientifically Observed Facts ”—deals with the sudden appearance of new stars, the cooling of the earth experi- mentally considered, and the seismic problem, the last- named illustrated by a map showing the active volcanoes and axes of greatest seismic activity of the world con- structed in 1889. Part ii.—‘‘ Traces of Facts from the Geological Past ’—cites, amongst others, the works on the flood of Sir Henry Howorth and the late Sir Joseph Prestwich, which appear to have greatly influenced the author. Part ili‘ The Theory of the Spherical Crater- basin ”—reveals the unifying law which simplifies the history of creation. It is the law of world-blisters. As the earth cooled originally, various gases extricated themselves from the fluid magma, and collected under NovEMBER 26, 1896] NA TORE Be Tel: the crust, gradually heaving it up into a dome which burst, allowed the gases to escape, and its fragments fell back, leaving a crater-basin like those on the moon. As the crust strengthened the blisters grew larger (all Asia was required for one), and their edges were higher after the collapse. The rain, and sediment being to such geological forms as the Paris or the London basin. Herr Habenicht shows immense ingenuity in fitting his hypothetical blisters to the morphological lines of the earth, and the maps in the book are most interest- ing. If the theory were put forward as an exercise in scientific imagination, it would be clever and admirable ; if it be, as we fear, a serious attempt to interpret existing geographical forms, it is valueless now De Morgan is dead, and might be mischievous. The theory is not tested ; it is built to fit a certain interpretation of facts, and the demonstration that it fits that interpretation is put forward as evidence of its truth. Some concluding remarks on Darwinism and evolution are of a type once common in this country, but now becoming rare enough to make it worth while to signalise the discovery of a belated specimen. H. R. M. OUR BOOK SHELF. A New Speculation on the Past and Future Temperature of the Sun and Earth, By W.H. Pp. 198. (London and Manchester: John Heywood.) _YET another book designed to show men of science the ee ——————ore,rci a imperfections in their theories, and to enlighten them as to the constitution of the universe. The main con- tention of the author is that the sun and earth are not cooling bodies, and that they have never formed part of the same nebulous mass. He considers that the sun is not really hot, but merely the cause of heat in sentient beings ; which seems to be a distinction without a real difference. The poorness of the argument becomes even more obvious by the comparison of the molecules of the sun with the molecules of a piece of iron beaten upon an anvil. Of course we know that the molecules of the iron only have their energy increased by the blows of the hammer, and of course we know that heat gud heat does not exist until it affects sentient organisms. But to argue from this that the sun is a cool body, and to say “that which we call heat in the sun is but molecular motion,” is as inconclusive as would be a state- ment that the sun is a dark body, and that which is called sunlight is but a motion of the ether. The author does not stop at this: he essays to prove that the sun is a hollow sphere or a system of spheres, and regards the proportions of oxygen and nitrogen in the earth’s atmosphere as nicely adjusted for the comfort- able existence of man; in which Jost hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning he follows the young curate who anim- adverted upon the beneficence of Providence in making rivers run near the towns. But enough has, perhaps, been said to reveal the character of the book. There is, how- ever, one other little point to be mentioned. The author's chief objection is to the nebular hypothesis, but he does not appear to have got beyond that stage of astronomical | knowledge when every nebula was regarded as a star cluster not yet resolved into its components. not think there are nebulz anywhere in the universe, and he completely ignores spectroscopic evidence as to their existence. “Can the astronomer ever say,” he remarks, “he has discovered a nebula that no power of the telescope can resolve? But suppose there was a nebula indeed, one undisputed and undisputable, what is NO. I413, VOL. 55] hollows gradually filled with | washed into them, gave rise | He does | that to me?” What indeed? all the known nebulz and all the astronomers, will not induce “WW. H-” to refrain from demolishing what he regards as scientific heresies. The occupation pleases him, and it does not hurt either fact or theory. R. A. Light. By W. T.A.Emtage, M.A. Pp. 352. With 231 illustrations. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) THIS book is a new volume in the series of science manuals published by Messrs. Longmans to meet the requirements of the advanced stage of the science sub- jects of the Science and Art Department. It is one that should find favour with students in general, as the various parts of the subject dealt with are for the most part clearly and concisely explained. There is also no lack of illustrations, which is always a very important point in a book treating on optics, especially in the case where it may be read by students who are not all too familiar with the subject. The scope of the book will have already been gathered from the fact that it follows the Government Syllabus. We may mention, however, that the author has employed elementary mathematical treatment, having limited himself to little more than an advanced knowledge of trigonometry. Attention has been paid also to the experimental side of the subject, methods of making experiments and optical measure- ments being given. To those wishing to obtain a good general insight into the principles of optics and optical instruments, the book can be recommended. Tables for Iron Analysis. By John A. Allen. + 85. (New York: John Wiley and Sons. Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) CHEMISTS engaged in making analyses in connection with the manufacture of iron and steel, will find these tables very serviceable. The tables are of ten classes: one set “converts a weight of a definite chemical com- pound obtained when a certain quantity of substance is analysed into the percentage of an element or oxide contained in the substance,” and the other set “converts into one another, equivalent percentages of an element or oxide, and of a compound of which the element or oxide is a constituent.” The work of technical chemists will be greatly assisted by this practical collection of conversion numbers. Notes for Chemical Students. By Prof. Peter T. Austen, Ph.D., F.C.S. Pp. 111. (New York: John Wiley and Sons. London: Chapman and Hall, 1896.) THERE are certain knotty points which teachers of elementary chemistry know to be difficult for students to understand, and which are not sufficiently considered in small text-books. Such are the nascent state, absolute existence of masses and molecules, smoke rings and vortex atoms, modes of chemical action, affinity, substi- tution, &c. This book aims at filling the gap in the literature of chemical teaching, and though on some points it is not any fuller than several elementary text-books we could name, it contains a number of clear and concise descriptions of topics which present difficulties to the student. Notes of the Night, and other Outdoor Sketches. By Charles C. Abbott, M.D. Pp. 231. (London: F rederick Warne and Co., 1896.) THIS series of nine essays contain the author's reflections on outdoor life and scenes in New Jersey. There are thoughts on gurgling brooks, on “swelling buds, and frogs astir in the warm waters of the throbbing springs,” and similar subjects which move the spirit of poesy, and induce the mind to wander. Such lucubrations will not please the palate of students of science ; for they are, as a rule, too nebulous and unsubstantial, but dreamy naturalists will be interested in them. Pp. vil London : 78 NATURE [ NoveMBER 26, 1896 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. (Zhe Editor does not hold himself responszble for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for thzs or any other part of NATURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. | Osmotic Pressure and Ionic Dissociation. No doubt there will be great joy in the camp of the ionists over the sinner that repenteth on seeing the letter of my friend Prof. Poynting, but I imagine that those who thought that he was about to break a lance on behalf of the opponent party will agree that he is but a fickle ally, if they do not go further and conclude that he has perhaps failed to understand the real question at issue. All are agreed that Arrhenius and van *t Hoff and their satel- lites have rendered inestimable service by their generalisations, and the consequent application they have made of them; certainly the world has shown its esteem of their work. More- over, there can be no doubt, asI stated not long ago in my presidential address to the Chemical Society, that in so far as weak solutions are concerned a law has been discovered which is broadly true 22 mathematical form: yet I have no hesitation in asserting that the fundamental premises on which it is based are destitute of common sense in the opinion of those who look at these matters without leaving chemical experience out of account; and I venture to think that this is not only their position, but also that of many physicists. Lord Rayleigh, in fact, in the course of his remarks on Prof. Fitzgerald’s Helm- holtz lecture at the Chemical Society in January last, actually said :—* It is to be hoped that chemists will take into grave consideration the emphatic warning that Prof. Fitzgerald has given, particularly as to the danger of supposing that there is any dynamical similarity between the condition of a gas and that of a dissolved substance in a liquid. . . risk of .pushing formal analogies too far, and of supposing that there isa real dynamical similarity, whereas perhaps there is only a similarity in mathematical law.” I for one require no better support than this, and shall con- tinue to be, as I have been from the outset, a determined opponent of what, I think, may fairly be termed the nonsensical hypothesis of ionic dissociation, for there is no other appro- priate term for a view which asserts that hydrogen chloride anda few other compounds are so loosely strung together that they fall to pieces when dissolved in water: out of sheer fright, it | | of the facts of electrolysis ? would seem, as no valid motive is suggested for such self- sacrifice ; and no such charge of unprincipled levity of conduct is brought against the vast majority of compounds other than a few acids and akalies ! I believe the view in question to be in entire opposition to the teachings of chemical experience ; inapplicable to the explanation of the greater number of facts. It is a sign of the times that such views can obtain the credence that has been accorded to them ; proof how little we care to criticise in these days when authority counts for so much—especially in Germany. On the other hand, the facts generally seem to be in entire accordance with an association hypothesis: and if Prof. Poynting would seriously devote himself to putting such an hypothesisinto mathematical form, he would be rendering the one great service that is required of physicists in this connection. All that is needed, I imagine, is to show that the equations deduced from the one hypothesis are equally compatible with another diametrically opposed to it—surelya small thing to ask of mathematicians. The dialectical skill of those who are seeking to impose on the scientific world the ionic dissociation hypothesis as the only true faith is very remarkable. They #zws/ be near relatives of Maxwell’s demons, judging from the adroitness with which they extricate themselves from seemingly hopeless positions—no matter at what sacrifice, and the infinite elasticity of their views— which, indeed, are often so elastic that it matters little which way the argument turns. For example, in a recent discussion on accumulators at a meeting of the German Electro-chemical Society, the possibility of lead peroxide ions existing in solution having been suggested, it was urged that the presence of a few such would not suffice: whereupon Prof. Nernst said that this was no diffieulty—it was only necessary to bear in mind the readiness with which silver was separated from cyanide solu- tions, in which the number of silver ions was inconceivably small. If so few will suffice, why not try to do without them altogether, NO: 1413, VOE. 55] there is possibly a ° one is tempted to say. As another instance, I may refer to Mr. Whetham’s diplomatic action in at once offering to conclude a treaty of peace with Prof. Poynting by conceding the willing- ness of the ions, if necessary, to bear the water molecules on their backs or be chained to them as galley-slaves: formerly we were assured that ionic dissociation was purely platonic suicide, and that there were no Rhine maidens in the stream to attract the ions apart and bear them away. Of course, in preferring these terms, the effect is carefully left out of account which such copulation would have on the mystic charges carried by the ions ; hypothetical burdens which place them on a level far superior to that of any commonplace independent molecule, serving to keep them in bounds, and which permit of subtle dis- tinctions being made between ordinary and ionic dissociation— making the latter not dissociation at all, in fact, for ionists certainly ask both to keep their cake and eat it. Again, Mr. Whetham, I note, refers to ionic velocities. To me it seems impossible to believe that the ions are the infinite sluggards indicated in conventional time-tables such as those issued under Lodgian editorship—apparently with his approval ; with all due deference to such authority, we must decline to accept so slow a service, the more if we are to believe that the gaseous and liquid states are in any way dynamically comparable. It may perhaps be argued that the charges act as brakes—but surely such an argument is double-edged, for if we are to suppose that the freedom of the ions be thus clogged, liberty can scarcely be theirs to act as ordinary gaseous molecules in effecting pressure. I am free to confess that my condition of belief as to the existence of ‘‘atomic charges”? and any form of ionic d7ssocéa- Zzon is purely agnostic—but this is clearly an attitude which is abhorrent to those who are now arrogating to themselves the position of superior persons to whom has been granted the mission and plenary powers to reform an ancient society long steeped in superstition : to wit, the chemists. But the chemists’ chief concern has been, and still is, to establish facts, and by so doing, they have probably got nearer to the inner workings of nature than any other class of investigators: for such, the new inquisition has no terrors. In a paper, of which the Physical Society—in a most aggravating and reprehensible manner—publish but the first two pages in the current number of their journal, Prof. Larmor tells us ‘‘that the facts of chemical physics point to electrification. being distributed in an atomic manner, so that an atom of elec- tricity, say an electron, has the same claims to separate and per- manent existence as an atom of matter.” But is not this view based on a particular—I venture to say, a narrow—interpretation Do the facts of chemistry point to- such a view? Those who cultivate chemical physics haye a way of putting chemistry altogether aside, as a mere unimportant detail. Does it not entirely leave out of account the difficulties which the existence of so-called molecular compounds intro- duces ? Do physicists—do chemists even—in any way appreciate these? I have already elsewhere contended that if there be an electron, it must be capable of acting piecemeal—no discussion of the question from this point of view has yet been attempted. The facts must not be left out of account! There are many gifted mathematicians and physicists at the present day who are showing willingness to take such matters into consideration, but they are too prone to accept their facts at second-hand—often from those who, although nominally chemists, are destitute of chemical feeing—an indefinable instinct which, however, has a very real existence : consequently two parties are arising with no common ground between them. A Surely there is no need to be in so great a hurry—it is no dis- grace to admit that we cannot yet explain all the mysteries of the universe. Lord Kelvin told us recently that he knew no more of electric and magnetic force, or of the relation between ether, electricity and ponderable matter, or of chemical affinity, than he knew and tried to teach his students of natural philosophy fifty years ago in his first session as professor. And it should also not be forgotten that one to whom all yield respect has written: ‘‘It is extremely improbable that when we come to: | understand the true nature of electrolysis we shall retain in any form the theory of molecular charges, for then we shall have ob- tained a secure basis on which to form a true theory of electric currents, and so become independent of these provisional theories.” (Clerk Maxwell, “ Electricity and Magnetism.”) Meanwhile, do not let us pervert the morals of our student youth by talking glibly of atomic dissociation, and using a dog- matic phraseology which leads them to believe that we have received my proofs. NovEMBER 26, 1396] WA PURE reached finality and gives them totally false ideas as to what we know. It is so easy to make use of all that is good in the new work by substituting a neutral phrase, such as coefficient of activity, for coefficient of dissociation—for all that we have really done is to recognise that certain compounds exercise a superior degree of activity, and to measure the relative degree of activity of these. To substitute for common-sense expressions which all understand—and even to promulgate at County Council expense —a set of shibboleths which commit us to a definite hypothetical interpretation of the facts is unnecessary, undesirable, and un- scientific. Such metaphysical speculation is obviously doing the deepest injury to the cause of exact science. Henry E. ARMSTRONG. On the Publication of Original Work. Mucu has been written and said as to the facilities for the publication of original researches in this country. It is now becoming quite a regular custom for English comparative anatomists to publish their work in a foreign journal. Not only the morphologist, but also the systematist has found this necessary. One is naturally led to inquire why—with so many learned and wealthy societies in our midst—pub- lication cannot be effected so as to give the author the necessary printing and illustration in a style comparable with that of continental journals, and with a minimum amount of delay? In this country the only sources of publication for mono- graphs on zoological subjects are the PAz/. Trans. of the Royal Society, the Zyavs. Zool., and the Zrans. Lin., and of these it would naturally be supposed that the Zvans. Zool. is pre- eminently the place for such publications. But it will scarcely be credited that a wealthy Society like this, for some unknown reason, should allow in some cases as long as two-and-a-half years to elapse before publication of material received. Thus I find, on referring to volumes of the 7yavs., a paper received November 1, 1892, read December 20, 1892, was published in February 1895. Another, received December 5, 1892, read February 14, 1893, was published October 1895. Still another, received October 14, 1893, read November 7, 1893, was not printed till April 1896! These are examples chosen at random. There seems no obvious reason why any or all of these should not have been published within six months from the date of reception. A fourth instance, which I here wish to narrate, will, I trust, serve the purpose of showing zoologists the need of some more speedy means of publication. In the winter of 1894-95, I completed a piece of work on the suprarenal capsules in fishes, and was advised to offer it to the Zoological Society for publication. The paper was received, in the first instance, on June 6, and I hoped it would have been taken as read at a meeting of the Society held in that month. It was, however, not read till November 19, when Prof. Howes | was good enough to undertake it for me. It was ordered for publication in the Zyans., and now (November 14, 1896), nearly twelve months from the date of reading, I have not yet Surely such extraordinary delay as this ought not to be necessary. During such a long period I have found it necessary to keep pace with much literature bearing upon the subject ; but more than this, I have just suffered the chagrin of seeing a paper em- bodying a large slice of my results published by an Italian journal. Perhaps some others will be found to agree with me that some means ought to be found of getting earlier publication in comparative anatomy and allied subjects. In the minds of many, I feel sure, there can be little doubt that the Zoological Society should undertake such work. I do not wish to make out that I have been treated excep- tionally, or in any way unjustly. My experience has been no worse than that of many others. The officers of the Zoological Society have treated me with every courtesy, and have even allowed me to publish an abstract of my paper elsewhere. But, mevertheless, I fail to see why the work could not have been published within six months from the time of reception. SWALE VINCENT. Mason College, Birmingham, November 14. Cultivation of Woad. As supplementary to the article on the cultivation of woad, by Messrs. Darwin and Meldola, in Narure for November 12; it may further be stated that this plant has been grown besides 5 TO. Tae, Orn cS | at Parson Drove, at Boston, Wyberton, and Algarkirk, in the Lincolnshire Fenland, for a very long period. An account of its cultivation, with details of the process and preparing it for use, will be found in Arthur Young’s ‘“ Agricultural Survey of Lincolnshire,” published at the end of the last century. A more modern account will be found in ‘‘ The History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire,” recently published. This plant is not cultivated in any other part of England than the Fenland, and the total area grown altogether yearly does not, as a rule, exceed fifty acres. It requires very good land for its cultivation, and much rich old pasture land has been broken up for the purpose, for which as much as 10/7. an acre has been paid for rent, and 150/. to 200/. for purchase of the freehold. | The price obtained for woad was formerly about 252. a ton, but it has declined in recent times to 9/ or 10/7 The woad, when prepared for market, is not used for dyeing, but is mixed by woollen dyers with indigo to excite fermentation and fix the colour. Boston. W. H. WHEELER. WITH reference to your article on ‘* An English Woad Mill,” may I mention that Billingsley, in his book, published in 1798, on ‘* Agriculture in the County of Somerset,” mentions woad as an important article of cultivation, raised principally in the neighbourhood of Keynsham, near Bath. The mode of prepara- tion, described by Billingsley as in use one hundred years ago, closely resembles the description given in NATURE as in use at the present day. He adds that the crop is a profitable one ;_so lucrative, indeed, that few farmers who can raise it, ever dis- continue the practice. He also mentions that it was cultivated by one Harvey, more generally known as the ‘‘ Woad-man,” at a farm near Mells. The cultivation of woad does not appear, therefore, to have been so very rare in the last century ; but whether it is still cultivated in Somersetshire, I am unable to say. Rosa M. BARRETT. Kingstown, Dublin, November 14. ‘* X-rays with a Wimshurst Machine.” THeRe is an error, for which I am responsible, in my letter of July 24 (p. 31). The words kathode and anode should be inter- changed in one sentence, which should then read thus :—‘‘ The same reasoning would indicate that it would be well to make the anode convex towards the £athode, and fairly small. . . .” Eton, November 13. T. C. PORTER. FLYING BULLETS. @ets recently M. Tissandier, editor of La Nature, Z received from Prof. Mach, formerly Professor of Physics at Prague, now Professor of the history and theory of inductive science at Vienna, a letter contain- ing a photograph of a bullet in motion (Fig. 1). The photograph was taken by Prof. Mach’s son, and shows most clearly the waves of air caused by the bullet’s passage through the atmosphere. M. Tissandier, wishing for an explanation of the experiment and description of the apparatus, wrote to Prof. Mach, and received the accompanying diagram (Fig. 2), with the following short account. “My son took the photographs of the bullet by using a spherical silvered-glass mirror. MM is the mirror, P the bullet, ~ the screen, B the photographic apparatus, S$ the spark. The bullet causes a sonorous wave, by which the Leyden jar is mechanically discharged, and produces the spark s.” ; It may be added that the description of his first apparatus appeared in La Wa/ure of 1888. Our readers are also familiar with the photographs of flying bullets which were exhibited at the soirée of the Royal Society in May 1892. These were results of experiments made by Mr. Vernon Boys, obtained by a modification of an old method. One slide showed the small pieces of paper scattered by the bullet passing through a sheet, and these were carried on in the same direction as the bullet itself; whereas in the case of a magazine rifle bullet going through a sheet of glass, the shattered pieces of glass appeared to travel in an opposite NATURE NOVEMBER 26, 1896 a) Various kinds of bullets were photographs, direction to the bullet. | used for these some of aluminium, in Fic. 1.—Photograph of a bullet in motion. order to obtain a greater velocity, which varied from 750 to 3000 feet per second; the former being the M—_—___m | | KS | As /\ FP aes Neves lyf / \ ! 4 \ | 4 = ae le B hic. 2.—Arrangement for the photography of a bullet in motion. average velocity of a pistol shot, the latter of a magazine rifle. | chloroform ; and physiological research. In 1856 he obtained the Astley Cooper Triennial prize of £300 for the best essay on the coagulation of the blood, and from that time forward his life was one of incessant professional and literary activity. He devoted much time to the investi- gation of the action of anzesthetics, and to an endeavour to discover some agent which should be superior to but, of the many compounds with which he experimented, only one, the bichloride of methylene, has in any way held its ground, and that only in the hands of a few administrators. This inquiry led him to the discovery in connection with which his name is best known, viz. the application of ether spray for the local abolition of pain in surgical operations. Among the | many other subjects w hich he advanced by experimental study are: the restoration of life after various forms of apparent death ; methods of killing animals without the infliction of pain ; effects of electricity upon animal life ; and alcohol in relation to its action on man. He also introduced into medical and surgical practice many valuable preparations, among others the ethylate of sodium ; and his investigations largely contributed to | the attainment of a w orking know ledge of the properties | and uses of nitrate of amyl. In 1864, “in recognition of his various contributions to science and medicine,” he was presented, by six hundred members of his profession, with a testimonial consisting of a microscope by Ross and one thousand guineas. Sir Benjamin Richardson’s contributions to magazines, journals and transactions are innumerable. He originated and for a time edited the Journal of Public Health, after- wards called the Social Science Review, and for the last twelve years he has maintained a quarterly medical journal, the Asclepiad, of about 150 pages, every line of which has been of his own composition. On the very day of his fatal seizure he had completed the revision of the proofs of a new book entitled ‘‘ Memories and Ideals.” He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867, . and was the Croonian lecturer in 1873. He received the honour of knighthood in 1893, and, among other dis- tinctions, was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, of the Royal College of Physicians of London, and of the Faculty of Phy: sicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He was M.A., M. D., and LL.D. of St. Andrews ; Fother- gillian gold medallist ; and past President of the Medical Society of London. Thus for more than forty years Sir Benjamin Richard- son devoted his energies to the solution of the question, “How shall pain, disease—nay, death itself as an enemy —be swept from the earth, as vanquished enemies of every race?” By his efforts to relieve pain and remove the pangs of death, and for the attention which he gave to other questions connected with his noble profession, he claims the gratitude of humanity. Sir Benjamin Richardson leaves a widow and two sons and a daughter. Sik B. W. RICHARDSON, F.R.S. Gi BENJAMIN WARD RICHARDSON, whose death we regretfully announce, will be remembered more widely on account of his many lucid contributions to popular medical literature, and as an attractive lecturer on scientific subjects, than for his additions to medical knowledge. His great and versatile talents do not, how- ever, diminish his claims to distinction as a physician of much originality of mind and a careful investigator ; and these are the qualities which has earned for him the high esteem of men of science. Sir Benjamin Richardson was born at Somerby, in the county of Leicester, in 1828, and graduated in medicine at the University of St. Andrews in 1854. After a short experience as general practitioner, he removed to London in order to devote himself to medical WAS eaVOLES (5 NO NO NOTES. in memory Father Secchi, the former Collegio Romano Observatory, has been erected at Reggio (Emilia), where he was born. The sum of 78,000 francs was publicly subscribed for this purpose. A MONUMENT of Director of the THE British Medical Fournal states that the long-standing question of providing a statue to Darwin in his native town (Shrewsbury) has been settled by the Shropshire Horticultural Society undertaking to defray the entire cost, estimated at from £1000 to £1200. THE announced of Dr. F. Saccardo, professor of natural sciences at the school of viticulture at Avellino, a recognised authority on the diseases of the vine, and a writer on lichenology. death is NOVEMBER 26, 1896] NATURE SI THE competition of horseless carriages for the prizes, amount- ing to 1100 guineas, offered by the Zxgineer, will take place at the Crystal Palace next May. The trials were to have taken place during the past summer, but in deference to the wishes of intending competitors it was postponed until next year. AN application of Réntgen rays to paleontology is recorded in the British Medical Fourna?. M. Lemoine, of Rheims, recently showed to the Paris Biological Society the c/chés of Rontgen photographs of fossils embedded in the chalk strata of Rheims. M. Lemoine is reported to have thus photographed a series of fossil birds, reptiles, and mammals. WE regret to announce the deaths of the following men of science abroad :—Dr. E. A. G. Baumann, Professor of Physi- ological Chemistry in the University of Freiburg; Dr. R. Kerry, Director of the Bacteriological Institute of the Agri- cultural Ministry at Vienna; Dr. Eugen Sell, Extraordinary Professor of Chemistry in the University of Berlin; and Dr. S. Cornelius, Titular Professor of Physics in the University of Halle. THE sixtieth anniversary of Prof. James Hall's public services to science, as State Geologist of New York, was celebrated by a special meeting at Buffalo, during the recent assembly of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A full report of the appreciative remarks made on that occasion by Prof. Joseph Le Conte, on behalf of the Geological Society of America, with the addresses and papers presented as tribute to the Nestor of paleontology and the founder of American Stratigraphy, appears in the issue of Sczesce for November 13. WE learn from the Zzes that Mr. David Robertson, a well- known Cumbrae naturalist, died at Millport on the 2oth inst., at the age of ninety. He wasa native of Glasgow, but for the last forty years he lived at Millport, and devoted much attention to the study of the natural history of the west of Scotland. In company with Dr. John Murray, of the C/ad/enger expedition, he dredged the greater part of the Firth of Clyde; and largely through Dr. Robertson's efforts the foundation-stone of a_per- manent marine station was lately laid. Two years ago the University of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of LL.D. WE regret to announce the sudden death of Mr. Arthur Dowsett at his residence, Castle Hill House, Reading, on Friday morning, the 6th inst. Mr. Dowsett was well known to a large circle of friends as an enthusiastic lover of natural history, and he had made large and valuable collections of or- nithological and entomological specimens. He was one of the founders of the Reading Natural History Society, of which he acted as president from 1882 until the time of his death. He was scarcely ever absent from one of the Society’s indoor meet- ings, and had greatly endeared himself to all the members by his kindly genial disposition and unfailing readiness to do any- thing to further their aims and objects. He was a Fellow of the Zoological and Entomological Societies, In his presidential address to the Royal Statistical Society, last week, Mr. John Biddulph Martin counted as enemies to statis- tical science the laborious compilers of figures which were of no value when obtained, and those who aimed at minute accuracy in figures when it was impossible to estimate, save approximately. The physical investigator who expresses his results to four or five places of decimals when he cannot determine one cf the factors within a probable error of one per cent., comes in this category. It was through extravagances of this kind that M. Thiers defined statistics as the art of stating in precise terms things which one does not know. Dealing with the graphic method of expressing statistical totals by geometrical figures, accompanied in some NO; 1413, VOL. 55 | cases by the employment of colours, Mr. Martin regretted that the use of the method, which had sprung up automatically, had not been developed on any conventional lines. Were the em« ployment of particular graphic forms invariably applied to the | exposition of the same phenomena, and if this conventional agreement could be made international, the interpretation of Statistics graphically presented would be vastly facilitated. IN the Jlathematical Gazette for October, Mr. R. F. Muirhead points out that Newton’s law of impact as stated in text-books does not apply to cases when three or more bodies are in simultaneous collision, and, moreover, it appears that the problem is not a determinate one unless some further assumption ismade. Thus in the case of three spheres colliding together, if the collisions are not perfectly simultaneous, the final velocities of separation depend on the order in which the two first collisions take place. It would be interesting to: test this last result experimentally. SEPARATE records of the rainfall in the day and night are ot much greater value to medical men than a knowledge of the mean rainfall of each month. Mr. W. W. Wagstaffe points out the advisability of keeping such records separately ; and he gives, in the Zavcet, the results of ten years’ observations of the relative fall of rain in the day and night at Sevenoaks, taking the day to be from 10 a.m. to sunset: The mean annual rainfall for the day was 40 inches, and for the night 60 inches. An examination of his records shows that in winter the nights are much wetter than the days, and in spring and autumn they are also wetter, but the difference is less marked. In summer the excess of rain at night is found to be much less. marked than in the other seasons. A sHoRT time ago Mr. J. H. Hart mentioned, in the BaZete of miscellaneous information published at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, that there was evidence of the attack of fungi on timber or trees previous to the destruction of the wood by Termitidz. He returns to the subject in the October Bz/leczz, wherein he states that the mycelium of a fungus could be readily traced in all parts of the tissue of a number of specimens attacked by Termites. That it is really a fungus which attacks the wood, the experiments at Trinidad prove conclusively, and that Termites follow the attack is also clearly shown. The only doubtful point is whether the wood ants do at any time or in any case attack sound timber. So far as observations at present go, it seems that the primary cause of the destruction of wood by Termites is the mycelium of some fungus. To the University of Illinois belongs the honour of having established, under the direction of Prof. S. A. Forbes, the first fresh-water University Biological Station in America with an adequate equipment. The centre of operations is a commodious boat, having a laboratory in which fifteen workers can be accom- modated. This floating laboratory was moored at Quiver Lake, two miles north of Havana, during the past summer. How very attractive this district is, both from a scenic point of view, and from the standpoint of the naturalist engaged in investigation, may be gathered from an illustrated article in Zhe Ziind of November 6. Quiver Lake is the home of myriads of water- fowl ; it abounds in vegetation, and the microscopical life of the water is equally abundant and varied. It seems to bea paradise for students of natural history ; so we are not surprised that the full complement of investigators occupied the boat during the months of June, July, and August, and made observations of value to biological science. Tue technical papers are almost unanimous in their adverse criticisms of the recent motor car show. Zngzneering says : ‘* To the thoughtful engineer, last week's saturnalia could not have ie) NATURE [| NovEMBER 26, 1896 een otherwise than a melancholy spectacle. . The proceed- ngs only further illustrated what was pretty well known before —that at present the science of designing mechanical road carriages isin a very elementary stage, and much remains to be done before it can be claimed that a motor car has been pro- duced fit to take its place on the highway as a commercially successful carriage, and one which can be relied upon to do general work in competition with horse-drawn vehicles.” The Electrician yemarks: ‘‘The adaption of electricity to the requirements of vehicular traffic is, in our opinion, still in the embryonic stage ; and that being so, it is decidedly premature to float public companies on the basis of mere estimated profits. There is so very little to go upon, electrically speaking, and that little is so very discouraging, that no sober-minded engineer would care to countenance an appeal for funds at the present juncture, and pledge his reputation that with ordinary care the investment would, within a reasonable period, prove sufficiently renumerative to compensate for the risk run.” The Zéectrécal Review holds the same opinion, and shows that the scheme for using accumulator-driven cabs in London cannot be a success even with the accumulators of ‘special patented design” referred to by company promoters. ‘‘It behoves electrical engineers to seriously and conscientiously study the question,” says our contemporary, ‘‘in hopes of some day finding the requisite and proper electric vehicle, as distinguished from the mere car of the promoting ‘ Juggernaut’ whose pathway is strewed with the wasted gold of a confiding and credulous public.” TAILED men have again turned up. Six years ago, in the course of a visit to the Indo-Chinese region, between 11° and 12° lat. and 104° and 106° long., M. Paul d’Enjoy captured an individual of the Moi race, who had climbed a large tree to gather honey. In descending, he applied the sole of his feet to the bark ; in fact, he climbed like a monkey. To the surprise of the author and his Annamite companions, their prisoner had a caudal appendage. He conversed with them, swaggered in his savage pride, and showed that he was more wily than a Mongolian, which, as the author adds, is, however, a very diffi- cult matter. M. d’Enjoy saw the common dwelling of the tribe to which this man belonged, but the other people had fled ; it consisted of a long, narrow, tunnel-like hut made of dry leaves. Several polished stones, bamboo pipes, copper bracelets and bead necklaces were found inside ; these had doubtless been obtained from the Annamites of the frontier. The Moi used barbed arrows which are anointed with a black sirupy violent poison. The tail is not their only peculiarity. All the Mois whom M. (Enjoy has seen in the settlements have very accentuated ankle- bones, looking like the spurs of a cock. All the neighbouring nations treat them as brutes, and destroy these remarkable people, who, the author believes, to have occupied primitively the whole Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The Moi skulls described by MM. Verneau and Zaborowski were certainly by no means those of pure natives: they were taken from graves ; but the settled Moi burn their dead, and place the ashes in bamboo pots, or in ratan baskets, considering their spirits as protective divini- ties. As this somewhat sensational account has been published by our esteemed contemporary ? Anthropologie Tome vii., No. 5), we must treat it with respect ; and we hope it will not be long before these tailed men are carefully described by a trained scien- tific observer. A VERY remarkable archeological find was made this summer near Perm, on the hilly left bank of the Kama, at the village Glyadenovo, In June last, M. Sergueeff, a member of the Perm Archives Committee, discovered at that spot traces of an earthen fort and of an extensive burial-place of the old, still problematic inhabitants of old Russia, the so-called Chuds. NOMA TS VOR 55) Systematic excavations having now been made in the five feet thick layer of bone-ashes of that burial-place, perhaps the richest known collection of Chud implements was unearthed. No less than 100 earthenware vessels, and cart-loads of broken pieces of earthenware were found. These broken pieces are ornamented with all sorts of figures, giving a full insight into the life of the inhabitants. Men sitting on horseback and in small boats, nine engravings of bees and flies, fifty-nine engravings of birds, 102 of different mammals, ten of snakes, were found on that earthenware, besides three masks and one head of mammals, one big silver plate representing a man who stands on some animal, and eight smaller silver plates, 141 bronze plates, several bronze statuettes, and an immense number of rings, stars, bells, small models of sledges, thimbles, arrow- heads, hatches, knives, 390 gilded bronze pearls, fishing hooks, skulls of stags, various carnivorous animals, &c., were dis- covered. In short, a full picture of the life of the Chud is given by this unique collection ; the only difficulty being now to find where to house it, as the Perm ‘‘ Museum ”’ is nothing but a small apartment, hired for the exhibition of some antiquities of this extremely interesting region. j THE increasing part played by reading in the life of civilised man has resulted in the wide prevalence of myopia, astigmatism, and kindred disorders. Myopia would, however, be rare if the eye were never fatigued ; soa paper by Harold Grifhng and S. I. Franz, in the Psychodogécal Review, on the physical conditions of fatigue in reading, and the best means of avoiding it, should be of service. From their experiments the authors conclude that the size of type is the all-important condition of visual fatigue. No type less than 1°5 mm. in height should be used, the fatigue increasing rapidly even before the size becomes as small as this. The intensity of illumination is apparently of little consequence within the limits of daylight in well-lighted rooms. Very low intensities, less than from 3 to 1o candle- metres, are sources of even greater fatigue than small type, and 100 c.m. may be considered a safe limit. White light rather than yellow light should be used for artificial illumination. The form of-the type is of less importance than the thickness of the letters. White paper should be used, though it is possible that the greater amount of light reflected from pure white paper may cause some fatigue. Additional ‘* leading” or spacing between the lines is also recommended. These conclusions should be especially known to publishers of school books. From the Tokys Mathematico-Physical Society we have received a copy of their Az (Proceedings), including papers by Prof. D. Kikuchi, on Agima’s method of finding the length of an arc of a circle, and by K. Tsuruta, on the magnetisation of iron wires traversed by electric currents. The latter paper is illustrated by diagrams showing the changes which take place in the curves of magnetisation, of susceptibility and of cyclic magnetisation when currents of different strength are passed through the wire. same in whatever direction the current is passed through the | Wire, in this respect differing from a result previously obtained by Prof. C. G. Knott. THE revival of an old controversy in a new form, in connection with the application of corpuscular and undulatory theories to kathodic rays, has led to a rather interesting mathematical investigation by Dr. A. Garbasso, published in the Adz dee Lincet. The author's object was to determine whether the well- known effects of an electric or magnetic field in deflecting these rays could be accounted for on the undulatory theory, and he considers particularly the effect of a uniform magnetic field in imparting to these rays a helicoidal form. The equations obtained by Dr. Garbasso seem to show that the latter phenomenon cannot be accounted for on the hypothesis of trans- The author finds that the effects are the’ ae. NovEMBER 26, 1896] NATURE Sia: yerse vibrations, at any rate if the surfaces of equal refractive index are parallel planes. Dr. Garbasso does not seem, how- ever, to introduce any considerations of the ‘‘ Hall effect” into his calculations ; whether the latter phenomenon has any bearing on the question or not, is quite another matter. Dr. E. ODDONE has recently examined the seismic record of Liguria during the last century (1796-1895), in order to determine whether the frequency of earthquakes in that district is subject to any periodic laws. The record is a non-instrumental one, and the results derived from it have not therefore the same value as those obtained from a seismometric catalogue. Dr. Oddone shows that the supposed nocturnal prevalence of earthquakes is here insensible, but there is a daily period with its maximum between 6and7a.m. The two halves of the century do not exhibit the same distribution of earthquakes throughout the year, and in the latter half (during which the record is most complete}, earthquakes are equally numerous in the summer and winter months. They are less frequent during years of maximum solar activity, and vce versd, so that there appears to be a period of eleven years, and possibly also one of about twice this length. WE have received a work on Earth Temperatures at Mustiala, by Dr. T. Homén, being part 9, vol. xxi. of the Acéa of the Society of Sciences of Finland. The Agricultural Institute of Mustiala is situated in lat. 60° 49’ N., and long. 23° 47’ E.; the observations were taken both near the Institute and atthe woody district of Heinais, about seven miles to the north, during the years 1885-94, at various depths, and are printed 7 extenso, together with monthly means and yearly extremes. They are discussed with a view to showing the influence of rainfall and snow-covering upon the temperature of the earth, and are also compared with similar observations at Pavlovsk and St. Peters- burg. The first regular observations of earth temperature in Finland were made at Sodankyla during the international polar expeditions of the years 1882-4 ; the present work, therefore, fills an important gap in the knowledge of the natural phenomena of that country, and will, no doubt, repay the large amount of careful labour bestowed upon it. Pror. W. H. Jutius has devised a very neat apparatus for eliminating all small moyements due to vibrations from delicate instruments, such as galvanometers, &c. Last year (in the Wied. Ann., 56, p. 151) he described this method, and a note on the subject was made in these columns (NATURE, vol. lii. p. 578). Quite recently he has given an account of a modified form ot ap- paratus into which instruments to be shielded from these vibra- tions can be placed. This apparatus consists practically of a kind of framework, suspended by three wire cords, into which the instrument to be used is placed. It is found that, under these conditions, vibrations which otherwise would have disturbed the instrument are nearly eliminated. There are, however, certain conditions to be fulfilled to reduce such vibrations toa minimum ; | for instance, it is advisable so to arrange the centre of gravity of the whole apparatus, with the instrument included, that this point should fall in the plane in which the three lower extremities of the wires are connected to the framework. Further, if there be any special point in the instrument in question which must be shielded from any influence or vibration—such as, for instance, the quartz or silk thread of a galvanometer—this point should also be brought into the same plane. The apparatus which Prof. Julius has devised is arranged to fulfil these requirements. It consists of three rods placed parallel to one another in triangular form, and coupled together at their extremities by two metal hoops. This framework is suspended by three metal wires, the latter extremities of which are fixed to it at three points near their middle parts, lying ina plane between two hoops, referred to above ; a third hoop is placed which can slide lengthways along the three rods. It is on this that the instru- ment to be freed from vibrations is placed. To bring the whole NO. 1413, VOL. 55 | centre of gravity toa point in the plane of the three points of suspension, the framework is suspended horizontally temporarily by one of the wires ; and the balance of the apparatus, with the mstrument attached, is obtained by varying the position of the three weights placed near the ends of the rods for that purpose. The adjustment of that special part of the instrument which must be freed from vibration, is made by placing this, as near as possible, at the centre of gravity. To deaden any movements in the whole apparatus, three fan-shaped appendages are fixed to the hooks to which the wires are attached, and these are intended to be immersed in vessels filled with paraffin. The apparatus itself seems, from all accounts, to overcome the difficulties occasionally met in freeing delicate instruments from minute tremors. After being once accurately suspended, the chief difficulty in its adjustment is practically at an end. Supplied with the apparatus is also a small bracket, which can be fixed to the ceiling or beam, from which the apparatus can be suspended. Mr. G. CG; WurepLe reprints from the Zechnology Quarterly (Boston, U.S.A.) an interesting paper on the growth of diatoms, especially in relation to the purity or impurity of drinking water. An abundant food supply is not the only favourable condition for the rapid increase of diatoms; temperature, the amount of light, and other conditions also influence their growth. In common with other chlorophyllaceous plants, they will not grow in the dark; while, on the other hand, bright sunlight kills them. The intensity of the light below the surface of the water being influenced by the colour of the water, diatoms are found most abundantly in light-coloured waters. Different genera, however, present differences in this respect ; J/e/oszra does not require so much light as Syeda. The weather has a marked influence on their growth. They increase most rapidly during those seasons of the year when the water is in circulation throughout the vertical. During these periods, not only is food material more abundant ; the vertical currents keep the diatoms near the surface, where there is light enough to stimulate their growth, and where there is abundance of air. Some species of diatom display very strong heliotropism, moving towards the source of light. Tue two latest additions to the Encyclopédie Scientifique des Aide-Mémoire are :—‘‘ Les Accumulateurs électriques,” by F. Loppe, and *L)Eclairage : Felairage électrique,” by Prof. J. Lefevre. The volumes set forth clearly and well the principles which have their applications in those branches of electrical engineering expressed by the titles. Ar the Royal Victoria Hall on December 1, Dr. W. D. Halliburton, F.R.S., will lecture on ‘‘ Painlessness,’”’ in com- memoration of the jubilee of the discovery of anzesthetics ; and on December 8, Dr. W. F. Hume will take ‘* From the Crimea to Baku” as the subject of a discourse. A few months ago (vol. liv. p. 232) Dr. Hume contributed an account of the great oil region of Baku to these columns. THE experiments of M. H. Bazin ‘‘ upon the contraction: of the liquid vein issuing from an orifice, and upon the distribution of the velocities within it,” clearly advanced the knowledge of the important and difficult question of the liquid vein. The memoir, in which the investigation was described, has been translated by Mr. John C. Trautwine, and published by Messrs. John Wiley and Sons. Hydraulic engineers and mathematical physicists will be glad to have this authorised translation in a handy volume form. Mr. W. Doserck, the Director of Hongkong Observatory, has sent us a copy of his report on the work done during 1895. All the typhoons—about 250—observed since the observatory was established in 1884, have now been investigated, and Mr. Figg, in conjunction with Mr. Doberck, is at present engaged (ove) 4 NATURE [ NovEMBER 26, 1896 in studying the laws of storms on the basis of these investiga- tions. Meteorological observations are made at the Treaty Ports and transmitted to the observatory, and the hope is enter- tained that the number of ports from which such information is telegraphed will be greatly extended ; for there is no meteoro- logical service in China, and the data at present collected is insufficient. THE Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society was founded so long ago as February 28, 1781, the number of original members being twenty-four. Some interest, therefore, attaches to the complete list, just issued, of the members and officers from the institution of the Society to April of this year. In the same publication are bibliographical lists of the manu- script volumes dealing with the affairs of the Society, and of the volumes of the JZemozvs and Proceedings issued by the Society. There are also two appendices setting forth the original rules adopted and the objects of the meetings. In looking through the 7yazsactzons lately received from three local scientific societies, the fact brought tosmind that practically all such societies are concerned with natural history, is scarcely any attention being paid to physical science. In the Transactions of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society are papers on bacteria and their importance in nature, Coleoptera of Bradgate Park, and insects in relation to the fertilisation of flowers. The Natural History Zyazsactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne—the publication of the Tyne-Side Naturalists’ Field Club, founded fifty years ago—contains papers on Entomostraca collected in the Solway district and at Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, during 1894, a catalogue of the spiders of Northumberland and Durham, and the results of a systematic study of pollen. In the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society are several really valuable papers. The President, Mr. II. D. Geldart, devotes his address to the consideration of the distribu- tion of flowering plants in the Arctic regions, and strives to show that the commonly accepted hypothesis of the migration to and fro of the Arctic flora with the greater or less intensity of cold is not consistent with facts, but that plants have held their own in their old localities in spite of the intense glaciation to which they have been subjected. Mr. Geldart is also associated with Colonel Feilden in two interesting papers on Arctic Botany. Among other papers are some instructive notes on the Flora of Great Yarmouth and its neighbourhood, by. Mr. G. B. Harris; and Mr. Stacy Watson contributes an account of the herring fishery from that port and Lowestoft. Some observations on the rare New Zealand Owl, Sce/oglaux albifaces, in captivity, with a figure, are contributed by Mr. J. H. Gurney, and Prof. Newton follows with a note on an early record of the breeding of the Spoonbill in Norfolk ; while Mr. Miller Christy notes a reference to an occurrence of a Narwhal in the same county in the year 1588. A list of the Mollusca of Norfolk is given by Mr. Mayfeld; Mr. Preston continues his long series of Meteorological Notes for the neighbourhood of Norwich ; and Mr. Southwell describes interesting recent additions to the Norwich Castle Museum. THE Journal of the Asiatic Soctety of Bengal (vol. |xv. part 2, p- 66) contains an investigation of the decomposition of aqueous olutions of sodium hypochlorite at the temperature of boiling water, by Jyotibhushan Bhaduri. It is of interest that solutions containing from 1°5 to 1°7 per cent. of the hypochlorite, decompose less rapidly than those of any other concentration. The decomposition results in the formation not only of sodium chlorate, but also of considerable quantities of free oxygen. IN the current number of the Comptes rendus M. A. Leduc gives an account of some further experiments on the densities of oxygen and nitrogen, the repetition of the determinations o NO. I413, VOL. 55] the latter being necessitated by the discovery of argon. The nitrogen was prepared from four distinct sources (ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrite, nitric oxide, and ammonia), every possible precaution being taken to ensure the purity of the gas. For the flask employed, all the weights of nitrogen found fell between 2°8467 grams and 2°8474 grams, the mean result corresponding to a relative density of 0°9671 (air=1). The experiments with the oxygen obtained by the electrolysis of potash solution were also repeated, greater precautions being taken to remove all traces of hydrogen, while, in a second set of experiments, oxygen obtained by the action of heat upon potassium permanganate was employed, the mean relative density being 1°10523, a slight increase on the earlier results. By taking the values found for the densities of chemical and atmospheric nitrogen, together with the results of M. Schleesing, jun., on the ratio of argon to nitrogen in atmospheric nitrogen, the value 19°8 is found for the density of argon compared with hydrogen. The close agreement between this and the value found directly (19°94), affords a useful check upon the results, THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Sykes’s Monkey (Cercopethecus albigu- farts, é) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Gooding; a Squirrel Monkey (Chv-ysothrix scturea) from Guiana, presented by ‘Mr. James W. Wells; a White-fronted Lemur (Lemur albifrons) from Madagascar, presented by Mr. Richard A, Todd ; a Red-bellied Squirrel (Sczzus vartegatus) from Mexico, presented by Mr. James Meldrum; a Vulpine Phalanger (Zrichosurus vulpecula) from Australia, presented by Mr. George Turner ; two Brown Mynahs (Acridotheres fuscus) from India, presented by Mr. H. Nowell; a Mute Swan (Gygnus olor), British, presented by Mr. J. Culling ; a Hawk’s-billed Turtle (Chelone cmbricata) from tropical seas, deposited. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. STARS WITH PECULIAR SPECTRA.—A recent examination of some of the Draper Memorial photographs, by Mrs. Fleming, has resplted in finding some interesting cases of peculiar spectra (Harvard College Circular, No..12). The spectrum of — 39 3939 is described as very remarkable, and unlike any other as yet obtained. Three systems of lines cross the continuous spectrum. First the dark hydrogen lines and K, then two bright bands or lines at approximate wave-lengths 4652 and 4698. A third series has for the wave-lengths of its lines 3814, 3857, 3923. 4028, 4203, and 4505, the last being faint. These latter six lines form a rhythmical series similar to that of hydrogen, and ‘‘apparently are due to some element not yet found in other stars or on the earth.” Balmer’s formula was not capable of representing this series, but a modification of it gave the wave-lengths of the lines as 3812, 3858, 3928, 4031, 4199, and 4504. The only other line found in the spectrum was 4620, being apparently independent of the series just men- tioned. The star R.A. (1900) 12h. 26°9m. Decl. — 57° I’ is a new variable in Crux. Its period is about a year, and its photo- graphic magnitude is deduced as being 10°3 at maximum, and | fainter than 13°2 at minimum N.G.C. 6302 was found on July g, 1896, to contain the bright lines characteristic of gaseous nebule. The stars designated +44°3649 and +44°3679 have similar spectra, containing two bright bands ‘‘ resembling, ~ and perhaps identical with, those in the spectrum of ¢ Puppis.” Miss Louisa D. Wells has found a new variable in Cygnus, its approximate position for 1900 being R.A. 2th. 38°8m.. Decl. +43° 8’. It has a period of about forty days, and fluctuates between 7°2 and 11°2 photographic magnitudes. This range is somewhat considerable for such a short period variable. THE LEoNIDS.—From the account of the Leonid meteors given in the last number of NATURE, it would have been gathered that the shower was after all only a very ordinary one, the time of maximum being estimated as having occurred during the early part of the night of the 14th. An observer, who has written to the Dumfries and Galloway Courter and Herald NovEMBER 26, 1896] NATURE 85 (November 18), seems, however, to indicate that the morning of the 15th was far richer in meteors, as the following extract indicates : ‘* At that hour (Sunday, 3 a.m.), however, we looked out, and finding that a few stars were ‘on the shoot,’ began to watch for them. Till well after four o’clock there were not many visible ; something like one every two or three minutes. By five o'clock they markedly increased, and from 5.15 to 5.45, there was quite a shower, and between these times we counted over sixty meteors. Once three ‘came away’ almost simul- taneously, and another time two flashed out together. Nearly all of them were very small, and had very short and very swilt flight, and many were scarcely more than just visible. There was one brilliant exception that shot out from the feet of the Twins, and disappeared near Orion’s belt, that was of first mag- nitude, and left a red streak that remained for twelve or fifteen seconds afterwards. At six o'clock the meteors seemed almost suddenly to cease, and shortly afterwards our vigil came to an end.” M. PERROTIN, director of M. Bischoffsheim’s private observa- tory at Nice, has resigned his post in order to become an observer at the Meudon Astro-physical Observatory. MR. BALFOUR ON SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. f{ Rk. ARTHUR BALFOUR was the principal guest at the Cutlers’ Feast at Sheffield last Thursday evening. In the course of his reply to the toast ‘‘ Her Majesty’s Ministers ” he referred to scientific education jin Germany, and the relations between science and manufacture. It is satisfactory to know that these subjects are now occupying the minds of our political leaders, and that such sound views should be expressed on the value of scientific research, and the true meaning of technical education, as those contained in the subjoined 7zmes’ report of Mr. Balfour’s speech :— “«T think that, though we have not much to fear from the action of other nations, we have much to learn from the action of other nations. I have already said that I think John Bull requires the occasional stimulus of a panic to make him do his best. He is like a noble horse dragging a load, well within his weight, who perhaps gets a little slow in his action unless occasionally he hears the crack of the whip. I think that, though I do not envy the growth of German manufactures—taking Germany for example—though I neither envy the growth of German manufactures, nor fear the growth of German manufactures, though I do not think that German prosperity can be other than in the long run a help to British prosperity, still I am not so blind as to think, with regard to a nation which gives itself over with such fervour to everything which can by discipline and education promote its material prosperity, that we have nothing to learn by the study of its proceedings. I believe we have a good deal to learn, and I think it behoves us to learn it. Lord Rosebery desired that an inquiry should be made into the topics on which I am venturing to arrest your attention to-night. That inquiry is being made, or is partly being made, by the depart- ment of the Government concerned. I do not profess to give the results of these inquiries, but it is an undoubted fact that the Germans do think it, rightly or wrongly, to be worth while to spend money Imperially, municipally, and privately upon those branches of scientific research which have a direct bearing upon manufactures to an extent and degree absolutely unknown in this country, which surely ought to take the lead in all commercial matters. I have been informed by a gentleman who has recently come from an examination of these technical institutions in Germany that there are at this moment in Ger- many no fewer than six great technical institutions for the study of electrical matters alone, which are superior to anything of the kind which we have in this country. The witness of whom I speak was not a prejudiced witness. He went to Germany with no preconceived views either for or against the method of technical instruction there pursued, and I have faithfully detailed to you the information I gained. I am further informed, on evidence the value of which I cannot for a moment doubt, that, while the Government and the municipalities spend these vast sums in producing a great body of trained experts, the great manufacturers in Germany, to an extent altogether un- known in this country, employ a large body of investigators on their own account on their own premises, taking advantage of every discovery that can be made, and in so far as may be make NO. 1413, VOL. 55] discoveries for themselves. I do not comment upon the fact; I simply state the fact to you. I should be reluctant to say how great is the adyantage which any country thus liberally disposed is likely to reap. It may be that the Germans have been squandering their money in unremunerative investigation, and that they will not get in the shape of national profit any result for what they have done. That may be so, but I remember the late Mr. Bagehot’s pointing out that one of the great advan- tages that England had over every other nation in the world was this—that when any discovery was made, when any new outlet of industry was invented, the amount of disposable English capital was so great that England reaped the chief benefit from it. Now this is the question I want to put. Is not Germany, by bringing into existence this vast body of fine specialists, pre- paring itself to make the utmost use of any possible advances in scientific manufactures which may be made? Is it not likely that it will have the advantage, as compared with other nations, in turning to account the smallest hint in any direction, in developing any discovery however slight, in making the most of any advance, however small that advance may be? That question I put to men incomparably more qualified to answer it than I am myself.” “But I think the question is worth putting in the great manu- facturing centres of this country, and I would ask them not to be put off—I do not think Sheffield is likely to be put off— but I will ask any who read my words not to be put off with the idea that what is called technical instruction, by which I mean manual instruction in arts and crafts, however good in itself, has anything to do with the particular kind of education of which I am speaking. It has nothing to do with it. Educa- tion in the first three standards of your primary schools has more to do with the higher University training than the manual education of which I speak has to do with the technical educa- tion which I desire for the country. For the education in your primary schools is, after all, a necessary preliminary of your University education. You must learn to read, you must learn to write, you must learn to do arithmetic before you can take advantage of what Oxford and Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow, have to give you, but still education in the three R’s leads up to all this knowledge, but the manual education called technical does not lead up to and has no relation to or connection whatever with that scientific education of which I speak. England became a great manufacturing country, the greatest manufacturing country which the world has ever seen, before the intimate relation of organised science to manufactures was thoroughly understood. I fear that in some quarters it may still be a fact that the relation between science and manufactures is not thoroughly grasped, and there may still be some who think that money spent in what appears to be abstract investigations far removed from the practical things of life has but a small effect on national well-being and national commerce. If any hold that view, believe me, they are profoundly mistaken. They have not followed the course of human knowledge, they have not kept abreast of human progress, and if we have leeway to make up in this matter, if we have to learn a lesson which perhaps came easier to the Germans than it did to us, let us hasten, at all events, to learn that lesson completely, and then I doubt not we shall—even in the eyes of the most pessimistic critic—continue to hold that position which hitherto we have held unchallenged, and then British manufactures, British industry, British capital may still maintain throughout the world the supremacy they have so long held and so well deserved.” THE LONG PERIOD WEATHER FORECASTS OF INDIA. IN days when the cxz bono of everything connected with scientific research is subjected to the glare of criticism by a public which is frequently too busy to analyse or understand the laborious methods by which accurate knowledge is attained, the Meteorological Service of India poses as a happy exception to that of many other scientific departments in being able to demon- strate its practical utility by the success, not merely of its every- day routine forecasts, but by its unique initiation and develop- ment of seasonal or long-period forecasts of the alternate monsoons. The foundations so carefully laid by the late Mr. Blanford, have enabled his successor, Mr. Eliot, to realise the expectations he so hopefully expressed years ago regarding the important role that India would play in the future development of meteorology. 86 NATURE [| NoveMBER 26, 1896 Beginning with a few empirical sequences first suggested by Blanford, the principles on which the seasonal forecasts, issued semi-annually from the Simla Office, are now based, are every year becoming more rational and trustworthy, and recognising the immense practical service of such a system to the country, the Government have recently sanctioned the establishment of fresh observing stations in Persia, a cable to the Seychelles, and the continuation of the monsoonal charts of the Indian Ocean, which have already thrown considerable fresh light upon the conditions which regulate the normal and abnormal development of the weather characteristics of each monsoon in different years. The exceptional feature possessed by India, in common with most tropical countries, and which renders it possible to deal with its weather in broad masses and for long periods, instead of by the hour or day, is the fact that the periodic or climatic changes are far more important than those irregular, aperiodic, and ephemeral fluctuations which in these latitudes constitute the dominant components of weather. Thus,'to quote a single example, when all the extreme diurnal changes of pressure at principal observatories in India are tabu- lated for a year in groups according to magnitude, it is found that 95 per cent. of the regular hourly oscillation ; and the same is true of similar changes in the other elements. In brief, while daily weather anomalies and their prediction are the chief problem of the European forecaster, the relative unimportance of these in India, compared with the broad seasonal changes, or the variations of the average weather of a season from the normal (where each day resembles its predecessor so much that the effects of a certain type become cumulative, instead them are less than those which are due to | of being compensated by alternation), naturally leads the Indian | forecaster to regard the elucidation of long-period variations, and their prediction, as the problem which should demand his principal attention. Daily storm warnings may be of service to the shipping in the Indian ports, and round the coasts ; but for everything relat- ing to agriculture and internal land economy, seasonal forecasts are undeniably superior. With a good telegraphic system, daily forecasting can proceed fairly successfully on purely empirical lines, not unlike those by which a railway signaller is able to announce the arrival of an approaching train. On the other hand, successful prediction of circumstances not already in progress, and dependent upon conditions related to the movements of large air currents over extensive areas, and occupying considerable periods of time—if at first provisionally approached by empirical sequences—will ultimately necessitate as much rational inquiry, explanation and deduction as science alone can supply. India thus demands, and, fortunately, has hitherto succeeded in securing, a service of forecasters possessed of higher scientific training, as well as practical skill, than probably any weather service in the world. The preparation of the monsoon forecasts in India is based at present on three or four broad sequences, whose rational causes are as yet only partially understood. Coupled with these are a considerable amount of deduction from rational hypothesis, comparison with present and past conditions over surrounding areas, analogy with like conditions in previous years, and modifi- cation according to ascertained persistence of local anomalies. The determining factors may be classed as (1) local, (2) general. The local factors, which were formerly considered the most important and, indeed, the dominant causes of the mon- soon, have, of late years, and especially since the publication of Indian Ocean monsoon maps, been shown to be subordinate to, and of merely secondary importance compared with, those which evidently control the strength and quality of the monsoon current itself, For the summer, or south-west monsoon, these local factors are :— (a) The snowfall of the preceding cold weather, and (4) the local anomalies over India and adjacent seas during the ante- monsoon months shown in the monthly average anomaly maps. At one time the former of these was thought to be the key to the problem of drought or heavy rains over the whole country during the ensuing months, scanty rains being the sequel to heavy snow. Experience, however, has shown that, while heavy snow- fall over the Himalaya, especially late in the season, asin April and May, exercises an important influence in delaying the arrival, and checking the advance. of the monsoon over those areas of Upper India which border on the hills where such ex- cessive falls have occurred, the converse is not so effective, while NO. 1413, VOL. 55] in any case the effects are liable to be counteracted by the intrw- sion over India of a monsoon current of more than ordinary strength. This latter is a circumstance which is regulated by influences connected with the circulatory system of the whole depth of atmosphere over an entire hemisphere, and, therefore, quite too large to be seriously modified by the local reactionary effects of a comparatively small snow-covered area. Nevertheless, the reports of the winter snow-fall over the Himalaya are of considerable importance in estimating the com- plex probability of an early or late, favourable or unfavourable | monsoon, and form one of the recognised official principles on. which the final forecast is based in May. The second factor (4), once thought to be all-powerful, and still of considerable importance in determining the average local and. provincial variations of rainfall and weather during the pre- valence of the monsoon, is estimated by the synoptic present- ment of the temperature, and particularly the pressure anomalies exhibited in the monthly anomaly maps during the ante-monsoon, or *‘ hot-weather” period. These anomalies are found to persist more or less throughout the entire period of the south-west monsoon, and indicate the lines or zones which are favoured or avoided by the cyclonic vortices which distribute ‘the monsoon rains. As Mr. Blanford: pointed out, in his classical memoir on the rainfall of India, they ‘rather indicate a dependence of the storm track on a quasi- persistent distribution of pressure than merely a modification of, the average pressure distribution by the passage of the barometric depression accompanying the storm.” In fact they may be compared 'to.the moulds into which molten metal is run, and which fashion its shape by guiding it into pre- existing channels and cavities. The circumstances which determine the sudden bursting of the Indian monsoon in the first week of June, have recently been graphically described by Mr. Eliot in his paper on the character of the air movement on the Indian seas and equatorial. belt during the south-west monsoon period, in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society in. January of the present year. From a careful study ef the Indian monsoon charts, and the: barometric conditions over the equatorial region, it has been found that the northward! advance of the sun, and the estab- lishment of a thermal focus over the Indian land area, tends to weaken the northern side of the equatorial atmospheric crater which surrounds the ascensional terminus of the normal north: and south-east trade-wind systems, and finally stop the ascen- sional outlet for the latter. Its consequent horizontal outflow: northwards, like a pent-up lava stream,. towards the newly- formed ascensional focus over the Indian land area, occurs dur-- ing the last fortnightof May, in conjunction witha simultaneously sudden rise of pressure over the equator, and a consequent in- crease in the northward gradient. This sudden transformation is, moreover, effected apparently more by actions tending to increase the high pressure south of the equator, due to the seasonal enlargement of the permanent south polar cyclone, than by any local actions over India or Southern Asia, though it is possible that the general conditions. over the latter assist. It is, therefore, to the South Indian. oceanic area that the attention of the Indian forecasters of the monsoon is new directed, in order that they may have early intimation of the variations im: the ‘‘zzs @ tergo.” As soon as the current reaches the Indian land area, it fills up: the local inequalities in the pressure mould; and since by the principle of ‘* courtant ascendant” persistence, such local charac- teristics. once initiated, tend to continue, the forecaster is able to: deduce, on the supposition of a normal, excessive, or weal. monsoon (a distinction which can ordinarily be determined on. its first appearance), the probable local deviations which form. such a valuable practical part of the forecast. The results. of these two local factors, together with those of a more subordinate character, are all liable to serious modification. through the dominant influence of (2) The general character and strength of the monsoon: current. It is now one of the accepted ‘canons of Indian meteorology, which may be considered as due to the industry and perspicacity of its present high priest, that while the antecedent local, anomalies over the Indian area, introduced by thermal con- ditions, modify the character of the current and control its. local effects, they are in no sense, as was formerly believed.,, NoveMBER 26, 1896] WN AMA Ee Fe 87 ‘its proximate cause, and that the changes in its general strength and character from year to year are more the result of actions taking place south of the equator than of any peculiar conditions over the south Asiatic land area. The extension of the area of observation, as far as Mauritius and the Seychelles, is the logical outcome of this principle ; and though the information at present obtainable is mostly empirical in form, it is found that the essential subsequent unity of the south-east trade and the south-west monsoon enables early information of the character of the former in the southern seas to be used as an empirical index to the seasonal character of the latter as soon as continuity has been established across the equator. A strong trade-wind argues far? fassu a strong monsoon, and therefore a good rainy season over India, except where it is counteracted by opposing local factors. It will probably be some time before rational knowledge of this important factor will supersede the empirical for the purposes of practical forecasting. Meanwhile every extension of the means of accelerating the transmission of news of south- east trade conditions is invaluable in forming a trustworthy seasonal forecast from the Simla Office. The summer monsoon forecast is made up provisionally about the fourth week in May, and held over until symptoms of the coming monsoon manifest themselves in Bombay, in order to allow of the latest information being incorporated. June 6 or 7 is the average date for Bombay, and it is frequently from two to three weeks later before it reaches the Punjab. The work of preparation is no light matter, since the greatest care is taken by Mr. Eliot to allow for every factor, and to arrive at a fair balance of probabilities. It is a serious matter to forecast for six months over an area half aslarge asthe United States, and the work occupies a week after every map and datum is on the table. Two points on which the agricultural value of the monsoon rainfall largely depends are at present only partially predictable, viz: (1) the probability of a prolonged break in the rains in July or August, and (2) the probability of an unusually early termination of the rains in Upper India or Bengal. The former depends chiefly on the relative strength of the two branches of the monsoon current, the break generally occurring with a relatively weak Arabian Sea current, while the latter depends on the early establishment of the high pressure over North-west India and North Burmah, which causes the reversal of the gradient, and, as it were, drives the monsoon out of the Bay of Bengal. These conditions can only be inferred months before their occurrence by analogy with previous years presenting similar characteristics. Once they have started, however, they can be employed in determining the probability of the early or late occurrence of the rainfall of the winter monsoon. The rainfall of this monsoon, though very inconsiderable com- pared with that of the summer, is, agriculturally speaking, of ‘great value, since upon its presence the entire fortunes of the rabi crop depend. Originating, as Mr. Eliot has so exhaustively shown in his recent ‘‘ Memoir on the Winter Storms of India,” in a lofty current 10,000 feet above sea-level, having no lower oceanic continuation, and shedding its vapour in storms bred on the plateaus of Afghanistan and Persia, it is at present impossible to obtain direct information of the character of the winter monsoon before its descent to the North Indian plains in December. A divining-rod has, however, been lately discovered, by which it may be inferred from the nature of the vertical pressure anomalies for the months immediately preceding December. These anomalies represent the departure from the mean of the monthly mean pressure at stations near the foot of the hills, minus the corresponding departures at the mountain stations 7000 feet above. When the differences (plain minus hill stations) are positive, the inference is that the subsequent winter will be a dry and stormless one ; if negative, precisely the reverse. Since the character of the winter monsoon is found to be re- markably constant all through, probably because being an upper current it is unaffected by local and land influences, the forecast from this empirical sequence alone is found to be remark- ably trustworthy. There are some additional sequences, first indicated some years ago, which are useful in confirming the conclusions derived from the vertical anomalies, such as the probability of a light winter NO. 1413, VOL. 55 | fall succeeding a light and early departing monsoon, and véce versd. Such sequences are, however, really included under a more general law which, though at present empirical in form, appears likely to lead to a rational explanation of the chief yearly variations in both monsoons. This law is the outcome of a recent discussion, by Mr. Eliot, of certain oscillatory variations of pressure which are found to be common to the entire Indian oceanic and continental areas. It has been found that the monthly mean barometric pressure of India is subject to a series of long-period waves of nearly equal amplitude, ranging up to as much as ‘07 inch (which is up to drought-producing power in India), and varying from twelve to twenty-four months in length. Twelve of these occurred in the last twenty years. They are found to occur completely reversed in phase at Mauritius, and are considered to represent the major fluctuations in the annual oscillatory flow of air to and from the South Indian Ocean and India, in the form of the monsoons, together with similar conditions involved in the corresponding return flow in the upper and lower atmosphere, according as it is summer or winter. They are likewise precisely opposite in phase to the vertical anomalies. In other words, these oscillations of pressure represent compensatory variations in the horizontal transfer of air across the equator, and in the vertical transfers at the northern and southern termini of the circulatory system, which are intimately bound up with the strength and character of the monsoons. The principal maxima pressures usually occur about the vernal, and the principal minima about the autumnal equinox. Employed as an empirical sequence for forecasting, the rule may be stated thus. In years when the sea-level pressure anomaly is such that the curve is a descending slope during the spring months, the con- clusion is that the south-west monsoon will be one ofexcessiverain- fall, and vce vers? when the slope is ascending, it will be com- paratively dry. Conversely, the years of heavy winter rainfall during the north-east monsoon, tend to coincide with the maximum epochs of these pressure anomaly waves, z.¢. with the minimum epochs of their vertical anomaly analogues, probably because diminished pressure above coincides with increased pressure below. V2ve versd, years of light rainfall coincide with the epochs of general minimum anomaly at sea-level. By the accumula- tion of such sequences, and their gradual determination in a rational form, the science of long-period forecasting is being built up in India The occurrence of a severe scarcity during the present year is a timely commentary on the practical value and limits of the monsoon forecast. Of the four causes detailed by Mr. Eliot in his paper on **Droughts and Famines in India,” read before the Meteoro- logical Congress at Chicago in 1893, the present famine is due to the last—viz. ‘‘ Unusually early termination of the south-west monsoon rains. This is especially fatal in the case of rice crops on unirrigated land ; The same circumstance is also peculiarly prejudicial to the sowing of the winter or “‘rabi” grain crop which is reaped in March, especially when it is succeeded by scanty winter rains in December and January. , As has been already observed, this early termination of the south-west monsoon is one of the conditions which, at present, lies outside the conventional forecast, though it is rapidly be- coming manifest that it is dependent on the general state of the south-east trade wind of the Indian Ocean. In the Foregast Circular issued this year by Mr. Eliot, and dated Simla, June 3, attention is drawn fo the fact that, during the past two or three years, the “causes of the large variations of the rainfall in India have been evidently due to abnormal conditions outside the Indian area, and not to local peculiarities or abnormal meteorological features in India itself.” The anomalies are so remarkable that they are worth re- producing, as in the following table. Rainfall anomaly from Percentage varia- tion from Years. normal over India in inches. mean. 1893 +8:94 ... a +22 1894 +6748... ee +16 1895 — 2°90 : Sh The pre-monsoon conditions of temperature, pressure, and snowfall were almost identical in 1894 and 1895. The south-east trade wind, however, was weak in 1895, and 88 the result was a deficient monsoon, which, moreover, terminated three weeks earlier than usual. A similar weakness of the trades was visible, particularly at the Seychelles, this year. Hence, though Mr. Eliot was obliged to admit that the local conditions were favourable, he added a caution that ‘the inferences were to be accepted with greater reserve than usual.” The arena was ready for the gladiator if he arrived in good training, but the fight would depend on his strength. As events have shown, the gladiator monsoon was not ‘‘ up to form,” and the fight terminated a month earlier than usual all over, Northern India and Burmah, with disastrous consequences to the kharif crop. It now remains to be seen whether the coming winter rains will be in defect or excess. Until the end of the present month, when they can be in- ferred from the vertical anomalies of pressure, a provisional forecast can only be made on the law of sequences. Asa rule, ‘‘a light and early departing monsoon is followed by light winter rains.” Consequently, so far, the outlook is serious. In such a case, however, by a similar law of sequence, the rainfall of next year’s summer monsoon should be unusually heavy, so that the famine cannot continue for more than another six months. averted, and that other factors may override the usual sequence and allow a good winter fall, which would, at all events, shorten the period of distress, and favourably modify, although it could not obviate the effects of the mischief done in September. It would be impossible here to do more than cursorily advert to the moot question as to how far the periods of sunspot activity are directly related to the monsoons in a form in which they can be of practical utility in forecasting. Pace all that has been sun introduces a long-period oscillation, probably of similar eleven-year period and small amplitude, into all the elements of Indian weather, modifying the epochal dates, and partially alter- ing the character of the summer and winter rains ; but year by year such a variation is too small, and too masked by others of larger amplitude, depending on changes of flow in the atmo- spheric currents of a less periodical and more rapid character, to admit of its entering as anything but a subordinate factor into the seasonal forecast. The attention of the department at present is so concentrated on these larger six-monthly and two-yearly oscillations, that it is unable to devote itself to the undoubtedly important task of determining the precise local value of the sun- spot variation. That this exists, however, even dominantly over the whole area, is plain from the following grouping of the yearly rainfall anomalies of the entire Indian area from 1864 to 1894, which shows that the total annual rainfall is slightly deficient about the epoch of sunspot minimum, and slightly excessive about the opposite epoch. Rainfall of India during the south-west monsoon. Anomaly from the mean smoothed figures. — 0°40 in. + 2°10 5, Groups of years. Five years round year of minimum sunspot Five years round year of maximum sunspot The relation to the sunspots is, however, greatly modified according to locality, being especially marked during the south- west monsoon over the Carnatic and Ceylon, and occurring in a reversed phase during the winter rains of North India. Symptoms of an early arrival of the monsoon in years of maxi- mum, and late in years of minimum, have been noted ; but the general statistical examination of the question on a rational basis is still a desideratum, and one which, given the necessary addi- tional staff, Mr. Eliot considers of sufficient importance to claim the attention of the department. At present his view of the matter, so far as its value in practical forecasting is concerned, may be stated thus. After all the other factors have been considered, the position of the year in the sunspot cycle may be taken as an index of the steadiness or variability of its general characteristics. Thus, in years of maximum sunspot the monsoon is distributed more evenly, and local anomalies are less exaggerated. The years about the epoch of minimum are characterised by greater local contrasts and irregularities. A comparison of anomaly ranges with sunspots would thus repay investigation, and they might yet be shown to possess a value far in excess of that indicated by the small fluctuations visible in the combined averages over dissimilar areas. DOUGLAS ARCHIBALD. NO. 1413, VOL. 55] a It isto be hoped that the omen may be | NATURE | logical department. | NOVEMBER 26, 1896 THE NEW RESEARCH LABORATORY OF THE ROVAL COLLEGE OF PHVSICIANS OF EDINBURGH. [NX 1888 the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh determined to establish and equip a laboratory for original research. The scheme was regarded by the College as to a certain extent experimental, and was proceeded with cautiously. Instead of erecting special premises, an old house in Lauriston Lane was rented, close to the Royal Infirmary, and this was adapted and equipped at an outlay of tooo/ The success of the scheme soon became assured, and a large number of workers availed themselves of the opportunities afforded by the new laboratory for conducting investigations. The chief results of their work are set forth in five volumes of Laboratory Reports, and a sixth is now in course of preparation. A very important function of the Institution, moreover, has been the issuing of reports on morbid specimens sent to the Superintendent by practitioners. This work has gradually increased. While in 1890 only fifty reports were sent out, last year no less than 417 specimens were examined and reported on. In addition to these two primary objects of the Institution, the preparation of antitoxin serums has lately been undertaken at the instruction of the College. The original building soon proved inadequate for the growing work of the laboratory, and the College being assured that the influence of its laboratory tended to the maintenance of the scientific spirit in medicine, directed its Committee to seek for a site on which to place a permanent institution, After many failures the College succeeded in acquiring a site and premises adapted to their wants, which has been purchased and equipped said to the contrary, there is no doubt that the condition of the | at a cost of about 10,000/. The new laboratory, which was opened on November 6, is situated in Forrest Road, in the immediate vicinity of the Royal Infirmary, the University, and other medical schools. In equipping these new premises, the objects kept in view were :— (1) To provide a research laboratory in which bacteriological, histological, and chemical and experimental physiological and pathological work might be carried on. (2) To make provision for examining and reporting on speci- mens sent by medical men. (3) To provide a photographic department for macro- and micro-photography. (4) To make suitable provision for carrying on the preparation of curative antitoxins, &c. The fitting-up of the laboratory is in every respect most com- plete. Those portions of the building intended for laboratory work are heated by hot-water pipes, and are lighted by electricity. Hot water and steam for heating water baths are supplied throughout the building from a high-pressure-boiler ; and in each department the supply of gas and water can be shut off without interfering with work in the other parts of the laboratory. Com- munications between the various rooms is by interchangeable telephones. To the right of the entrance is a large, well-lighted apartment, which will be used as the general office of the laboratory and for the examination of specimens. Opening off this apartment are two photographic rooms, the outer of which contains the micro-photographic apparatus and an arc lamp in a lantern, while the inner is the dark-room. On the left side of the entrance hall access is obtained to the Superintendent's room and the experimental apartment, the principal room on the ground floor, which is fitted up with the most modern apparatus and appliances for the carrying on of experimental work. In the old laboratory the recording gear was driven by water- power ; in the new premises this work is done by two small electric motors placed beneath the floor. On the first flat, to the left of the landing, is the chemical room and a smaller room fitted with fume chambers. Provided with a working bench with places for six workers, the general chemical room is equipped in the most modern style. A through draught for the fume chamber is secured by a small fan driven by an electric motor. On the left of the landing, again, are large and small histological rooms and several apartments forming the bacterio- One of these rooms will be used for the production of the media for growing germs, and the production of diphtheria antitoxin. This department includes an incubating room. The new laboratory, like the old, is freely open to those who desire to undertake original investigations in the medical NovEMBER 26, 1896] NATURE 89 sciences, on their giving evidence of being able to undertake such work with a good prospect of success. Applications are considered by the Committee, who recommend to the Council, and this body grants a place in the laboratory. Apparatus, chemicals, &c., are supplied by the College free of charge, while assistance is given by the Superintendent and a staff of laboratory servants. The examination and reporting on morbid specimens was instituted primarily for the Fellows of the College, but in a really difficult case assistance is given to any medical man who may apply. While the preparation of antitoxic serum was undertaken for the Fellows of the College, any supply beyond that required by them will be available for other members of the profession. A REPUTED MALAGASY MONKEY. BY far the most important zoological event of the year, so far as mammals are concerned, is the discovery in the super- ficial deposits of Madagascar of certain remains of an extinct monkey-like animal. Of these remains—which include the imperfect front portion of a skull, and a considerable part of the lower jaw—an illustrated preliminary notice by Dr. C. J. Forsyth Major appears in the October number of the Geological Magazine. And although the author of that paper may modify some of his conclusions in a later and fuller communication, the discovery is too important to be passed over without mention in this journal. The title of the paper—‘‘ Fossil Monkeys from Madagascar ” —suggests the impression that all the conclusions and theories that have been published in regard to the origin of the Malagasy fauna will have to be amended or swept away. But a study of the figures and description of the specimen will show that this by no means follows. Without entering into structural details, it may be mentioned that the skull—so far as its imperfect con- dition admits of forming a conclusion—conforms in general features with the Anthropoid, as distinct from the Lemuroid, type; while the molar teeth are also monkey-like. In the upper jaw the dental formula is identical with that of the Neotropical Ceézde—that is to say, there are three premolars. In the lower jaw there is also a similarity between the Cedzde, the number of cheek-teeth being identical. But here the resemblance ceases, for the canine is absent, and its function is discharged by the anterior premolar, which is enlarged. In this respect, as in the number of cheek-teeth, the specimen resembles the typical Lemwrzdie ; but the front teeth are different, and the premolars are unlike those of either lemurs or monkeys. In describing the fossil—under the name of Wesopzthecus— the author states that it indicates a distinct family of the Anthro- poidea, ‘‘intermediate in some respects between the South American Ceézde and the Old World Cercopithecide, besides pre- senting characters of its own.” He adds that the following general conclusions are suggested by the discovery: ‘‘(1) We may look forward in Continental Africa likewise for the dis- covery of Tertiary monkeys intermediate between Cedzde and Cercopithectde. (2) The recent African Cercopithectde are not invaders from the north-east, as has been supposed; on the contrary, most, if not all, of the Tertiary monkeys of Europe and Asia are derived from the Ethiopian region. The home of a part, at least, of the Anthropoidea seems to have been in the southern hemisphere. This assumption is corroborated by the two facts—that Anthropoidea make their appearance suddenly for the first time in the later Tertiary of Europe and Asia, and that they are entirely absent from the Tertiary of North America.” To properly criticise these conclusions would require much more space than is allowed by the editor. It may be conceded, in the first place, that the specimen undoubtedly indicates a distinct family ; whether, however, it is an Anthropoid, appears much more doubtful. The presence of a functional lower canine is so constant in that group, that I think it may be taken asa subordinal character. And in any case the functional disappear- ance of that tooth indicates that Mesopithecus is not an ancestral type of the existing Anthropoids. Whether the transference of the functions of the canine to the anterior premolar indicates any affinity with the Lemuroids, or is merely a case of parallelism, I am not prepared to say. But it does seem probable that the fossil is an offshoot from the original stock NU. 1413, VOL. 55 | which connected the monkeys with the lemurs. And, so far as it goes, it tends to discountenance the view that the Cedzae are not genetically connected with the old-world monkeys. With regard to the other conclusions of Dr. Major, I believe there is good evidence of the occurrence of fossil monkeys in the French Phosphorites (although this has never been published) ; and it hence appears probable that the ancestors of Nesopithecus may have reached Ethiopia with the other progenitors of the Malagasy fauna. I would further hazard the suggestion that the ancestral South American Ceécde likewise reached Ethiopia at the same time, and that they migrated to South America in the manner I have suggested in my recent volume on the Geography of Mammals for the Santa Crucian Ungulates. The supposition of Dr. Major that ‘‘ most, if not all, of the Tertiary monkeys of Europe and Asia are derived from the Ethiopian region,” does not appear to have sufficient evidence for its support. And if it were admitted, we should have to account for the absence of true monkeys in Madagascar. Probably the Cercopithecede and Simitde reached Ethiopia with its antelopes and zebras. Hence there seems no reason, at present, for modifying our conclusions as to the origin of the Malagasy fauna. As it is a somewhat important matter, I may take this opportunity of asking—should this meet his eye—the German Professor who some years ago showed me at the British Museum some monkey-like molar teeth from the French Phosphorites, if he would either describe his specimens or communicate with me, R. LYDEKKER. MICROSCOPIC MARINE ORGANISMS IN THE SERVICE OF HYDROGRAPHY. T has for a long time been known that the sea abounds in microscopic organisms, both animal and _ vegetable. Among the former are entomostraca, infusoria, radiolarians, foraminifera, as well as larvze of mollusca, radiates, and bryozoa. Among the plant-life the mass consists of diatoms, cilio- flagellates, flagellates, and certain unicellular chlorophyllaceous alge. For these pelagic forms Prof. Hensen has proposed the name //ankton, which has been universally accepted. Some years ago I examined the samples of vegetable plankton collected by the Swedish Arctic expeditions, as well as samples from various parts of the tropical seas, and I became convinced that certain parts of the oceans are characterised by different species. In the year 1893 I spent the summer at the west coast of Sweden, where I had the opportunity of examin- ing the plankton at the marine biological station of Christine- berg, that is to say in a fjord (loch) called Gullmarsfjord. I found that in the month of June the plankton consisted mainly of cilioflagellates, Ceratzwm tripos being the most common. During the last days of the month, however, the plankton changed. The water was from that time very rich in entomo- straca, and the cilioflagellates became less abundant. At the same time the mackerel appeared in the fjord. All my samples had been collected at the mouth of the fjord, where the water is not yerydeep. In the interior the fjord becomes deeper, as is the case also with the Scotch lochs, and I now wished to know the character of the plankton at different depths. What I hitherto had examined was the plankton of the current, called by the Swedish hydrographers the Baltic current, which in the spring and summer runs along the Scandinavian coast up to Bergen, in Norway. Below that surface current there exists, according to the Swedish hydrographers, water with lower temperature and greater salinity. In company with Prof. G. Théel, and with the aid of his net, which could be closed and opened below the water, I made in July an attempt to get plankton from different depths of the fjord. We found in the cold bottom water very little plankton, some few specimens of a large Sagetta and of Calanus jinmarchicus only. At about 30-40 metres the cilioflagellates (among them Ceratzum divergens) were abundant, and on the surface the entomostraca. This examination was repeated during the first days of August, when I and Dr. Aurivillius had the opportunity of accompanying Prof. S. A. Pettersson and Mr. G. Ekman on the hydro- graphical expedition which went out at the time. The result was the same as before, but from the determination of the temperature and the salinity of the water it became clear that the plankton had been collected in water differimg in those i 90 NATURE [| NovEMBER 26, 1896 respects, and consequently that the different strata of water were characterised by different amounts of plankton, and by different species. Samples of plankton were afterwards col- lected by the Swedish hydrographical expeditions, at the same time as samples of water for physical and chemical research. The examination of the plankton was carried out by Dr. Aurivillius, who took charge of the animal plankton, and by myself, who undertook the vegetable. Having examined a large number of samples, I have lately found that the plankton of the Skagerack and Kattegat can be classed according to the prevailing species, and in this way I distinguished four types, namely: (1) 7Z7¢fos-plankton, (2) Didymus-plankton, (3) Trécho-plankton, and (4) Sira-plankton. (1) The 7Z7zpos-plankion is characterised by its scarcity in diatoms and its abundance in cilioflagellates and entomostraca, which give to the spirit, in which the samples are preserved, an orange or yellow colour, all the other kinds of plankton colour- ing it more or less deep green. Among the entomostraca, according to the publications of Dr, Aurivillius, Paracalanus parvus, Pseudocalanus elongatus, and Evadne spinifera are the most abundant. Among the cilioflagellates Ceratzuze tripos, with the variety #acroceros, is the most common. C. dzvergens, C. furca, and C. fesus occur in less numbers. Diatoms are, as I have said, scarce, the most abundant being Coscénodzscus conctnnus and Rhézosolenia gractlima. In winter and early spring the unicellular alga, Halosphera viridis is found ir. abundance. This kind of plankton characterises the water of the Baltic current, and prevails in the summer in the Kattegat and Skagerack. The organisms consist chiefly of euryheline and eurythismic species, which can withstand the dilution of the salter North Sea water by the slightly saline Baltic water. It seems very probable that this first type of plankton may by future researches be split up into different kinds. _We may thus, perhaps, distinguish one kind, characterised by Halosphera veridts, and occurring in the winter, another by A’hzzosolenta gractllima, occurring in the summer, one with Paracalanus parvus, and another with Psewdocalanus elongatus, and so on. In all cases it seems to be certain that the water containing this first type is derived from the North Sea as well as from the Baltic. (2) The Didymus-plankton consists principally of diatoms, among which the most characteristic species are Ch@efoceros curcisetus, Ch. didymus, Ditylum Brightwellit, Rhizosolenta alata, and gract/iima (the latter probably a residuum of Type 1), Skeletonema costatum and Thalasstothrix Frauenfeldiz (the latter probably common to Type 3). A silicoflagellate, Déctyocha speculum, occurs constantly, but not abundantly. The cilio- flagellates, as well as the entomostraca, are scarce. This kind of plankton was predominant in the Skagerack and Kattegat in November 1893, filling the fjords from the bottom to the surface. With the water, containing this kind of plank- ton, the herring arrived on the shores of Scandinavia. It seems to have been a very large bulk of water that at this time set in to the coast, as it drove away the whole of the summer water from bottom to surface. The diatoms of this type are not known from the Arctic Ocean or from the Northern Atlantic, but are well known from the coasts of France and Belgium and the English Channel. It seems thus to be beyond doubt that the water came from the southern North Sea, along the western coast of Denmark. The temperature, as well as the salinity, were found to be variable, but the plankton constant. In the Gullmarsfjord the water at the surface had a temperature of 7° C., at a depth of 30 m. nearly 12°, and at the bottom only 4°to 5. The salinity amounted respectively to about 26-27, 32 and 33 to 37 per thousand. This variation may be explained by the mixture of the water of the second type with the water previously present in the Kattegat. Probably the warmest water was the most pure water of Type 2, and corresponds to one of the kinds of water called by the Swedish hydrographers the fark-water. (3) The third type of plankton, the Zyécho-plankton, is dis- tinguished by its diatoms, especially the following species :— Thalassiosira longissima, Rhizosolenta styliformis, Chetoceros atlanticus (in a less degree also by Ch. 4orealis and its variety brightwellit), and Beddulphia mobilensis. The first-named species occur abundantly and almost pure in the Northern Atlantic, south of Iceland; the last-named I observed at Plymouth, West Scotland, and in the North Sea. This plank- ton may thus be considered a Northern Atlantic plankton. At | NO. 1413, VOL. 55] the Scandinavian coast it seems to occur very rarely in a pure state; in fact I have seen it only once, in February of this year, gathered at the bottom of the Christiana fjord (100 m.), where the temperature amounted to 7°5° C., and the salinity to 34-76 per thousand, the highest figures obtained by the hydro- graphical examinations of all the samples gathered in February 1896. On the other hand, this plankton was frequently found mixed with the next type in samples collected at the time named. (4) The fourth type, the Szva-plankton, consists also mainly of diatoms, but of different species, the most characteristic being Thalasstosira Nordensktoldi,and Th. gravida, Chetoceros gren- landicus, Ch. soctalis, Ch. scolopendra, Ch. teres, Niutschta sertata, many of which belong to the Arctic seas, and some of which are new to science. Among the cilioflagellates the most abundant is a variety arclzca of Ceratium trépos, distinguished by Dr. Aurivillius as a constituent of the plankton of Baffin’s Bay. There can be no doubt about the Arctic origin of this type. It occurred in the Skagerack and Kattegat this year in February and March, always more or less mixed with(3)and(1). In the Skagerack the water with Types (3) and (4) was covered by a shallow layer of water with Type(1); but in the Kattegat it reached the surface. The admixture of Type (3) shows that the water on or before its arrival at the coast of Sweden was mixed with Atlantic water. The temperature and the salinity were found to vary greatly, owing to the admixture of the slightly saline Baltic water, at this time of the year very cold. I have observed the same type of water in some slides col- lected on the west coast of Scotland by Mr. George Murray, and sent to me by Mr. Grove. These samples had been gathered in the spring of 1888—a year remarkable in England as an unusually cold one. As far as the plankton researches are advanced at present, we may conclude that the surface water around the Swedish coast consists in the summer of water from the North Sea mixed with Baltic water; that in the autumn its place is taken by water from the southern part of the North Sea. and in the winter by water from the Northern .\tlantic and the Arctic Ocean. Whether these changes occur regularly every year, or in certain years only, cannot be answered for the moment. Probably the last change is in correspondence, as Prof. Petters- son has recently suggested, with variations in the amount of water which the Gulf Stream carries past Iceland, westwards to Davis Strait and eastwards to the Arctic Ocean. I think I have proved by the above that the examination of plankton is a matter of the greatest interest, not only in relation to hydrography, but also to meteorology and to fishery questions. There can be no doubt about the close connection between the state of the sea and the movements of the air, and the still obscure causes of the migration of fishes may be found to be intimately connected with the change of water containing different kinds of plankton. It is thus an important matter that the plankton of the North Sea should be thoroughly and systematically examined ; but for this, international co-operation of all the nations around the North Sea is required. I imagine that a central station, under the direction of competent persons, and provided with adequate accommodation, might be erected. Samples could be collected at certain intervals, and by the same kind of apparatus at different stations, and sent to the central one for examination. The details should be published every month, and the general results formulated in a way that would be useful to hydro- graphers, meteorologists, &c. The marine biological stations already in existence will probably be found willing for co-opera- tion in such an undertaking, but they will be able to collect plankton only near the shores or at short distances from them. For getting samples from the open seas, the officers of the steamers crossing the North Sea and the Northern Atlantic might be found willing to assist, as the plankton may, as Dr. John Murray hinted to me, be procured by pumping water into asilk net. I recently tried this method whilst crossing from Edinburgh to Géttenburg. I fastened the net to the pump when the deck was being washed, and in this way I obtained sufficient plankton to prove that in the last days of July the North Sea was almost free from diatoms, and its plankton consisted mainly of cilioflagellates and entomostraca. P. T. CLEVE. NOVEMBER 26, 1896] NATURE gI UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Oxrorp.—The Professor of Anthropology (Dr. E. B. Tylor) delivered a public lecture on Monday, November 23, at the Museum, on ‘* North American Picture-Writing, with special reference to a Series of Historical Wampum-Belts of the Hurons.” The second meeting of the Junior Scientific Club for this term was held on November 18, and was very largely attended. Prof. Gotch performed an experiment showing the effect of a current induced in a nerve, insulated in air, by a Wimshurst electrical machine. Prof. Ray Lankester exhibited and described (1) a series of casts of the jaws and teeth of Ornithorhynchus, and of fossil mammalia from the Stonesfield slate; (2) a specimen of Triarthrus presented by Prof. O. C. Marsh; (3) a number of species of Leptocephali. In connection with the last, Prof. Lankester gave an account of the development of the eel as determined by Grassi. Lord Berkeley read a paper on ‘‘ The Necessity of Metaphysics in Science,” which was followed by a prolonged discussion. CAMBRIDGE.—Mr. T. L. Heath, editor of Diophantus and Apollonius, has been approved for the degree of Doctor of Science. The Council of the Senate propose to present a memorial to the Lord President of the Privy Council communicating the resolutions of the recent Conference on Secondary Education, and urging the importance of early legislation on the subject. Mr. J. b. Lightfoot has generously presented to the engineer- ing laboratory a refrigerating machine and ice-making apparatus especially adapted for.experimental purposes. Prof. Ewing, Prof. J. Perry, and Mr. J. B. Peace have been appointed examiners in mechanical science. Mr. W. M. Fletcher and Mr. E. B. H. Wade have been elected Coutts Trotter students in experimental physics at Trinity College. -\ BRILLIANT assembly met in the amphitheatre of the new Sorbonne on Thursday last, the occasion being the inauguration of the newly-constituted University of Paris. From the 777s’ report we learn that the magnificent hall was filled with a distinguished company, including the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and his colleagues and the Presidents of the two Houses, the Academicians, the resplendent Diplomatic Corps, all the public bodies, the entire faculty of the Paris University in their robes, and some 5000 or 6000 students. The bodies hitherto forming part of the University of France, which now constitute the University of Paris, are the faculties of Letters, Sciences, Law, Medicine, and Protestant Theology. Without reckoning the 41 chairs of the Collége de France, which retains an independent position, the University has 116 professors, besides lecturers, laboratory directors, and experi- mentalists. Tue Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education for the year ending June 30, 1894. consists of two volumes, each of more than one thousand pages. The mass of information thus brought together refers to schools of all grades and in all countries ; but limits of space will only permit us to mention a few of the matters dealt with. The report of the ‘‘ Committee of ten,” appointed by the National Educational Association to inquire into the courses of study and conditions of secondary schools, was summarised in these columns a short time ago (vol. liv. p. 308). Another Committee, composed of fifteen members, was appointed to investigate, in a like manner, the work of elementary schools, and their report is included in one of the volumes before us. The Committee discussed in detail the several branches of study that have found a place in the curriculum of the elementary school, with a view to discover their educational value for developing and training the faculties of the mind. Language is given the first place, the opinion being that, in the form of reading, penmanship, and grammar, it should be prominent in the first eight years of study. Arith- metic is given the second place in importance of all studies, because it or mathematical study furnishes the first scientific key to the existence of bodies and their various motions. Mathe- matics in its pure form, as arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and the application of the analytical method, as well as mathe- matics applied to matter and force, or statics and dynamics, furnishes the peculiar study that gives the command of the quantitative aspect of nature. It is held that the study of NO. 1433, VOL. 55] arithmetic should begin with the second school year and end with the close of the sixth year, the seventh and eighth years being devoted to algebraical methods. Following arithmetic as the second study in importance among the branches that corre- late man to nature is geography. This is, therefore, given the next place. The next study ranked in order of value by the Committee is history, after which come other branches, among which is science. It is held that ‘‘ Natural science claims a place in the elementary school not so much as a disciplinary study, side by side with grammar, arithmetic, and history, as a training in habits of observation and in the use of the technique by which such sciences are expounded.” Other matters of scientific interest dealt with in the report are forestry educa- tion in France; geology in the colleges and universities of the United States; rules for the spelling and pronunciation of chemical terms ; rise and progress of manual training ; American learned and educational societies, and criminology. THE current number of the Reve Générale des Sciences contains a paper by M. Cornu, the President of the Académie des Sciences, on the objects of the instruction in the Ecole Polytechnique, and on the principles which ought to decide the courses of instruction therein. In view of the multitudinous discussions in this country on the general questions of the co- ordination of the teaching in schools of different grades and of the prevention of overlapping, this paper is of exceptional interest. The general conclusions at which M. Cornu arrives are as follows. (We must refer our readers to the Aezzze for the arguments which lead up to them.) The object of the school is to give young men destined for the public services that theoretical knowledge which is necessary to enable them to perform their duties with confidence, and to qualify them to help towards the perfection of these services. What is termed /a Mechanigue rationnelle is the foundation of this polytechnic instruction. Students ought to be competent, at the end of their studies, to solve any problem which they may be called upon to deal with in their future careers of engineers and officers. Considering the limited number of years of study and the impossibility of any great development in the interesting subsidiary branches of science, the instruction in other sciences—such as analysis, physics, astronomy—ought to be arranged in sucha manner as to assist in the completion and illustration of this course of mechanics. The list of acquirements demanded on admission ought to form a homogeneous whole, without either adventitious additions or serious omissions, capable of immediate application, and, as far as possible, easy of later completion, either by the courses of this school, or of the places of higher instruction, or even by the efforts of the students individually. The experience of old students and their teachers has shown that those subjects studied during the years preparatory to admission leave the most lasting impression on the minds of the students. The courses of the school leave a profound impression, it is true, but to a less degree than this preparatory work. Finally, since the pre- paratory instruction to the polytechnic school exercises this decisive influence on the minds of the students, it ought to be directed with a view to giving results which would form an intellectual equipment sufficient to serve during the whole career of the student. These results ought to be established by simple and general methods, and to be presented under a definite form on the same lines as those which will be used later. Not only should all useless refinements be carefully avoided, but even subjects which are not in immediate harmony with the general trend of polytechnic instruction. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American Journal of Science, November.—Missourite, a new leucite rock from the Highwood Mountains of Montana, by W. HH. Weed and L. V. Pirsson. This new rock type forms a stock of granular rock intrusion in cretaceous shales, and in the fragmental volcanic material which overlies them, both being highly altered near the contact with the igneous mass. It is dark grey, coarsely and evenly granular, and on closer inspec- tion presents a mottled appearance. The minerals present are apatite, iron ore, olivine, augite, biotite, leucite, and some zeolitic products. This is the first granular volcanic rock in which leucite has been found.—Viscosity of mixtures of liquids, by C. E. Linebarger. The viscosities found by Ostwald’s method are all less than those calculated by the rule of mixtures, except in certain mixtures of benzene and chloro- 6: NATURE [NoveMBER 26, 1896 form, and of benzene and carbon bisulphide. In the Jatter the differences are very slight, and these liquids may be said to preserve their viscosities without appre- ciable change. But when the constituent liquids have very different viscosities, such as benzene and nitro-benzene, the re- sultant viscosity is lowered considerably.— Volume measurement of an air thermometer bulb, by W. G. Cady. This may be accomplished without filling the bulb with water or mercury, by connecting it with a short graduated tube, changing the volume of the combination by an amount indicated on the graduations, and measuring the increase of pressure.—Residual viscosity and thermal expansion, by H. D. Day. A bar of vulcanised rubber expanded until 50° was reached, and then suddenly contracted. On again heating after some time, it expanded till it reached the highest temperature at which it had been maintained beforehand, and then contracted again. This phenomenon is due to internal strain in its manufactured state, and to a consequent molecular settling which sets in at certain temperatures.—Application of certain organic acids to the estimation of vanadium, by P. E. Browning and R. J. Goodman. Describes the determination of vanadium by means of tartaric, oxalic, or citric acid in the presence of molybdenum and tungsten.—Determination of oxygen in air and in aqueous solutions, by D. A. Kreider. A known volume of air is con- ducted through a strong solution of hydriodic acid in the pre- sence of nitric oxide; the acid is neutralised by potassium bicarbonate ; and the liberated iodine is titrated with standard decinormal arsenic solution, from which the equivalent volume of oxygen is readily calculated.—Amphibian footprints from the Devonian, by O. C. Marsh. A genuine specimen of a foot- print from some vertebrate animal, apparently amphibian, has been found in the Upper Devonian of Pleasant, Warren County, Pennsylvania. This is the first evidence of life superior to the fishes found in that formation. The specimen is preserved in the Yale Museum. Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 11.— Rotations in a constant electric field, by G. Quincke. Rods, plates, spheres, or cylinders of a dielectric substance, suspended in a liquid dielectric between vertical condenser plates, exhibit slow rotations about an axis parallel or at right angles to the lines of force when a constant field of sufficient intensity is maintained between the plates. The author describes a great variety of experiments which exhibit this curious phenomenon. He explains it by the electrostatic deformation of the air film adhering to the bodies and producing a tangential pressure.— choto-electric residual action of kathode rays, by J. Elster and H. Geitel. Alkaline chlorides exposed to the action of kathode rays assume peculiar colorations, and become photo-electrically sensitive. At the same time their phosphorescence diminishes, and a bluish film resembling an alkali metal is deposited on the walls of the tube. The authors naturally supposed that this consisted of metallic sodium, potassium, ceesium, or rubidium due to decomposition of their respective salts by the kathode rays. This would account for the observed photo-electric be- haviour. But mercury was incapable of forming an amalgam with the deposit, and this explanation is therefore excluded. That it must be sought in a modification of the salt itself is shown by the fact of the photo-electric property remaining in the open air as long as the colour remains. Similar properties are possessed by colourless fluorspar, by potassium carbonate and glass, and to a slighter extent by calcium and barium chlorides. The authors think that a slight reduction takes place, and that the metal produced forms a solid solution in the remainder of the salt.—Interference refractometer for electric waves, by O. Wiedeburg. Describes an arrangement corresponding to Jamin’s refractometer adapted to electric waves. The refractive index of paraffin found by this method is 1°418, and of plate glass 2°63, with a probable error of only 1 per cent.—Helm- holtz’s absolute electro-dynamometer and its use in determining the E.M.F. of a Clark cell, by K. Kahle. The electro-dyna- mometer consists of a square metallic band acting upon a coil attached to the arm of a balance, the planes of the band and the coil being perpendicular to each other. The square shape has the advantage that only its corners need support, and the band allows of strong currents and simplifies calculation. The E.M.F. of the H-shaped Clark cell was found to be 174488 volts at o° and 1°4322 at 15°.—The cadmium standard cell, by W. Jaeger and R. Wachsmuth. A Clark cell of the H-shape, in which cadmium amalgam is substituted for the zinc amalgam and cadmium sulphate for zine sulphate has an E.M.F. of 1019 NO. 1413, VOL. 55] volts at 20°, It has an extremely small temperature coefficient (0°004 per cent., instead of o°r per cent. as in the Clark cell), and it is not surpassed by the ordinary Clark cell as regards durability and facility of reproduction.—Influence of Réntgen rays upon the steam jet, by F. Richarz. Since X-rays make air temporarily conducting, and therefore probably lead to ionic dissociation, they would also on that account increase the con- densation in a steam jet. This is actually the case, as the author showed by exposing a steam jet, screened from direct electrostatic action, to the rays traversing an aluminium window. —Aluminium amalgam, by V. Biernacki. This may easily be obtained by dipping an aluminium wire repeatedly into mer- cury, while each metal is connected with a pole of a battery. It may be kept for a long time in perfectly dry air, but in moist air it oxidises rapidly, forming a growth of pure alumina which makes an attractive lecture experiment. THE latest issue of the Zzvestéa of the East Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society (vol. xxvi., Nos. 4 and 5, Irkutsk, 1896) contains various matters of interest. It begins by an elaborate paper, by A. A. Kaufmann, on the complex forms of land tenure in Siberia. An immense mass of data relative to this question has lately been accumulated by the sur- veys and explorations which have been made in Siberia, in order to ascertain the area of land which remains free for the new- coming settlers, and the results of these elaborate researches and surveys were embodied in a series of volumes, published by the Ministry of State domains, under the name of ‘‘ Materials rela- tive to the economical conditions of the peasants in Siberia.” M. Kaufmann now sums up the results of these researches, which are the more important as they show what forms of land tenure have been developed by the immigrants themselves, who had been left absolutely free to occupy immense tracts of waste land, and to work out such forms of land tenure as they themselves found convenient. A very great variety of forms of land tenure has thus come into existence in both West and East Siberia, nearly all hitherto known forms of Jand tenure being represented on this vast area, with the exception of only one, namely the private, hereditary and individual ownership of the land. This last does not exist, while communal possession is everywhere the rule, and it takesa quite unsuspected variety of forms. The prevailing form is the possession by a group of villages, or by the canton or Volost, which includes from ten to fifteen separate villages, and usually has several thousands of inhabitants, who consider the land of the Volost as their common possession, and allot and re-allot it according to their respective needs. Within the estate of the Volost, again, a great variety of forms of land tenure is found, and very often strangers to the canton are also admitted to the temporary possession of parts of the Volost’s estate in exchange for similar rights being granted to the in- habitants of the Volost on the land owned by those strangers. On the whole, M. Kaufmann’s essay can be earnestly recom- mended to the attention of the students of the subject in this country.—Two papers, on the Buryates of Irkutsk, by P. E. Kulakoff, and on the Buryates of Transbaikalia, by M. A. Kroll, are full of interest, as the former contains valuable remarks on the influence of the Shamanist religion, the epi- demical insanity which lately prevailed in the Buryate settle- ments, the influence of contact with the Russians, Xe. ; while the second has new data upon the tribal organisation, and mentions the interesting fact that the Transbaikalia Buryates do not die out as other natives do, but have doubled their numbers since the beginning of this century.—Three papers, on the Yakutes, deal with the old tribal organisation of the Yakutes, , with some graves of the beginning of this century, and with the Yakute tales collected by the late M. Khudyakoff, and lately published at Irkutsk under the name of ‘‘ Verkhoyanskiy Sbornik.”—V. B. Shostakovich contributes a paper on the pro- tective adaptations of the buds in different Siberian trees and bushes (with one plate) ; and Prof. Katanoff gives an account of the Turkish inscriptions on the Orkhon and the Yenisei. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Chemical Society, November 5.—Mr. A. G. Vernon Har- court, President, in the chair.—The following papers were read:—The constitution of the so-called nitrogen iodide, by F. D. Chattaway. The most probable formula assignable to es NoveEMBER 26, 1896] WMA TORE 93 nitrogen iodide is NIIsI, ; it is decomposed by excess or water, giving iodine and ammonium iodide and hypoiodite. The author has examined its reactions. —The carbohydrates of barley straw, by C. F. Cross, E. J. Bevan, and C. Smith. Evidence is adduced which points to the gradual transformation in barley straw, of a hexose into a pentose derivative ; a transition form oO. of the constitution CHOC SCH, appears to exist.—The O direct union of carbon and hydrogen, by W. A. Bone and D. S. Jerdan. Much acetylene and some methane are found in dry hydrogen gas in which an electric arc has burnt between carbon poles.—The explosion of acetylene with less than its own volume of oxygen, by W. A. Bone and J. C. Cain.—The refraction constants of crystalline salts, by W. J. Pope. The molecular refractions of crystalline salts, calculated from the several prin- cipal refractive indices, is an additive property.—Compounds of metallic hydroxides with iodine, by T. Rettie.—Economical preparation of hydroxylamine sulphate, by E. Divers and T. Haga. Sodium nitrite, sulphonated with sodium sulphite and hydrolysed, yields nearly its own weight of hydroxylamine sul- phate.—The reduction of nitrososulphates, by E. Divers and T. Haga. Potassium nitrososulphate, when reduced with sodium amalgam, yields hyponitrite, sulphite, sulphate, amidosulpho- nate, nitrous oxide, hydrazine, ammonia and_nitrogen.—Imido- sulphonates, Part ii., by E. Divers and T. Haga.—Amido- sulphonic acid, by E. Divers and T. Haga. An economical method of preparing this acid is given, and its properties and reactions are described.—Molecular conductivity of amidosul- phonic acid, by J. Sakurai.—The physiological action of amido- sulphonic acid, by O. Loew. The salts of this acid seem poisonous only to pheenogamous plants, and not to other forms of vegetable or to animal life-—How mercurous and mercuric salts change into each other, by S. Hada.—The effect of heat on aqueous solutions of chrome alum, by Miss M. D. Dougal. Experiments on the diffusion of violet and green chrome alum solutions harmonise with the view that the green solutions con- tain sulphuric acid and a colloidal chromylsulphuric acid.—On the hydrolysis of ethylic dicarboxylglutaconate, by H. W. Bolam.—The periodic law, by R. M. Deeley.—The colouring matters occurring in various British plants, by A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel. The colouring matter of the yellow wall- flower (Chetranthus cheirt) consists of quercitin and a new sub- stance, isorhamnetin, C,,H,,O-; ; the colouring matter of white hawthorn blossoms ( Cretagus oxycantha) is quercitin. — Position- isomerism and optical activity ; the comparative rotatory powers of the dibenzoyl- and ditoluyl-tartrates, by P. Frankland and F. M. Wharton.—Researches on the terpenes. VII. Halogen derivates of camphor, by J. E. Marsh and J. H. Gardner. Bromine and phosphorous trichloride convert camphor into two isomeric tribromocamphene hydrobromides, C,)H,,Br,; they are both convertible into the same tribromocamphene, C,)H,,Brs. A number of bromo- and chloro-camphene derivatives have been obtained. —Derivatives of camphenesulphonic acids, by A. Lap- worth and F. S. Kipping.—Preparation of dimethylketohexa- methylene and experiments on the synthesis of dimethylhexa- methenylmalonic acid, by F. S. Kipping and W. B. Edwards. — Sulphocamphylic acid, CyH,,SO;, with remarks on the con- stitution of camphoric acid and of camphoronic acid, by W. H. Perkin, jun. The further study of the decomposition products of a- and B-camphylic acids leads to results which can be ex- plained on the assumption that camphoric acid has the con- CMe,. CH,. CH, stitution | | CMe(COOH)CH . COOH formula for camphoronic acid.—On Pettenkofer’s method for determining carbonic anhydride in air, by Prof. Letts and Kk. F. Blake. By employing precautions suggested by the authors, Pettenkofer’s method can be made of great accuracy and delicacy. ; this view supports Bredt’s Geological Society, November 4.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President referred to the loss which the Society had sustained by the decease of Prof. A. H. Green, F.R S., who had served for some years on the Council, and was Vice-President at the time of his death.—The President announced that Lady Prestwich, in fulfilment of the terms of a bequest of her Jate husband, had offered to the Society 260 bound volumes of geological tracts from his library. Also that a sum of £800 had been bequeathed to the Society NO. 1413, VOL. 55] by Sir Joseph Prestwich, the interest to be applied to the triennial award of a medal and fund : this bequest to take effect subsequent to the decease of Lady Prestwich —Additional note on the sections near the summit of the Furka Pass (Switzer- land), by Prof. T. G Bonney, F.R.S. The author, during a visit to Switzerland in 1895, had taken the opportunity of com- pleting the examination of the sections on the western side of the Furka Pass, and of glancing again at those previously studied. His observations support the view that the white, sometimes slightly quartzose or micaceous, marble which crosses the summit of the Pass is a rock much older than the Mesozoic era. Dr. J. W. Gregory thought that Prof. Bonney’s mainten- ance of his former conclusion after a third study of the relations of the saccharoidal and the Jurassic limestones would lessen the value attached to the difficulties of his theory. Neither explan- ation is free from ditfculty, but the constant differences now found between the two rocks greatly increase the probabilities in favour of the fault-theory. In reply the author said they must either assume very peculiar faulting or very sporadic and inexplicable metamorphism—seeing that the marble was totally different from the adjacent Jurassic rocks, was exactly like the marbles elsewhere members of the crystalline schists, and evi- dently had been affected by pressure after it had become a marble, while the other was simply a limestone affected by pressure. Hence he thought that the hypothesis of faults offered the fewer difficulties: —Geological and petrographical studies of the Sudbury Nickel District (Canada), by Dr. T. L. Walker. Sudbury is a small town situated in Northern Ontario, in the centre of the nickel-mining district. North of the Great Lakes granite and gneiss form almost boundless terranes, interrupted only by belts of Huronian rocks, which are in turn associated with post-Huronian eruptives, the most important of which are the large nickel-bearing massives. The nickel-bear- ing rocks, which are eruptive, form long elliptical stocks which conform to the strike of the Huronian rocks containing them. Contact-action indicates that they are younger than the rocks previously referred to. The smaller eruptives are com- posed of greenstone, which appears to have been formed from norite or gabbro. Some of the larger eruptives, however, have been highly differentiated on cooling, as they are now composed of granite and greenstone with gradual transitions from the one to the other. The greenstone generally forms one side of the eruptive, and on the outer border is often characterised by large masses of nickeliferous pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and nickel- iferous pyrite, with frequent smaller masses of magnetic iron ore rich in titanic acid. The author regarded these mineral masses as genetically related to the greenstone and granite, in that they appear to be the extreme products of differentiation. About half the world’s nickel supply is drawn from these deposits.— On the distribution in space of the accessory shocks of the great Japanese earthquake of 1891, by Dr. Charles Davison. The object of the author in this paper is to consider the geo- graphical distribution of the numerous shocks which preceded and followed the great earthquake of 1891. Reasons were given for believing that the distribution of earthquakes in 1890- 91 was little, if at all, due to the marked shock of May 12, 1889, but that the earthquakes of these years were preparatory to the great earthquake, the consequent relief at numerous and widely distributed points equalising the effective strain along the whole fault-system, and so clearing the way for one or more almost instantaneous slips along its entire length. This outlining of the fault-system points to the previous existence of the faults, and implies that the great earthquake was due not to the rupturing of the strata, but probably to the intense friction called into action by the sudden displacement. The distribution of the after-shocks was then discussed, and it was maintained that the after-shocks of the Mino-Owari earthquake for the first fourteen months were subject to the following conditions : decline of frequency, decrease in the area of seismic action, and a gradual but oscillating withdrawal of that action to a more or less central district. Prof. Milne said that the Mino- Owari earthquake had furnished a greater number and a more varied series of seismic phenomena for analysis than had been noted in connection with any disturbance previously recorded. When this earthquake took place an enormous fault, which can be traced over a length of more than forty miles, appeared upon the surface, and it was usually supposed that the sudden rupture and displacement of vast masses of material along this line were the cause of the earthquake. On account of a peculiar distribution of shocks which took place prior to 1891, Dr. 94 NATURE [ NOVEMBER 26, 1896 Davison argued that the fault or faults in the Mino-Owari district were outlined before the occurrence of the great earth- quake, which was, therefore, only the result of their extension. This may have been so, but it must be remembered that before 1891 the number of shocks occurring in the Mino-Owari plain were not numerous ; and as from 1889 to 1891 it cannot be said that they increased in number, while their distribution, as exhibited by maps, was largely dependent upon the observing- stations. Where the maps showed blank spaces, in many cases the country was mountainous, and there were no observers. Linnean Society, November 5.—Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Dr. Morris, C.M.G., Royal Gardens, Kew, exhibited specimens and slides illustrating the occurrence of raphides in the bulbs of the common hyacinth of gardens (Hyacinthus orientalis and varieties). Forms of eczema were said to have been produced in persons handling and cleaning these bulbs. Although the fact was familiar to gardeners, the cause did not appear to have been clearly traced. Experiments and observations at the Jodrell Laboratory at Kew had shown that both dry and moist scales were capable of producing con- siderable irritation in certain cases when applied directly to the skin. There was little doubt that the raphides were the prime agents. These needle-shaped crystals (composed of oxalate of lime) varied from ;t,;th to s};th of an inch in length, and were arranged in close bundles, easily dispersed by rubbing the dry scales. In the growing plants they were doubtless protective, as snails, for instance, avoided hyacinth bulbs, but attacked others growing close by. Roman hyacinths (var. a/bz/ws) were understood to cause greater irritation than other varieties. Dr. D. H. Scott described some experiments which he had tried, tending to confirm the conclusion that the irritation of the skin produced by contact with the bulb-scales of Hyacinths is due immediately to puncture by the numerous raphides.—On behalf of Dr. H. B. Hewetson, of Leeds, Mr. Harting exhibited photographs of a specimen of Macqueen’s Bustard (O¢zs Macqueenz) which had been shot at Easington, in Holderness, on October 17 last, and gave a brief account of the species, which had now been met with in England for the third time ; the first instance of its occurrence having been noticed in Lin- colnshire in October 1847, and the second in Yorkshire in October 1892.—Mr. Hugh Warrand exhibited a remarkable bird which was believed at first to be a hybrid between the Red Grouse and Ptarmigan, but which in the opinion of Mr. Ogilvie Grant, Mr. Millais, and Mr. Harting, could only be regarded as anabnormally pale-coloured grouse. Only one possible instance had been recorded of such a hybrid as was suggested, viz. in the case of a bird which was exhibited some years ago by Prof. Newton to the Zoological Society (P. Z. S., 1878, p. 793) and had since been figured by Mr. Millais in his work on Game Birds. Aspecimen of the Cream-coloured Courser (Cwussordius tsabellinus), an extremely rare visitor to this country from North Africa (probably w2@ Spain), which had been shot on Salisbury Plain, at Earlstoke, on October 10 last, was exhibited by Mr. Harting, who gave particulars of the occurrence, and stated that another example of this bird had since been obtained in Bouley Bay, Jersey. —A paper by Mr. A. W. Waters, on Mediterranean Bryozoa was then read. Dealing in the first place with some Cellulartide and other Bryozoa from Rapallo, the paper was to some extent a revision of work already published on Mediterra- nean Bryozoa. Stress was laid upon the importance of noting the position from which the radicle-tube grows, and this was found to be a character of specific value.—Dr. S. Schonland communicated a paper on some new species of Crassu/a from South Africa, which he had obtained from localities which had been very rarely visited by botanical collectors, and which were believed to be undescribed. Mr. J. G. Baker, who criticised the paper, spoke in favourable terms of the care which had been taken by the author in its preparation, and thought there was sufficient justification for describing the species mentioned as new.—A revisionary monograph of the New Zealand Holothurians, by Prof. A. Dendy, of Christchurch, N.Z., was read. —The Rev. J. Whitmee made some remarks on the Trepang fishery in Samoa, where several edible species of Holothurians are gathered and prepared for the market, and called attention to the well-known fact that a small fish of the genus Azerasfer used the body of the Holothurian as a habitation. Mathematical Society, November 12 —Major MacMahon, R.A , F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The President briefly stated the grounds of the award by the Council of the De Morgan medal to Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S. ; and after receiving NO. 1413, VOL. 55| the medal, Mr. Roberts thanked the Council and the members for the honour they had conferred upon him, and said that his connection with the Society had been of great service to him.— The ballot was then taken, with the result that the gentlemen whose names are givenin NATURE for October 22, were declared to be duly elected to form the Council for the ensuing session —Prof. Elliott, F.R.S., having taken the chair, called upon Major MacMahon to read his address, which was on ‘‘ The Combinatory Analysis.” Mr. S. Roberts gave, in abstract, an account of Herr E. Lasker’s ‘‘Essay on the Geometrical Calculus, Part 1.” The titles only of the following papers were read, owing to the lateness of the hour :—‘‘ Symbolic Logic,” H. MacColl; ‘‘On a General Integral with some physical applications,” G. J. Hurst; ‘f On Ratio,” Prof. M. J. M. Hill, F.R.S.; ‘*On the Geometrical Construction of Models of Cubic Surfaces,” W. H. Blythe ; ‘‘ Theory of Vortex Rings,” H. S. Carslaw ; ‘‘ Differentiation of Spherical Harmonics,” E. G. Gallop; ‘‘On the Application of Jacobi’s Dynamical Method to the General Problem of Three Bodies,” and ‘* On certain properties of the mean motions and the secular accelera- tions of the principal arguments used in the Lunar Theory,” Prof. E. W. Brown ; ‘* Note on the Symmetric Group,” Prof. W. Burnside, F.R.S.; ‘‘ Note on the Capacity of a Conductor in the form of two intersecting spheres,” W. D. Niven, F.R.S. CAMBRIDGE, Philosophical Society, October 26.—Prof. Hughes, Vice- President, in the chair.—The following elections were made :— President: Mr. F. Darwin. Vice-Presidents: Prof. G. D. Liveing, Prof. Newton, Prof. J. J. Thomson. Treasurer: Mr. Glazebrook. Secretaries: Mr. Newall, Mr. Bateson, Mr. Baker. Ordinary Members of Council: Dr. Gaskell, Mr. Marr, Mr. Larmor, Dr. Marshall Ward, Mr. Shipley.—Mr. F. Darwin, President, then took the chair.—Mr. S. F. Harmer exhibited the casts of /geanodon bernissartensis, Boulenger, recently presented to the Museum of Zoology by H.M. the King of the Belgians. The casts are reproductions of some of the famous specimens preserved in the ‘‘ Musée Royal d’ Histoire Naturelle de Belgique,” at Brussels. These specimens were discovered in April 1878, in the colliery of Bernissart, a village situated between Mons and Tournai, close to the French frontier. The bones, which are of Wealden age, were found at a depth of 356 metres (322 metres below sea- level). * Nearly thirty complete skeletons, belonging to full- grown individuals, were found at the time of the original dis- covery, or ata later period; the great majority belonging to I. bernissartensts, and the others to Z. wantel/zZ, well known in England through the labours of Mantell, Owen and others. Although much had been done in England and elsewhere, towards understanding the structure of Zgwanodoz, no skeleton which was more than fragmentary had been described before the Belgian discoveries were made. Prof. Newton stated that the importance attached by many high authorities to the group of Dinosaurs known as Ovzithopfoda, from their resemblance in several points to the class Aves, had long made him desirous of obtaining for the Museum of Zoology a cast of one of the famous Belgian /gwanodon skeletons. About a year ago he mentioned the subject to the High Steward of the University, who, with his accustomed kindness and energy, at once asked Her Majesty's Minister at Brussels to find out on what terms the want could be supplied. In due time an answer was received by Lord Walsingham that this could be done by the University paying for the cast or offering in exchange specimens to the value of 2007. Meanwhile the subject had been also mentioned to the late Lord Lilford, who had for many years been so great a benefactor to the museum, and he at once addressed the late Rev. Horace Waller, well known as a companion of Living- stone. Mr. Waller suggested an application to King Leopold himself, through his personal friend Sir John Kirk. To this Sir John readily consented, and, on His Majesty visiting London last winter, made known to him how acceptable the gift of a cast would be. The King was graciously pleased to entertain the application favourably, and gave orders accordingly, with the result that after a short correspondence with M. Dupont, the Director of the Museum at Brussels, not a single cast only, but the magnificent series now exhibited arrived in the course of the summer, and owing to the royal donation having liberally included the necessary ironwork, the skeleton was mounted without difficulty. Though the thanks of the Senate have been most properly offered to H.M. the King of the Belgians for his . Atlantic Ocean. NoveMBER 26, 1896] NATURE 95 great munificence, and this token of his good will, the gratitude of all here is equally due to Sir John Kirk, without whose kind and ready intervention, the University would have been unable to procure this desirable acquisition. —Remarks on the structure and athinities of Zgzanodon, by Mr. H. Gadow. Though birds are descendants of some reptilian stock, it was held that the particular group of ancestral reptiles is not to be found among the Iguanodonta, not even among the much wider group of Dinosauni, in spite of the close resemblance of the pelvis and most parts of the hind-limbs with the corresponding organs in birds. The composition of the skull, the formation of the fore- limbs, and the palzeontological evidence absolutely forbid such an intimate connection with birds. Bipedalism, upright gait, is a feature which has been acquired independently and at various geological epochs by the most heterogeneous creatures, for instance by kangaroos, jerboas, birds, iguanodonts, and even by chlamydosaurus, the peculiar frilled lizard of Queensland.— Notes on cyclostomatous polyzoa, by Mr. S. F. Harmer. DUBLIN. Royal Irish Academy, November 9.—The Earl of Rosse, President, in the chair.—Dr. R. F. Scharff read a paper on the origin of the European fauna. In a previous paper he had dwelt on the importance of, in the first place, ascertaining the facts relating to the origin of the fauna of a smallarea, such as that of Great Britain or Ireland. If that of Great Britain be closely examined, its fauna will be found to consist of three elements, viz. northern, southern, and eastern. There is also a mass of evidence to prove that this latter element reached England after the others, and this is strengthened by the fact that the eastern fauna, which in many respects corresponds with the so-called Teutonic flora, is absent from Ireland. If the geological date of the arrival of this eastern, or, as it might be called, Siberian fauna into England, could be even approximately ascertained, the period of the migration of the southern and northern faunas could also be fixed as taking place at an earlier period, while the separation of Ireland would have occurred at a time inter- mediate between these events. Dr. Scharff showed that not only was the lower continental boulder clay an undoubtedly marine deposit, but that the eastern or Siberian migration-forms all occur in inter-glacial or later deposits, overlying the boulder clay. The very earliest members of that migration arrived in England during the deposition of the forest bed; so that the newest English, so-called, pliocene crags would therefore be con- temporaneous with the lower continental boulder clay. The faunistic evidence proved that the land connection between Ire- land, Scotland and Scandinavia, existed until a much later period, and that the Arctic marine fauna which is found in the newer English crags came direct from the Arctic Ocean across the plains of Northern Europe. At that period it was suggested that the Arctic Ocean was completely separated from the To enable the mammoth to cross from Asia, with other large mammals, the American and Asiatic continents must have been connected at Behring’s Straits, whilst another mass of land stretched from Arctic America by way of Green- land and Spitzbergen to northern Scandinavia. The Arctic Ocean swept over Russia and Northern Germany, as far as the east coast of Great Britain. The climatic conditions of European land as then existing were peculiar ; while the west coasts of the British Islands and Scandinavia were bathed by the waters of the Gulf Stream, the eastern shores of these countries were lashed by the waters of the Arctic Ocean. There therefore existed the necessary conditions for an excessive snowfall and consequent glaciation on the territories between the two oceans, without requiring any very extreme lowering of the temperature in Northern Europe—viz. evaporation of the warm waters from the Gulf Stream, and the condensation of these vapours on their coming into contact with the cold air from the Arctic Sea.— A paper on the melting point of some minerals, being work done in the Physical Laboratory of Trinity College, Dublin, by Mr. Ralph Cusack, was communicated by Prof. G. F. Fitz- Gerald, F.R.S.—Sir Robert Ball, F.R.S., communicated a memoir, being the eleventh, on the theory of screws, entitled “* Further development of the relations between impulsive screws and instantaneous screws.” —Several recently-published parts of the thirtieth volume of Zvamsactions were laid on the table. Paris. Academy of Sciences, November 16.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—The Perpetual Secretary announced to the Academy the loss it had sustained by the death of M. H. Gylden, of NO. 1413, VOL. 55 | Stockholm, Correspondent in the Astronomical Section.— Notice on the work of M. Hugo Gyldén, by M. O. Callandreau. —Researches on phosphoric acid ; estimation of pyrophosphoric acid, by MM. Berthelotand G. André. The pyrophosphoric acid 1S precipitated as magnesium pyrophosphate in presence of an excess of acetic acid, by a mixture of magnesium chloride, ammonium chloride, and ammonium acetate. Test analyses are given showing the accuracy obtainable by this method.—Trans- formations of pyrophosphoric acid, by MM. Berthelot and André. The acid was prepared by the action of an aqueous solution of hydrogen sulphide upon the lead salt. The aqueous acid is very slowly converted into orthophosphoric acid, 87 per cent. remaining unchanged after five days’ standing, 43 per cent. after 121 days, no metaphosphoric acid being formed. The velocity of transformation is greater the more concentrated the solution. —On the earths of the yttrium group contained in the monazite sands, by MM. P. Schutzenberger and Boudouard. Two methods have been tried for the separation of these earths, the fractional crystallisation of the sulphates from the hot aqueous solutions, and the partial decomposition of the nitrates. All attempts at separation by the first method proved ineffectual, but the fractional decomposition of the nitrates by heat gave better results, fractions being obtained with atomic weights varying between 92 and 148. Only one spectrum, however, that of yttria, was given by all the fractions.—Determination of the positions of Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, Saint Louis (Senegal), and Dakar ; measurement of the acceleration due to gravity, by M. Bouquet de la Grye.—Memoirs on some problems in navigation and on magnetic observations at sea, by M. Guyou.—On an extension which may be given to a theorem by Poisson, relating to the invariability of the axes, by M. H. Andoyer.—On the convergence of uniform substitutions, by M. E. M. Léméray.—On surfaces of lines of isometric curvature, by M. T. Craig —Some problems in rigid mechanics, by M. René de Saussure.—On the perma- nent changes of glass, and the displacement of the zero points of thermometers, by M. L Marchis. With a view of studying the laws regulating the changes of zero in mercury-glass ther- monieters, a glass was purposely chosen that should make these changes as large as possible. The experiments were conducted at temperatures between —60° C. and 357° C.—Influence of magnetisation upon the electromotive force of a thermo-couple, of which iron is one of the elements, by MM. U. Lala and A. Fournier. A diminution of the electromotive force was observed to take place when the couple was placed in a strong magnetic field. —The absolute measurement of small thicknesses, by MM. Ch. Fabry and A. Perot.—On the densities of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, and the composition of atmospheric air, by M. A. Leduc (see p. $4). —On a law relating to water vapour, by M. Rateau.— On a new tap for use with compressed gas-cylinders. This tap is so constructed as to allow rapid filling during compression, but to prevent the rapid exit of the gas. It is especially suit- able for use with liquefied acetylene.—The neutrality of salts with reference to coloured indicators, by M. H. Lescceur. The blueing of litmus, or reddening of phenol-phthalein, is regarded as indicating not the change from acidity to alkalinity, but from neutrality to alkalinity. With methyl orange, on the contrary, the change to yellow indicates the change from acidity to neutrality. A salt would, from this point of view, be defined as neutral if methyl orange and phenol-phthalein remained colourless, and litmus remained red. Under this definition, such salts as alum and zine sulphate would be neutral.—Action of sulphuric acid and iodine upon iodic acid. Practically pure iodic anhydride in crystals can be obtained by recrystallising the crude substance from concentrated sulphuric acid to which a little fuming nitric acid has been added.—Analysis of air by Agaricus atramentarius, by M. T. L. Phipson. The absorption of oxygen from a confined volume of air by this fungus appears to be as complete as with phos- phorus.—On some properties of pure glucina, by M. P. Lebeau. Glucina melted in the electric furnace has its density practically unchanged. The oxide is not reduced by heating with mag- nesium, sodium, potassium, or aluminium, but boron, silicon, and carbon can reduce it with the formation of crystalline com- pounds —On an iodide of molybdenum, by M. Guichard. By the action of hydrogen iodide upon the chloride MoCl,, the iodide Mol, can be prepared in the amorphous state.—On the separation of tungsten and titanium, by M. Ed. Defacqz.—The spectrum of chlorophyll, by M. A. Etard. The conclusion is drawn that several distinct green colouring matters have been described under the name of chlorophyll.—On the fixation of 96 NATURE [NoveMBER 26, 1896 atmospheric nitrogen by the association of algee and bacteria, by M. Raoul Bouilhac.—The organic material of the mineral water from Tulle-Haut, by M. F. Garrigou. The residue from thirty litres of this mineral water gave reactions indicating the presence of an alkaloidal substance.—On the distribution of lipase in the organism, by M. Hanriot. Various parts of the body were examined, but lipase was only found in notable quantity in the serum, pancreas, and liver.—The achro- matometer, by M. A. M. Bloch. An instrument to measure the pressure necessary to decolourise and render bloodless a limited portion of tissue. It differs from previous instruments of the same class in that its use is not limited to the horizontal position.—On the parasitism of the Monstrillide, by M. A. Giard. The MMWonstrilide offer the first example of a parasitic crustacean.—Researches on the morphology of Z77¢chomonas intestinalis, by M. J. Kunstler.—Ravages caused in Algeria by the caterpillars of Sesamza nonagrioides (Lefevre) to maize, sugar-cane, and other plants, by M. J. Kunckel d’Herculais. Observations on the habits, and on the best means of combating this pest.—On the pool of Berre, and pools situated in its neigh- bourhood, on the coast of Provence, by M. André Delebecque. —On the subterranean streams near Vercors (Dréme), by MM. E. A. Martel and A. Delebecque.—Relations between lunar movements and barometric movements on the northern hemi- sphere, by M. A. Poincaré.—Extraordinary rains : the pink rain at Croisic (Loire-Inférieure) of November 8, 1896. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, NovEMBER 26. Royat Society, at 4.30.—Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of Evolution. On Telegony in Man, &c. : Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., and Miss Alice Lee.—On the Magnetic Permeability of Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Air: Prof. Fleming, F.R.S.,-and Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. INsTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—The Telephone Trunk Line System in Great Britain: J. Gavey. (Continuation of Discussion.) Soutu Lonpon EnTomotoeicat anp Naturat History Society, at 8.—Exhibition of Varieties in all Orders. FRIDAY, NovEMBER 27. PuysicaL Society, at 5.—Apparatus for giving Diagrams of the Efficiency of a Photographic Shutter : Captain Abney, F.R S. MONDAY, NoveMBER 30. Society or Arts, at 8.—The Use of Gas for Domestic Lighting: Prof. Vivian B. Lewes. (Three Lectures.) INsTITUTE OF ACTUARIES, at 7.—Inaugural Address by the President, T. E. Young. TUESDAY, DECEMEER t. ZooLocicaL Society, at 8.30.—On the General Results of his Zoological Expedition to Madagascar : Dr. Forsyth Major.—Notes on a Collection of Reptiles and Batrachians made in the Malay Peninsula, with a List of the Species hitherto recorded from that Region: Stanley S. Flower.— Description of New Fishes from the Upper Shiré River, British Central Africa, collected by Dr. Percy Rendall, and presented to the British Museum by Sir Harry H. Johnston, K.C.B.: G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S. INsTITUTION OF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Paper to be further discussed : The Bacterial Purification of Water: Percy F. Frankland, F.R.S. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2. Society or Arts, at 8.—The Teaching of Economics : W. A. S. Hewins. GeEoLoGicaL Sociery, at 8.—Another Possible Cause of the Glacial Epoch : Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S —On the Affinities of the Echinothurida and on Pedinothuria and Elikodiadema, Two New Genera of Echinoidea ; On Echinocystis and Palzodiscus, Two Silurian Genera of Echinoidea: Dr. J. W. Gregory. ENTOMOLOGICAL SocreTy, at 8. Society oF Pusiic ANnatysts, at 8.—Some Analyses of Water from an Oyster Fishery ; Note on Weighing out Fats; Remarks on Formalde- hyde: Chas. E. Cassal.—Note on Formalin: Dr. Samuel Rideal and Ronald Orchard.—Notes on Prussian Blue: Frank H. Leeds.—Vhe Estimation of Borax and Boracic Acid In Milk: Frank P. Perkins.— Nove on Copper in Oysters: W. F. Lowe.—The Statement of Analytical Results: J. F. Liverseege. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3. Linnean Society, at 8.—Does Natural Selection play any part in the | Origin of Species among Plants: Rev. Geo. Henslow. Cuemicat Society, at 8.—Election of Fellows.—Constitution and Colour: Arthur G. Green.—Some Experiments on Sea-water: E. Sonstadt.— Derivatives of _a-Hydrindone: C. Revis and Dr. F. S. Kipping —Notes on Nitration: Dr. H. E. Armstrong.—2 : 3’ Bromobetanaphthol : Dr. H. E. Armstrong and W. A* Davis.—Derivatives of Nitrobetanaphthols : W. A. Davis. —Morphotropic Relations of Betanaphthol Derivatives : W. A. Davis.—Researches on Tertiary Benzenoid Amines: Miss C. Evans. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4. Geotoaists’ AssociaTion, at 8.—The Foraminifera of the Thanet Beds of Pegwell Bay : H. W. Burrows and Richard Holland. InsviTuTION oF Civit ENGINEERS. at 8.—Address by J. Wolfe Barry, C.B., F.R.S. (President) —Railway Signalling : David W. Kinmont. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6. Sunvay Lecture Sociery (St. George’s Hall), at 4.—New Zealand—the World’s Wonderland : W. Herbert-Jones. NO. 1413, VOL. 55] BOOKS, PAMPHLETS,and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—Habit and Instinct: C. Lloyd Mor from the Natural History of tbe Ancients; Rev. M. G. Watkins (Stock).— The Metric System of Weights and Measures: Prof. W. H. Wagstaff (Whittaker).—The Dynamo: C. C. Hawkins and F. Wallis, 2nd edition (Whittaker),—Auto-Cars: D. Farman (Whittaker).—“ Carriages without Horses shall go” : A. R. Sennett (Whittaker).—Transformers for Single and Multiphase Currents: G. Kapp (Whittaker).—A-birding on a Bronco: F. A. Merriam (Boston, Mass., Houghton).—Prehistoric Man and Beast: gan (Arnold) —Gleanings | Rev. H. N. Hutchinson (Smith, Elder),—Cambridge Natural History. Vol. 2. Worms, Rotifers, and Polyzoa: Gamble, Sheldon Shipley, Hartozg, Benham, Beddard, and Harmer (Macmillan)._Hindu Astronomy: W. Brennand (Straker).—The Earth and its Story: Prof. A. Heilprin (Gay and Bird).—British Patent Laws and Patentees’ Wrongs and Rights: H. Haes (Whittingham).—Elements of Differential Calculus: Prof. E. W. Bass Chapman).—Locomotive Mechanism and Engineering: H. C. Reagan, jun., 2nd edition (Chapman).—Notes for Chemical Students: Prof. R. T. Austen, 2nd edition (Chapman).—Experiments upon the Contraction of the Liquid Vein issuing from an Orifice: H. Bazin, translated by J. C. Traut- wine, jun. (Chapman).—A Text-Book on Shades and Shadows and Per- spective : J. E. Hill, 2nd edition (Chapman).—Tables for Iron Analysis: J. A. Allen (Chapman).—Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities: J. Maddison (Macmillan).— Journal and Proceedings from the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1895, Vol. xxix. (Sydney).—Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1893-4, Vol. 2 (Washington).—Botanical. Microtechnique: Dr. A. Zimmermann, translated by J. E. Humphrey (Constable).—The True Grasses: E. Hackel, translated by F. Lamson-Scribner and E. A. South- worth (Constable).—Charles Pritchard, D.D., F.R.S., &c.: A. Pritchard, and others (Seeley).—Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers. Vol. 2. Chemistry of Manufacturing Processes: B. Blount and A. G. Bloxam (Griffin).—Select Methods in Inorganic Quantitative Analysis: Prof. F. C. Smith (Edinburgh, Clay).—Among British Birds in their Nesting Haunts, illustrated by the Camera: O. A. J. Lee, Part 1 (Edinburgh, Douglas). PAMPHLETS. — Sulla Propagazione dell’ Electtricita nei Gas Attravusati dai Raggi di Réntgen: Prof. A. Righi (Bologna).—The Principal Household Insects of the United States (Washington).—Reyue Météorologique. Travaux du Réseau Météorologique du Sud-Ouest de Ja Russie dix ans d’Existence : A. Kl ossovsky (Odessa). SERIALS.—Encyklopzedie der Naturwissenschaften, Erste Abthg., 69 to 70 Liefg., Dritte Abthg. 34 to 37 Liefg. (Breslau, Trewendt).—The Bachelor of Arts, November (New York).—Physical Review, Vol. iv. No. 2 (Mac- millan),—Publications of the Leander McCormick Observatory of the University of Virginia, Vol. 1, Part 7 (Charlottesville). —Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, new series, Vol. xxiii. (Boston, Mass., Wilson).—Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 24 Band, 3 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—Centralblatt fiir Anthropologie, &c., 1806, Heft 4 (Breslau, Kern).—Astrophysical Journal, November (Wesley). CONTENTS. PAGE Simjoseph Banks’swJiournaleays = cil scueies) SaaS Three New Books on Histology. By Prof. E. A. Schafer; F.RsSi feats 9. in een le eae cee Aspects(of Gardening...) 92 2 ces cue, | ee ee Geomorphological Speculation. By H.R.M. ... 76 Our Book Shelf :— W. H. ‘‘ A New Speculation on the Past and Future Temperature of the Sun and Earth.’—R. A. . . 77 Bmtage:: © Light’? (Rese veh ttk -- Gy os) ce Allen: “‘ Tablés forjzon Amalysis’» .. . = 3 Saemeeemel Austen: ‘‘ Notes for Chemical Students” . . arm Abbott: ‘‘ Notes of the Night, and other Outdoor Sketches” —csiswleh i, «: bl de) «lou ee Letters to the Editor :— Osmotic Pressure and Ionic Dissociation. —Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S. 78 On the Publication of Original Work.—Swale Vincent 79 Cultivation of Woad.—W. H. Wheeler; Rosa M. Barrett <2 Peon. seo en bE) *©X-Rays with a Wimshurst Machine.”"—T. C. Porter 79 Flying Bullets. (J//ustrafed.). ... . : Mie eee, Sir B. W. Richardson, F.R.S. . . 5 kts 32a Oe NOS 5 OIE. 2 GED Woo - Ge 1 se obs 5 MS Our Astronomical Column:— : | Stars with Peculiarsspectra) = 02.) Ue open Wee Teonids 25 ee ns eoe, ee eee oe Mr. Balfour on Science and Industry ....... 85 The Long Period Weather Forecasts of India, By Douglas/Archibaldag. . 5) ce soe - bee: The New Research Laboratory of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh .. . aD. 88 A Reputed Malagasy Monkey. By R. Lydekker, EARESS ARB eee, os. ee Microscopic Marine Organisms in the Service of Hydrography... Byperot) 2 aiCleve 5 . j0.5-n-meeoo University and Educational Intelligence. . .... 9! Scientific Serials SS _ARA SCREEN. 908 Sho SE Societiesjand Academmesmerine «9. <<) Se nemEmOe Diaryof Societies somegey eisc ae erns 20s. =) secneerrleemns Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received. ..... 96 NATURE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1896. THE YAKOUTI. Description of the Ethnographical Researches of V. A. Sierocheusky. Published by the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia, and edited by Prof. N. E. Vesilofsky. Vol. i. pp. 720, with 168 sketches, portraits, and a map. (Dedicated to the memory of A. F. Middendorf). HE district occupied by the tribes with which this volume deals, is of vast extent, embracing almost the whole north-eastern corner of Siberia, and having a superficial area of over 2,000,000 square miles, with a seaboard to the Arctic Ocean of about 3000 versts, extending from west to east, the depth from north to south being half that amount. If a semicircle with a radius of about 1300 miles be drawn from a point where the most western arm of the Lena enters the Arctic Ocean, this region virtually “embraces the whole country inhabited by the Yakouti. | . 4 5 The periphery of this semicircle consists of mountains varying in height from 1200 to 4000 feet, which throw off very numerous outliers into the interior table- land, giving to the scenery a romantic and picturesque character. The interior is watered by a large number of rivers, many of them of considerable volume with swift currents ; of these the northern flow into the Arctic Ocean, and the southern into the Lena, which has over a thousand tribu- taries. This river and the Aldana are the two most important ; the latter having a length of over 2000 versts. The author had special opportunities of studying this interesting region, for not only after the date of his arrival, in 1880, did he traverse it in various directions, but from 1887-1892 he occupied himself with farming, making at the same time a close study of the language, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. As a result, we have presented to us a volume dealing comprehensively with the history, geography, physical conditions, and ethnography of the country, and giving evidence of that painstaking and minute research so often characteristic of both Russian and German writers. How sparsely this immense region is inhabited may be inferred from the fact that the native population does not exceed 200,000, about equally divided between the two sexes, and it mostly congregates along the banks of the rivers on the southern plateau between the Lena and the Aldana, the vast interior being virtually a ¢erva incognita. The author is inclined to the opinion that the Yakouti are not of Mongolian, but of Turko-Tartar origin, and in “support of this view, which is that of the people them- selves, recites numerous legends and traditions, consider- ing it a not unimportant corroboration, that within six months from their arrival Tartars are able to understand the language, which for Russians requires years of residence to learn. The Yakouti are in a high degree a mixed race, owing to intermarriage with the Tungoose and Russian ; are _short of stature, their average height being 5 ft. 3 in. “as against 5 ft. 7 in. for the Russian ; are generally dark, having brilliant black eyes set Geen in narrow orbits ; NO. 1414, VOL. 55] 7 thus, although they have something in common with the Mongol, yet the author considers them to bear a much closer resemblance to the Red Indian of America. Their religion is nominally that of the orthodox Greek church ; but they are intensely superstitious, having a profound faith in good and evil spirits, and considering their sick to be possessed ; they also practise exorcism, and believe in the efficacy of amulets and charms. Their system of government is primitive and patriarchal, the elders exercising unlimited control over all tribal or family disputes. Owing to their clannishness it is almost impossible for a stranger to obtain redress, and the writer affirms that were the jury system to be intro- duced, no Yakouti jury would ever condemn a fellow countryman. Blood feud is, however, recognised to the ninth generation, but the feud can be ended for a con- sideration in money or goods. Their language is, according to Bolling and Vambéry, an independent branch of the Turko-Tartar group, having at most ten to twelve thousand words. Inflections, however, are very numerous, and these are only to be learned from a residence amongst them ; but, the author adds, to perfectly understand it, one must be a Yakout. As may readily be believed, the climate in these high latitudes is extremely cold, and the number of days that at Yakutsk are free from frost during the year, do not exceed ninety-nine, yet during this brief period cereals grow and ripen, giving favourable returns; Kuban, a hard wheat, ripening in eighty days; other wheats in seventy-seven days ; rye, barley, and oats in seventy- one days. Of these they cultivate sufficient for their requirements and to interchange for manufactured products. Commencing towards the middle of September, frost continues to the middle of May, and before October 15 the whole region is covered with a solid mantle of snow and ice, which never melts until, under the influence of south- west and westerly winds, the thaw sets in at the end of April. The temperature throughout the winter varies but little, being from — 48° Celsius to — 67°; and it is remarkable that the cold is more intense in the southern than in the northern zone. The climate is exceedingly dry and exhilarating ; day and night temperatures are identical, and there is not sufficient wind to winnow corn or moye a branch. Throughout these months nature is in her deepest sleep. The sole evidence of faunal life is that of an occasional fox or hare ; but no birds wing their flight, and desolation reigns supreme. Indeed, nowhere else in the world does winter reign under such calm, undisturbed conditions. With the approach of spring the weather becomes disturbed, and under the influence of the south-south- west and westerly winds, as if under the power of a magician’s wand, summer bursts upon the land. In the figurative language of the natives, “ Winter is a white ox with two horns, one of which is broken on the first Athanasius (March 5), the second on the second Athanasius (April 24), and on the third Athanasius (May 14) the whole body disappears.” The summers are very hot, so that the variations are extreme. At Yakutsk the mean winter temperature is —54°5, the summer .+ 22 at Verchoiansk, —58 and +28°2. r 98 WAT iE DECEMBER 3, 1896 The country is well wooded, forests of pine, fir, and birch extending for hundreds of miles along the rivers and the tundras of the north. They occupy about 7o per cent. of the land surface, but towards the north the trees | become stunted and deformed, few of them attaining a height of over 30 feet, or a diameter of 6-8 inches. useless is the timber, that the few natives resident there are forced to import wood for their structural require- ments from the south. The author enters minutely into the social life of the people, and into their marriage customs and home life. Had the work been printed in any other language than the Russian, it would doubtless have found readers over a wide circle. We.) EL. CHEMICAL DYNAMICS. Studies tn Chemical Dynamics. By J. H. van ’t Hoff. Revised and enlarged by Dr. Ernst Cohen. Trans- lated by Dr. Thomas Ewan. Pp. vi + 286. (Amster- dam: F. Muller and Co. London: Williams and Norgate, 1896.) Ne 1884 Prof. van ’t Hoff published a small volume entitled “Etudes de dynamique chimique,” the general purpose of which was to give an account of the course of chemical change as illustrated by experiments chiefly carried out in his own laboratory. Unfortunately for the little work, it appeared at a time immediately following the general recognition of the immense service done by its author to organic chemistry in putting for- ward the idea of the asymmetric carbon atom, and immediately preceding the period when he equalled his former success by propounding the theory of osmotic pressure. There can be little doubt that the extra- ordinary fertility of these hypotheses, and the rapid experimental progress made in their development, di- verted from the “Etudes” the attention they deserve. The book suffered neglect even on the continent, and in this country has been little more than a name. Such neglect is all the more regrettable because the “ Etudes” give an excellent insight into the author’s manner of work. The brilliant theories with which his name is associated were no sudden inspirations, but the outcome of steady and systematic research and speculation. It is interesting to note, for example, that in the “ Etudes” the author makes use of Pfeffer’s experiments with semi- permeable membranes, in order to calculate the affinity of salts for their water of crystallisation, and has clearly before him the connection between the lowering of the vapour pressure and the pressure developed in Pfeffer’s cells. The book at present under notice is the translation of a German edition of the “ Etudes,” revised and en- larged by Dr. E., Cohen. The form of the original work has been retained, but many later experiments have been added. Notwithstanding the interest of these additions, one almost regrets that the translation is not that of the unmodified work, on account of its value as an historical document. The bookis divided into four parts, entitled : (1) “The Course of Chemical Change” ; (2) ‘The In- fluence of Temperature on Chemical Change”; (3) “ Chemical Equilibrium” ; (4) “Affinity.” In each part NO. I414, VOL. 55 | So | | | we have a theoretical discussion of the subject, accom- panied by numerous examples and applications. The experimental devices described are often extremely ingenious, and no worker in physical chemistry should neglect to make himself acquainted with them. As to: the thread of reasoning which binds the various pieces of research together, it must be conceded that the student may occasionally find some difficulty in following it. The book is not altogether easy reading, and its form pre- cludes it from ever becoming a popular text-book. But it is much more than a text-book : from it every earnest student of physical chemistry will receive both insight and inspiration. Among the chief novelties of the new-edition may be mentioned the experiments made by the author and his pupils on slow oxidation, the thermodynamical proof of the important relation @ log K/¢dT = g¢/2T?, and the methods for the determination of transition temperatures. It should be added that Dr. Ewan’s translation is in refreshing contrast to many of the versions of foreign works on chemistry that have recently come under our notice. JeaWis ORIENTAL WIT AND WISDOM. The Laughable Stories collected by Mar Gregory Johir Bar-Hebreus, Maphrian of the East, from A.D. 1264. to 1286. The Syriac text, edited with an English translation. By E. A. Wallis Budge, Litt.D. (Cantab.), F.S.A. Pp. xxvii + iv + 204 + 166. (Luzac’s Semitic Text and Translation Series. Vol. 1., 1897.) HE laughable stories collected in the thirteenth century by Bar-Hebrzeus, the Syriac text of which, together with an English translation, has just been published by Dr. Wallis Budge, is a remarkable book in many ways. It has been the custom with many writers. who have concerned themselves with the legends and history of the East, to laugh at the Syrians as a purely ecclesiastical people whose writings consisted solely of religious commentaries and pious disquisitions ; Syriac literature, in fact, has been left to the theologian, and the student of folk-lore has looked elsewhere for his. materials. That this was to some extent a prejudiced view to take, was evident after the publication in 1885, of “Ka-lilah and Dimnah,” by the late Mr. Keith- Falconer, and from the Syriac version of the “ History of Alexander the Great,” published four years later by Dr. Wallis Budge; both of these books abundantly proved, if proof were needed, that Syriac writers took an intelligent interest in the literatures of other nations, and that from the translations they made for the use of their own countrymen, much valuable evidence was to: be obtained with regard to the growth and development of Eastern legends and myths. From such works as. these, however, to the book before us is a far cry, for no: one has hitherto suspected that in the most learned Maphrian of the East, the Jacobite Church possessed a veritable Joe Miller. : In the course of a long life devoted to the study of theology, philosophy, and history, Bar-Hebrzeus, besides acquiring a thorough knowledge of the writings of his own countrymen and those of the Jews, also became } DECEMBER 3, 1896] NATURE 99 acquainted with much of the literature of Arabia, Persia, India, and Greece. While so engaged, whenever he came across a story or an anecdote that struck his fancy he made a note of it, and towards the end of his life the notes he had thus collected he classified, and from them he composed the book of laughable stories which is now rendered accessible to Western readers. A few of these stories have been previously published by Adler and Morales from a MS. in the Vatican, but the whole number, 727 in all, have now been published by Dr. Budge. The MS. in the author’s own possession, which he has used as the base of his text, was written by a scribe who omitted some of the stories that he con- ‘sidered were not edifying ; but these gaps Dr. Budge has fortunately been able to supply from a MS. in the India Office, so that there is every reason to believe that we now havé the work in the exact form in which it left the hands of Bar-Hebraus. In the India Office MS., though the scribe did not go so far as to omit any of the stories, a note is frequently put in the margin as to what the reader is to skip and what to read; but, as Dr, Budge points out, the Western reader will probably doubt the wisdom of the man who made the selection. Dr. Budge himself has given us the book as Bar- Hebrzeus wrote it, though in his translation several of the stories, for obvious reasons, have been turned into Latin. \ From a scientific point of view this collection of stories is of the highest importance, for not only do ‘they illustrate the differences exhibited by Eastern and Western ideas of wit and humour, but we also find among them many interesting variations and develop- ments of older traditions and beliefs. “Some of the stories,” Dr. Budge remarks in his introduction, “may -have existed in more than one form, or they may have been told in different ways. Thus in No. ccclxxx., the scarabzeus is made to say to its mother, “ Whithersoever I go men spit upon me,” and its mother replies, “It is because thy beauty and smell are pleasant.” With this may be compared the Arabic proverb, “The beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother.” Again, in No. ccclxxv. we have the story of the ape of the mosque and the dog, but the turn given to the story is quite different from that of the Arabic version. We may also notice, in pass- ing, that stories told of one man by one author are told of some one quite different by Bar-Hebrzeus. Thus in No. iv. it is said that Socrates once saw a woman who had hanged herself, and that he remarked, ‘“ Would that all trees bore such fruit as this; but in Diogenes Laertius the saying is attributed to Diogenes the Cynic. .. .” Dr. Budge has in this manner been able to indicate the sources from which several of the stories are derived, and to trace their subsequent development ; the great majority, however, are entirely new, and are not to be found in any other work at present published. It would be impossible within the limits of a review to do justice to the book even by lengthy quotations, but some idea of its scope and of the ground it covers may, perhaps, be obtained from a brief 7éswié of the contents of the twenty chapters or headings under which Bar- Hebreeus classified his stories. The first eight of these contain notable sayings by sages, philosophers, and various classes of men of different nations ; then follow NO. 1414, VOL. 55] stories of physicians and legends attributed to them, stories of the speech of animals, of men whose dreams and divinations have come true, stories of rich and generous men, of avaricious men and misers, of work- men who followed despised handicrafts, laughable stories of actors and comedians, stories of clowns and simpletons, of lunatics and of men possessed of devils, stories of robbers and thieves, of wonderful accidents and occur- rences, and finally a collection of physiognomical characteristics supposed to indicate a man’s character or future actions. The chapter or section of most interest to the present writer is that dealing with dreams and divination, for in these stories we see the survivals of a complicated system of divination and sorcery that flourished in Western Asia more than 2000 years before the birth of Bar-Hebrzeus; in so varied a collection, however, it is probable that each reader will find some- thing of interest for himself. In conclusion, we may add that Dr. Budge is to be congratulated on having opened up this rich field of study for all those who may be interested in ancient Oriental customs, legends, or beliefs. OUR BOOK SHELF. Biedermann’s Electro-physiology. Translated by Frances A. Welby. Vol. i. Pp. xii + 522. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) STUDENTS of physiology who find, as many do, their ignorance of German to be an embarrassing obstacle in their reading, ought to be grateful to Miss Welby for her skilful translation of Prof. Biedermann’s “ Electrophysi- ologie,” an account of which we gave some time ago to our readers. The value of the book consists chiefly in this—that it is a faithful record of the results yielded by the researches of the last half-century in the field of inquiry to which it relates. Some parts of this field are very unfamiliar to ordinary readers ; consequently the difficulty of the translator’s task has been considerably increased by the circumstance that many of the words used have as yet no recognised English equivalents. In such a case a choice has to be made between the method of introducing into an English book forms of expression | obviously German, and that of devising new terms, when- ever they are required for the exposition of new facts or new relations. Considering that the book is likely to be freely used as a source of information by the manufac- turers of text-books, who often have no leisure to read original papers, at the same time that they desire to be up to date, it is well for their sakes, and still more for the students for whose use the boiled-down product is destined, that Miss Welby has succeeded in selecting short, simple, and expressive words. What could be better, for example, than her translation of “ neberwerthig” and “ unterwerthig” by “ above par” and “below par,” or of “ abgelettete Stelle” by “lead off.” On the whole Miss Welby has given the sense of her author with great care and accuracy, and writes, whenever the responsibilities of translation allow it, in good style. But in thus commending her work, we do not wish it to be understood that there may not be here and there slips to be put right in the second edition—such, for example, as the rendering of the German word Cantile by Canula (sic) (p. 80), or of “graphische Darstellung” by graphic record” (p. 370), or, in the same paragraph, of “ Boussole mit moéglichst leichtem Magneten” by “ galvanometer with a very free magnet” ; but even such small errors as these are few and far between. 100 INA T OfeeE [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 From the Sfectator, with an Cat and Bird Stories. Pp. xill + introduction by John St. Loe Strachey. 279. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896.) STORIES of animal intelligence are interesting, and they are of value in considering the relations between habit and instinct, and the question of reasoning power, when they can be trusted. But accurate observers are few, and sentiment often causes a simple fact to be buried in anthropomorphic imaginings, so that stories have to be taken cu grano, and the identity of the writer must be known before their scientific value can be appraised. We must, therefore, demur to the authors remark that “the bird and other stories in the present volume... have a distinct scientific as well as a literary value. They are not merely good reading, but the record of important facts in Natural History.” Many of the letters are, however, anonymous, and they have been reprinted without asking permission of the writers. No man of science would have the temerity to cite irresponsible anecdotes from a collection got together in this way, as evidence of animal intelligence. The stories are no doubt entertaining, but the less that is said about their scientific value the better will naturalists be pleased. The sub-title of the volume is worth preserving. It states that to the cat and bird stories are added “ sundry anecdotes of horses, donkeys, cows, apes, bears, and other animals, as well as of insects and reptiles.” Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Con- tinental, and Canadian Universities. Compiled for the Graduate Club of Bryn Mawr College. By Isabel Maddison, B.Sc., Ph.D., assisted by Helen W. Thomas, A.B.,and EmmaS. Wines,A.M. Pp.iv+155. (New York : The Macmillan Company.) THE need of a handbook defining the position of uni- versities in regard to the admission of women to their courses, has been strongly felt ever since the movement for the higher education of the gentler sex began. In the volume before us the need is admirably supplied. From the book, women graduates who desire to continue their studies abroad, and students who wish to know where they can attend courses and where receive degrees, can derive all the information they require as to methods of admission, cost of living, names of professors and lecturers, &c. It will be to women what the invaluable “Minerva Jahrbuch der gelehrten Welt” is to every one desiring information on institutions for higher education. We notice that Queen’s College, London, is omitted (though it has a charter), while King’s College is in- cluded. As it is proposed to publish a new edition annually, the omission may be put right in the next issue. Ostwald s Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften, Nos. 76-79. (Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, 1896.) PROF. OSTWALD’S reprints of physical classics are too well known to need recommendation. Four volumes have recently been added to the series, viz. :— No. 76: “Theorie der doppelten Strahlenbrechung, abgeleitet aus den Gleichungen der Mechanik,” by F. E. Neumann (1832), edited by A. Wangerin. No. 77: “Uber die Bildung und die Eigenschaften der Determinanten,” by C. G. J. Jacobi (1841), edited by Pastackel.) No. 78: “Uber die Functionaldeterminanten,” by C. G. J. Jacobi (1841), edited by P. Stackel. No. 79: “Zwei hydrodynamische Abhandlungen.” (1) “Uber Wirbelbewegungen” (1858). (2) “ Uber dis- continuirliche Flussigkeitsbewegungen” (1868), by H. Helmholtz, edited by A. Wangerin. The editorial remarks are very full in each case, and they add to the value of a unique series of republished scientific papers. NO. 1414, VOL. 55 | 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 ts taken of anonymous communications. | Production of X-Rays. OBSERVERS who use Wimshurst machines should remember that part of their difficulty in obtaining X-rays with a steady current and low vacuum may lie in a peculiarity of the machine itself, viz. that it will not work well when short-circuited. Machines with permanently charged armatures do not suffer from this defect, though certainly it does appear that a given quantity delivered in jerks is optically more effective than the same quantity delivered smoothly. But this seems to be a physiological rather than a physical fact, because I do not find it true photographically. The easiest plan to get a jerky current is to use what I have elsewhere called a B-circuit—attachments to outside of jars,—and the bulb is then, as Mr. T. C. Porter says, almost objectionably brilliant. OLIVER J, LopcGe. Responsibility in Science. UNDER the above heading, Mr. C. Chree wrote to protest against some remarks in my address to Section D of the British Association, which met recently at Liverpool. Having only just returned to England, this is my first convenient oppor- tunity of replying to his letter, which appeared in NATURE of October 15 (p. 572). Mr. Chree objects to the view that ‘‘ physicists as a body” have accepted Lord Kelvin’s and Prof. Tait’s conclusions as to the age of the earth. Ina matter of such great importance and interest, and one which has courted criticism for so long a time and on occasions of such exceptional prominence, it is probably fair to conclude that, with the great majority of physicists, “silence gave consent.” Furthermore, many distinguished physicists have expressly told me that they could find no flaw in the case, If Lord Kelvin and Prof. Tait express a strong opinion, if this opinion is quoted again and again, and is only criticised by geologists and. zoologists, no physicist saying a word, it is likely enough that the geologist and zoologist may come to entertain an exaggerated notion of the amount of support con- ceded to the opinion by the whole body of physicists. The point does not seem to me to be a very important one ; and I do not imagine that ‘* physicists as a body ” will be much aggrieved because I assumed that they agreed with Lord Kelvin on this point. Mr. Chree then proceeds to impute to me various opinions which I do not hold, and supports the imputation by finding, in my address, a ‘‘ strong flavour” of views which only exist in his imagination, or by asking whether I believe some opinion which I never expressed, and which he then goes on to demolish. Thus, I never said, or implied, or believed that ‘‘a solid is rigid in the mathematical sense,” or that ‘* electrical and thermal conductivity necessarily... vary together.” I understand that Prof. Schuster’s conclusion as to the high internal electric con- ductivity szgges¢s a high thermal conductivity, and no more than this can be got out of my address; and this, I have reason to believe, is an opinion shared by Prof. Schuster himself, and probably by the majority of physicists. The author also takes some pains to show that other forces besides the tides have influenced the rate of the earth’s rotation. He might have spared himself the trouble. I was not writing a treatise on the subject, but attempting to give an account of Lord Kelvin’s views, and Lord Kelvin considers the tides to be all-important in this respect. He considers and dismisses as comparatively unimportant the agencies alluded to by Mr. Chree. ‘ The evidence from the mean density of the earth was never put forward as conclusive, but only as suggestive. I can only account for the remark that I ‘‘might be well advised to allow for the possibility that Lord Kelvin’s speculations do not possess a monopoly of physical uncertainties,” on the hypothesis that Mr. Chree has not read my address carefully, or has failed to comprehend the attitude I assumed. I all along recognised the ‘‘ physical uncertainties’ on every side, and made no claim whatever to replace them by certainties. My whole | object was to show that no certain conclusions can be reached DEcEMBER 3, 1896] NATURE IOI from physical data, and that we, the geologists and zoologists, ** are free to proceed, and to look for the conclusions warranted ‘by our own evidence.” Lord Kelvin’s experiments on thermal conductivity of rock at various temperatures are of the highest interest. I did not allude to them because it seemed to me unnecessary to point out that, until we know the nature of the material which forms the deeper parts of the earth, any attempt to generalise from the results of experiments on the material of the surface must be inconclusive. Mr. Chree thinks that I might have made something of the uncertainty as to the true mean temperature gradient at the surface. The reports of the British Association on underground temperature afford abundant support for a temperature gradient in the northern hemisphere, which cannot be very different from that selected by Lord Kelvin. I fail to grasp the object of Mr. Chree’s letter, unless it be to proclaim that he never accepted Lord Kelvin’s conclusions, and I cannot see that any great object is gained by even this Statement. As I am writing on the subject, I should wish to point out that the address, as printed in the Report of the Liverpool meeting, _ will be slightly different from that which has appeared in the columns of NATurE. Lord Kelvin kindly drew my attention to one or two errors which will be corrected in the Report. Oxford, November 20. Epwarp B. PouLtTon. Measurements of Crabs. I AM much obliged to Prof. Weldon and Mr. H. Thompson for the careful consideration they have given to the doubt which I raised concerning the validity of the comparison made by the latter of measurements of crabs collected from the same locality in different years. Prof. Weldon offers some evidence to show that immersion in spirit does not affect the relative dimensions of parts of the carapace. The evidence is not direct, nor perhaps is it complete. It refers to female crabs, and not to the male specimens with which Mr. Thompson was dealing. But I notice that according to Prof. Weldon’s measurements the spirit specimens of 1895 differed more than the fresh speci- mens of 1895, from the spirit specimens of 1893, whereas if the spirit were the cause, the difference would be less between spirit Specimens and spirit specimens than between spirit specimens and fresh specimens. I admit then that there is little possibility of the observed difference being due to the action of spirit. But Mr. Thompson’s letter suggests other reflections. He draws my attention to the fact that the difference which he observed between crabs of the one year and those of the other, is of precisely the same kind as the difference between an older rab and a younger crab, or rather between a larger crab and a smaller crab. As the male crab increases in size, its frontal breadth is continually becoming less in proportion to its cara- pace length, while its dentary margin is becoming greater. ‘What Mr. Thompson found, therefore, was simply that in one sample the individuals of a given size were more advanced in “Climbs in the New Zealand Alps; being an Account of Travel and Discovery.” By E A. FitzGerald, F.R.G.S. With appendices, many illus- trations, anda map. Pp. xvi -+ 364. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896.) “Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps.” By the Rey. Walter Weston, M.A., F.RG.S. With maps and 35 illustrations. Pp. xvi + 346. (London: John Murray, 1896.) NO. 1414, VOL. 55] times, which are illustrated by reproductions of some quaint old pictures. But he incidentally brings in some matter interesting to the naturalist. Mr. Baillie-Grohman of course has much to say on the horns of the quarry— the chamois, the red deer, the roe deer, and the bouquetin— and he gives details of the growthand of other peculiarities, with illustrations of horns notable for size or for singular deformities. An exceptionally large pair are represented in the annexed illustration (Fig. 1), for the use of which we are indebted to the publishers. These appendages often exhibit slight differences depending on locality. According to the author, the horns of chamois from the crystalline districts of the Alps run a little smaller than those from the calcareous ; but besides this, slight differences in form are exhibited in places widely apart, and this is yet more strongly exemplified in the case of the chamois of the Alps and the izzard of the Pyrenees. The horns, also, of the Alpine stag considerably exceed in size those of the Scotch red deer. This subject is discussed at some length, Mr. Baillie-Grohman bringing forward evidence to show that the growth of the horns depends, among other circumstances, upon the food supply, and that the size of the antlers is affected in any one year by the nutriment of the stag during the period when these were growing. The Scotch antlers, he says, are comparatively small, because the food supply is insufficient and irregular ; “the survival of the fittest” is not properly secured, and the improvement of the breed is neglected. The continental sportsman cares most for the antlers, the British for the venison, or simply for the number of the slain, so that the quality of the stag is de- teriorating in the so-called forests of Scot- land. The chase, by the way, in the Alpine regions takes place in actual forests, and the quarry is stalked during the rutting season, when the stag betrays his situation by his roar, and is forgetful of danger while on amorous thoughts intent. The roe deer is abundant in the north-eastern Alps, and is a plucky little animal; but the bouquetin or steinbock is now restricted to the Graian Alps, though formerly it ranged over every part. It finally disappeared from the Pennines about the middle of the present century, and. would have been exterminated in the Graians by now had it not been taken under royal protection. This animal does not appear to: have fallen to the author's bullet. For the details of all these and other matters we must refer to the book itself. It is well printed and well illustrated, full of interesting details of the chase and anecdotes of sport ; it is redolent of the perfume of the forests and the clear air of the mountain peaks ; it is the work of a ready writer, and of a lover of the Alps. Dr. von Lendenfeld’s work might be called a version of “The Alps from end to end,” adapted to the ordinary traveller. It is neither a guide-book nor a systematic treatise, but it consists of a series of sections or short articles, describing all the most interesting and charac- teristic districts of that great mountain chain, from the shore of the Mediterranean to the neighbourhood of the Semmering Pass. There is no preface, so that we are not informed how far the book is the result of the author’s personal experience, and how far a compilation ; but if in any parts he has drawn upon the experiences of others,. the tale is told so as to make them seem his own. We can vouch from personal knowledge for the accuracy of some drawings of not very accessible places, such as the sketches of certain high peaks ; so that the artist, at any rate, must have beenon the spot. The stories of mountain. climbs, one or two of which are introduced into each article dealing with the chief Alpine centres, are suc- DeEcEMBER 3, 1896] NALURE 103 cinctly and pleasantly told. There is some history and some science, but not too much for the ordinary tourist. Alpine geology, of course, is not forgotten ; but here, as the author has had to rely on the work of others, the state- ments sometimes are open to question. The following may be taken as an example: ‘“ Wie am Spltigen durchsetz auch am Bernhardin die Trias das Urgebirge des Haupt- kammes.” But the infolds in the gneissic #zasszf on these two passes are crystalline rocks, varying usually from marble to darkish cale-mica schists. They are identical with rocks which elsewhere are indubitably very much older than the Trias, and are about as unlike as they can be to any rock which can be proved to belong to this system. In fact their Triassic age is only a “pious pinion,” and, like many such, has no scientific found- ation. But the Swiss geological surveyors have not distinguished themselves in the district of the Hinter and Vorder Rhein. The illustrations are numerous and varied ; sketches ally too prominent, the pictures are remarkably good, and exceed in quantity and quality what we should get in a book of similar price “ made in England.” It forms a very agreeable souvenir of the Alps, for its pages will recall pleasant memories to every tourist. So attractive indeed is it, both in illustrations and in text, that we hope the publishers will have it translated, for an English edition ought to find many purchasers in this country. In his book on Chamonix Mr. Whymper has endeavoured, as he says, “to give in a small compass information which some may desire to have at home, and that others will wish for on the spot.” Thus, while it contains all that is usual in a guide-book, it gives a good deal more, so that some of the chapters are very interesting reading. One, for instance, is devoted to the early history of Chamonix and Mont Blanc; the one, as we learn from the information which Mr. Whymper has obtained, can be traced back almost for eight centuries, while the other Fic. 2.—The “ Aiguille Verte and the Aigu]’e du Dru.” of characteristic incidents of travel, such as scenes in an hotel, at the station of a mountain railway, in a market- _ place orata /é/e ; views by the wayside, groups of chalets, or bits of old architecture, churches, castles, villages, or towns. With these are numerous examples of Alpine scenery, ranging from some little wayside nook to one of the snowy giants of the chain. Many of the former are admirably done; the latter (the scenery) are more unequal. Some, such as the full-page view of the Matterhorn (by Mr. Compton), are very effective, but in others the artist has failed to catch the character of the rocks, and they are merely conventional. Another fault may be noticed, which is becoming too prominent in modern sketches—namely, a tricky disposal of the lights and shadows, which produces a “splashy” effect, and an _ €xaggeration of the features of the scenery, so that nature is caricatured rather than depicted. Still, though the style which illustrated journals have fostered is occasion- NO. I414, VOL. 55] appears not to have acquired its distinctive name until the earlier part of the lastcentury. We read in his pages the tale of the first attempts to ascend the mountain, of Jacques Balmat’s success in discovering the route to the summit, of H. B. de Saussure’s ascent, and of some of the more interesting of those accomplished by later travellers. Next comes a “chapter of accidents,” giving a brief outline of those numerous catastrophes which associate the mountain with so many sad memories. Then follows an account of the attempts to use it for scientific purposes; and the remainder of the book is occupied by descriptions of the means of approaching Chamonix, of the modern village—or town, as now it might almost be called—of the various excursions from Chamonix or the immediate neighbourhood, both small and great, of the different routes to the summit of Mont Blanc, and, lastly, of the “tour” of the mountain. Need- less to say that the book is well des’gned and well 104 NATURE [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 written, because Mr. Whymper, as we know from his larger books on the Alps and the Andes, can describe as well as he can depict. It is impossible to criticise, when the author stands almost alone in his thorough know- ledge of the district. There are illustrations—one of which (Fig. 2) we are perniitted to reproduce—plans, and an excellent map of the snowy range. So much is given in a short compass, that it seems greedy to ask for more ; but we think that, notwithstanding the full table of eon- tents, an index would be an improvement, and that a few paragraphs on the geology and natural history of the range might be added with advantage. Mr. FitzGerald’s book, as he states, is “a simple record of adventure,” but he adds very much to our knowledge of the most interesting districts of the New descend more than once to 1200 feet, the Fox glacier actu- ally ending about 700 feet above the sea. Yet the mean temperature in the latitude of Mount Cook is about 52”. As the temperature of the Swiss lowland, at an elevation of some 1300 feet, is about 47°, the difference, so far as this cause goes, is not large, and the greater extension of the snow region and descent of the glaciers must be partly due to the heavier rain (or snow) fall. Probably this is something like 150 inches on the higher parts of the western slopes, or nearly double of what it is at corresponding positions in the Alps. The mountaineer finds the peaks and glaciers of New Zealand in many respects more difficult than those of the “playground of Europe.” They are not easily reached, for at present no good roads have been made in the higher valleys ; the weather is most unfavourable, Fic. 3.—Fuji-san, with cloud cap, from the South-west. Zealand Alps, the topography of which is made clear by his excellent map, founded on the latest Govern- ment Survey. The Alps of the Southern Island corre- spond in structure more nearly with the Pyrenees than with their European namesakes—that is, they are a single range rather than a chain consisting of a series of great parallel folds. Though the highest peak, Aorangi or Mount Cook, introduced to the notice of English climbers by the Rev. W. S. Green, attains an elevation of 12,349 feet, not many exceed 10,000 feet. The snow- line, however, is quite 2000 feet lower than it is in Switzerland, and the glaciers descend much nearer to the sea-level. On the eastern side the great Tasman glacier comes down to about 2350 feet ; while on the western side, where the valleys are considerably steeper, for the watershed is much nearer that coast, the glaciers NO. 1414, VOL. 55] often persistently bad, always liable to sudden change ; there is one mountain inn in the whole region ; there are no chalets, practically no guides or porters. Thus the traveller must bring a guide from Europe, must be prepared to bivouac—under what discomfort readers of Mr. FitzGerald’s book will learn—on the mountain side, and to carry his own “swag.” ‘“‘ Expensive, laborious, and often disappointing,” seems to be the motto of a tour in the high Alps of New Zealand. The climber also has to face considerable difficulties, and even dangers : cer- tainly more on the average than among peaks of corre- sponding elevation in Switzerland. The rock, in the parts explored by Mr. FitzGerald, is bad slate or slabby greywacke, very incoherent and untrustworthy. He had many narrow escapes, and near the summit of one peak —Mount Sefton—was only saved from a fatal fall by the DECEMBER 3, 1896] NATURE 105 skill and strength of his guide, Mattias Zurbriggen, and by his own readiness of resource. The accident was caused by the wholly unexpected fall of a great block of stone. Notwithstanding all difficulties, Mr. FitzGerald made the ascent of four peaks hitherto unclimbed—Mount Tasman (11,475 feet), Mount Sefton (10,350 feet), Mount Haidinger (10,054 feet), and Mount Sealy (8,631 feet), and crossed three new glacier passes. One of these, though it hardly deserves the name of a glacier pass, is a discovery of importance to the colony. Till this time the great moun- tain wall had prevented any communication between the eastern and western coasts except by sea, so that a direct route across this barrier anywhere near the middle of the island was much desired. Mr. FitzGerald discovered a pass, which now bears his name, leading direct from one of the branches of the Tasman valley to the west coast. There is a very small glacier on the east side, and none at all on the other. It is, as he says, a pass comparable with the Monte Moro in Switzerland, and so, with some expenditure on making the track, may be easily crossed by packhorses and cattle, at any rate during the summer season. His own experience was the reverse of agreeable. Preliminary explorations with Zurbriggen showed them that the eastern side presented no difficulty, and suggested that the descent on the western would ‘be easy. So it was for a while; then they found themselves confronted with an impenetrable “scrub ” at a place where the river entereda gorge. After attempting the former, they were forced to follow the latter as the less evilway. But the result was that, instead of reaching the west coast in about twenty-four hours from the starting-point, they were out for two nights and nearly three days, having taken provisions for one day only! This difficulty of course will not recur, for a road can be easily cut through the scrub. The book is well written and illustrated, though perhaps one or two of the pictures —wot made from sketches taken on the spot—are slightly sensational. Some appendices contain details of interest as to geology and natural history. It tells unaffectedly and most attractively a tale of careful preparation, bold climbing, and wonderful endurance. Mr. Weston, while British chaplain at Kobe, spent his holidays for four years in wandering about the mountain regions of Central Japan. Of course he was often far away from beaten tracks, and saw much of the native life in its original simplicity. His experiences are described in the brightly and pleasantly written volume before us, which also contains some curious information as to the customs and the religious beliefs cf the people, demon- ology, the “possession” of human beings by animals, ghosts, rites of incantation, such as those for affecting the weather, and the like. He seems to have found no special difficulties in travel, and generally met with a kindly reception from this quaint and courteous people, except once or twice when impediments were caused in regard to passports, or from a belief like that which for- merly kept the Swiss away from Pilatus ; but he had often to rough it, for the accommodation frequently is very primitive, and food is scanty. But there is one set-off in Japanese travel, that the “honourable hot-bath,” as it is politely called, is a general institution. As, however, this serves many bathers without change of the water, it is well to secure an early turn. The backbone of the Japanese Alps consists of granitic rocks with crystalline schists, through which igneous masses have been extruded. Thus some peaks are of granite, others are of felstone or old volcanic rocks, others are cones whichrstill retain their craters. Hence the rocks are of very different ages, and some of the older exhibit marked indications of mechanical disturbances. The higher summits seem very commonly just to overtop 10,000 feet. Thus Hodakadake, the highest granitic peak in Japan, is 10,150 feet ; Yarigatake, the boldest in out- NO. 1414, VOL. 55 | line and a “brecciated porphyry,” is 10,300 feet ; while Fuji-san, which exceeds all the rest by 2000 feet, being 12,400 feet, is a crater. This indicates considerable difference in age, and the chain very probably is of a complex character. Mr. Gowland, who contributes a few remarks on the geology, thinks its beginning was in Paleeozoic times, when it consisted chiefly of granite and schists. All the above-named peaks and sundry others were ascended by Mr. Weston, who also crossed several passes. These generally range from about 5000 to rather more than 7000 feet. In fine weather the climbing does not seem to present many serious difficulties, but the great rock slabs are apt to be slippery in wet, and the distances traversed on foot are sometimes rather great. His verdict is that while these mountains do not display the glory of glacier-shrouded peaks, and are on a scale only two-thirds of the Alps of Switzerland, they surpass anything he has met with among the latter in “the picturesqueness of their valleys and the magnificence of the dark and silent forests that clothe their massive flanks.” The larger illustrations show that this praise is not exaggerated ; two of the most striking represent the granitic pinnacles of Hodakadate and the singular cone of Fuji-san capped by a “bonnet cloud.” For the use of the latter illustration (Fig. 3) we are indebted to the publishers. The smaller cuts also, which represent a variety of subjects, and are in several cases excellent, add to the value of this attractive work. T. G. BONNEY. OYSTER CULTURE IN RELATION TO DISEASE. |) Miers the above title the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board has just issued a sup- plement to his report for 1894-95, dealing with reports and papers on the cultivation and storage of oysters and certain other edible molluscs in relation to the occurrence of disease inman. An inquiry on this subject was bound to be instituted sooner or later. There has been an uneasy feeling for many years past that the infection of enteric or typhoid fever is at times due to the consump- tion of uncooked oysters ; and in his report on cholera in England in 1893, Dr. Thorne Thorne expressed his conviction that the distribution of shell-fish from Clee- thorpes and Grimsby, as a centre, had been concerned in the diffusion of scattered cases of cholera over a some- what wide area of England, owing to the fact that oysters and other molluscs at these ports were so deposited and stored as to be almost necessarily bathed each tide with the effluent of sewers at that time receiving cholera dis- charges. In the early part of 1895, Sir Willian Broad- bent also publicly announced his conviction that oysters were occasionally capable of transmitting the infection of typhoid fever, and the fact received startling con- firmation from a report to the State Board of Health of Connecticut, U,S.A., by Prof. Conn, on an oyster epi- demic of typhoid at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in which some twenty-six cases of that disease were indisputably traced to the consumption of raw oysters, which had the opportunity of becoming specifically contaminated by sewage delivering at the time the discharges of typhoid patients. A similar out- break of Saint-André de Sangoins, in the Mediterranean Department of Herault, was investigated by Dr. Chante- messe, and traced to oysters received from Cette, on the coast of the same Department, where, according to a Commission subsequently appointed, the oysters had been stored in waters highly contaminated with sewage. Under these circumstances, the Local Government Board determined to institute a searching inquiry into the conditions of oyster cultivation and storage along the coasts of England and Wales, and to cause bacterio- logical investigations to be made as to the power of the 106 NATURE [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 -oyster to absorb, retain, and transmit the typhoid bacillus and the cholera vibrio. The first part of the inquiry was entrusted to Dr. Timbrell Bulstrode, and the second portion to Dr. Klein. Their reports, which are suitably illustrated with photographs and maps, constitute the material on which Dr. Thorne Thorne bases his introductory remarks. copy of Prof. Conn’s report already alluded to, and an extract from the Proceedings of the Académie de Médicine in Paris, relating to the spread of disease through the agency of oysters. The value and extent of the oyster trade in this country may be gleaned from the following figures, furnished by Dr. Bulstrode. In 1894 there were landed on the English and Welsh coasts, by English dredgers, 27,747,000 oysters, valued at £84,271, the average price being per 100, 6s. I1@., and per 1000, £3 os. 10d. These were delivered on the several coasts as follows :— Oysters. Value. East Coast 16,833,000 £58,300 South Coast ... 4,251,000 11,186 West Coast ... 6,663,000 14,785 27,747,000 $4,271 These figures relate only to oysters landed by English boats employed in the home industry; in addition -enormous quantities are imported from abroad, partly for relaying, and partly for more or less immediate con- sumption. American oysters, known as “ Blue points,” “East rivers,” and “Sounds” are mainly received at Liverpool and Southampton, whilst the Dutch and Belgian oysters chiefly come to Grimsby and Brightling- sea. A considerable number also are received from Scotch and Irish beds. It is generally assumed, at all events, by the more -educated lovers of the bivalve, that oysters are “out of season” during such months as have not the letter “r” in their names, and as a matter of fact the “close time” for oysters, born and bred in this country, extends from May 14 to August 4—that is during the spatting season. But that portion of the community which is referred to in the report as “the less fastidious class,” and which is “addicted to the practice of sea-side trips of brief -duration,” is addicted also to the practice of eating the oyster at any time of the year it can be got, and in the summer months, therefore, has to content itself with the imported varieties, the restriction as to “close time” not applying to oysters taken in the waters of a foreign State. It would appear from the returns that the largest number of oysters is consumed in September; but, although the number eaten diminishes as the year draws to a close, their value steadily increases up to December, when it gradually diminishes, month after month, until it reaches a minimum in June or July. As the result of Dr. Bulstrode’s inquiries and observ- -ations, it is distinctly disquieting to be told that only a few of the oyster layings, fattening beds, or storage ponds round the English and Welsh coasts can be regarded as theoretically free from every possible chance of sewage pollution. At the same time, in the case of the majority of them, the polluting matter is mixed with so vast a bulk of water that there is little substantial risk of de- leterious influence. The possible mischief is due to the circumstance that the cultivation of the oyster is mainly carried on at points on the coast which are readily accessible, and where labour can be easily obtained, or, in other words, in tidal estuaries in the neighbourhood of more or less populous places, into which, therefore, the sewage of such places is apt to be delivered. In the report, three such localities are singled out for special condemnation ; viz. Southend, where, as regards one laying, “the sea-bottom and the matters floating on the surface, afford the most obvious proof that the conditions are filthy in the extreme”; at Cleethorpes, where the NO. 1414, VOL. 55] In the appendix are given a | layings are exposed to the influence of sewer outfalls, serving (counting that of Grimsby) populations of about 67,000 ; and the Medina, in the Isle of Wight, of which it is stated that “it seems almost beyond comprehension how any one could venture to ‘fatten’ oysters for human consumption in a river estuary such as this, which is fouled above the layings by the crude sewage of New- port, with its 10,000 inhabitants, by the effluent from the neighbouring prison and barracks, and by the overflow from the workhouse cesspool ; and which receives into it immediately below the layings the contents of eight other sewer and drain outfalls from East Cowes and West Cowes.” It is further pointed out that “the layings in the Penryn River, Cornwall, and those in Brightlingsea Creek, in Essex, also call for especial notice in connection with the obvious risk of sewage pollution. At Bright- lingsea this risk has more than once been drawn attention to by the local health officer. The layings in the South Channel, off Southwick, near Shoreham, are similarly exposed to sewage ; and in a minor degree, on account of the great bulk of water there in question, such layings as those in the Menai Straits come under suspicion. From most, if not all, of these layings, oysters are despatched direct to market.” On the other hand, some of the most celebrated layings on the coast of Essex and Kent—as in the Crouch, Roach and Blackwater, and off the Swale—are practically free from risk, although the layings in the bed of the Colne ~ which presumably furnish the supplies for the -time- honoured “‘ Colchester feast,” are subjected to the ccm- paratively concentrated effluent of Colchester sewage at low water, and to the additional pollution to which the river is subjected at Wivenhoe and Rowhedge. — The conditions under which the oysters are stored in beds, ponds, or pits, pending despatch to market, natur- ally received close attention. The layings or “fattening” places might be everything that could be desired, but the oysters, when lifted, might still be stored in a most objectionable manner. The boxes off Southend Pier, for example, float in what is practically dilute sewage. A set of storage pits at the mouth of the Blackwater was found to be within forty-three yards of the point at which the drainage of twenty houses is discharged. At Wivenhoe “‘it is impossible to see how the oysters there stored in pits can escape contamination by sewage.” The means for the storage of oysters in the Fish Dock at Grimsby, are stated to be particularly offensive and dangerous. “It would be difficult to find much worse conditions than those under which certain storage pits are placed at Poole.” ... ‘At Warsash, above the junction of the Hamble River with Southampton Water, a sewer was found opening out just between two oyster ponds. Again at Emsworth, near Havant, a sewer and certain drain outfalls have been conveyed into the middle of a group of oyster pits, and matters are little better at Bosham.” On the other hand, the methods of storage on the Crouch and Roach, and for the most part also of the Blackwater, leave little to be desired, and the same may be said of the layings and means of storage in the Helford River in Cornwall, and at Newtown Estuary in the Isle of Wight. To judge, however, from the frequency of instances to the contrary, it would almost seem that the cultivators were under the belief that the oyster actually enjoys himself and waxes fat in insanitary surroundings. Precisely the opposite is the case. No one enjoys the confidence of the oyster to a greater extent than Prof. Herdman, or is better able to appreciate his innermost sentiments ; and we gather from Prof. Herdman’s recent ' work that the oyster—especially the British-born-and- bred oyster—is, in reality, a cleanly, self-respecting mollusc, with an appetite not less dainty or fastidious than that of the epicure for whose gustatory pleasure he DECEMBER 3, 1896] is supposed to live. Indeed, if oysters in general had only the locomotive powers of their brethren in the classical legend of the Walrus and the Carpenter, there is very little doubt that, in many cases, they would quickly move off in search of quarters more salu- brious than those in which they are often compelled to exist. It is not easy to indicate how the present condition of things may best be remedied. Oysters, of course, are not a necessity, unless to the hardly-driven brain worker, to persons of feeble digestion, or to convalescents. Unless something is done, therefore, to reassure the public mind—either by the collective action of the oyster breeders themselves, or by systematic inspection on the part of the State—the future of the industry will be seriously jeopardised. As it is, the “scare” has done very great damage to the trade, and the good and the bad alike have indiscriminately suffered. To the states- man who is concerned with the welfare of a littoral population from which the fersore/ of our navy and coast defences is largely recruited, the problem has even a wider and deeper significance. On every ground, there- fore, the question calls for prompt remedial action. At the conclusion of his report Dr. Bulstrode makes | some reference to “ green-bearded” or “ green-finned ” oysters. These oysters find but little favour in this country, although, as is well-known, they are much appreciated in France, and the “huitres vertes” or “huitres de Marennes” obtain a far higher price in the Paris market than the “huitres blanches.” This green colour, which is met with to a small extent in certain Essex oysters, has been the subject of repeated investi- gation during the last seventy years, notably by Gaillon (1820), Valenciennes (1841), and Puségur and Decaisne (1877). The last-named observers found that the green tint was due to the inclusion of a diatom—Mavicula ostrearvia, oY, as it is now called, WV. fuszformis, taken up from the ‘“claires” in which the oysters are confined. These observations were confirmed and extended, in 1885, by Prof. Ray Lankester, who showed that a blue pigment, which he termed “Marennin” occurs in the Wavicula, and is either “uniformly diffused throughout the cell protoplasm,” or “confined to the ends of the elongated cell body ” (Bulstrode). In the oyster the green colouring matter is localised on the surface of the gills and labial palps in epithelium.” It is the deposition of this blue pigment (Marennin) in the yellowish brown gills which, according to Prof. Lankester, gives rise to the green appearance of the “huitres de Marennes.” It has been often alleged that this greenness is due to copper, and as a matter of fact copper has frequently been detected in oysters since Bizio, in 1835, first dis- covered it in the organic substance of the mollusc. Dr. Bulstrode, from time to time, sent the writer of this notice oysters from different localities, and copper was uniformly found in them, although in the Marennes oysters it was present in minute amount only—far less, indeed, than in certain oysters of a normal colour. But there is no question that the greenness of certain oysters, especially of those found in Falmouth and Truro waters, is due to copper. The colour, both in character and distribution, is, however, quite different from that of the Marennes oyster. The green Cornish oyster is unsaleable in this country—at least for immediate consumption—as it leaves a distinct metallic taste in the mouth, similar, it is said, to that due to “sucking a penny.” Dr. Bulstrode caused a number of such oysters to be sent to me at different times. On incinera- tion under conditions which precluded the possibility of | the introduction of copper, there was no difficulty in detecting the presence of that metal in the ash. Indeed, » here and there in the ash were particles of Alexandrine NO. 1414, VOL. 55] NATURE “certain peculiar cells of the superficial j 107 or Egyptian blue, which, as Davy found long ago, is a /r7¢, made by heating together soda, lime, sand, and copper. The amount of copper, on the average, was not more than about o’02 grain per oyster, but as it is obviously caused by the mechanical retention of cupriferous par- ticles, individual oysters might, and indeed did, contain large quantities. On examining the mud of the locality in which such green oysters occur, it was found to contain 0-148 per cent. of copper. On relaying, the green Cornish oyster gradually loses its colour, and also its metallic taste ; specimens of such relaid oysters were found to contain only o’0060 grains of copper per oyster, which is practically the same (viz. 0.062 grain), as that found in Whitstable oysters which had never been green. This amount would seem, therefore, to be normal to the oyster, and to be probably due to the presence of hamocyanin,. first found by Fredericq in the blood of the octopus, and since shown to be present also in many mollusca. T. E. THORPE. NOTES. For the last three or four years we have been treated, in the copy of the 7zies appearing after the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society, to strictures of the action of the Council of that body. We have not thought it necessary to reply to these at length, because their origin was pretty well known, and the Royal Society is quite capable of taking care of itself. But this year we think the bounds of journalistic decorum have been passed in a leading article in which the regretted retirement of Lord Rayleigh from the Secretaryship is referred to. The Times states: ‘‘He has taken, . . . the unusual step of de- clining to sit on the Council, and no one who knows the play of forces within the Society can doubt that his refusal is signi- ficant.” This sentence is obviously intended to suggest that Lord Rayleigh’s resignation of the position which he has so long adorned, and in which his services have been so greatly valued, is due to a want of sympathy with his colleagues or to a want of respect for them. Lord Rayleigh is absent from England, but we believe that we know enough of the Royal Society and of Lord Rayleigh to warrant us in repelling at once, and, in his absence, the insinuation as unfounded, and as quite unworthy of the journal in which it has been allowed to appear. Ar the Royal Society’s meeting, last week, the following were elected Foreign Members of the Society :—Prof. Albert Heim, of Ziirich, geologist ; Prof. Gabriel Lippmann, of Paris, physicist ; Prof. Gésta Mittag-Leffler, of Stockholm, mathematician ; and Prof. Giovanni Schiaparelli, Director of the Royal Astronomical Observatory of Brera, Milan. WE announced some time ago the lamentable death of M. Tisserand, the distinguished Director of the Paris Observatory. The French Government, according to the invariable rule, at once applied to the Academy of Sciences, to nominate two men whom they considered qualified to succeed him. They selected M. Loewy and M. Callandreau, the first place being given to M. Loewy, a fully-trained astronomer, who has made his reputation along many lines of research, and who has for many years belonged to the staff of the Observatory. We learn that the Government has accepted this nomination, and that M. Loewy has been appointed Director in succession to M. Tisserand. Lorp RAYLEIGH and Prof. Ramsay have been elected Corre- | sponding Members of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. 108 NATURE [ DecEMBER 3, 1896 M. Micuet Levy has been elected a member of the Section de Minéralogie of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession to the late M. Daubrée. WE notice with much regret the announcement of the death of Dr. Benjamin A. Gould, the distinguished founder and editor of the Astronomical Journal. Dr. GILBERT W. CHILD, Lecturer on Botany in the Medical School of St. George’s Hospital, and Public Examiner in the School of Natural Science, as well as for the M.D. degree at Oxford, died on Tuesday. The death is also announced of Mr. William Francis Ainsworth, known for his travels and re- searches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, &c. THE new aquarium of New York City, in Castle Garden Building, of which mention was made in NATURE several months ago, will be opened tothe public on December 15. The open- ing was delayed by the elaborate work of reconstructing the building. THE total expense of the British Association meeting at Liverpool, defrayed from the local fund, was (it appears from the final report of the Local Committee) 26257. The balance in the Treasurer’s hands is about 9802., which the Committee has decided shall be invested, and the income therefrom paid to the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, for use in the publi- cation of Proceedings and the prosecution of scientific research. This action ensures that the meeting will have a lasting effect upon local scientific research, as the fund will be made a trust, and the income only used annually in the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee’s investigations. WE learn that the work on the ‘‘ Ancient Volcanoes of Britain,” upon which Sir Archibald Geikie has been engaged for some years, is now all in type. It will form two large octavo volumes, and will be copiously illustrated. Among the illustra- tions are numerous reproductions of photographs, also of sketches by the author, representing the more interesting or important features in the old volcanoes of this country from the earliest geological periods to the last great eruptions in older Tertiary time. The work will be further accompanied by a series of maps showing the distribution of the volcanic rocks of each eruptive period. It will be published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., and will probably appear early next year. Ar the fourth Congrés international de Zoology, to be held at Cambridge in September 1898, under the presidency of Sir William Flower, the prize of the Tsar Alexander III. will be awarded for the first time, and that of the Tsar Nicholas II. will be awarded for the second time. The subject to be treated in papers competing for the former prize is ‘‘ The Ruminants of Central Asia, from the zoological and geographical point of view,” and the latter prize will be for ‘‘ An Anatomical and Zoological Monograph of a Group of Marine Invertebrates.” The prizes consist either of a sum of money or a medal of equal value, at the choice of the successful competitors. Memoirs must be sent to the President of the Permanent Committee before May 1, 1898. All zoologists are eligible to compete, except those belonging to the country in which the Congress will be held. British zoologists are thus excluded. THE British Chamber of Commerce at Alexandria have come to the unanimous conclusion that the adoption of the metric weights and measures in the United Kingdom would be of advantage to British traders in Egypt. Lord Cromer, in for- warding the report to the Foreign Office, remarks that a very general opinion undoubtedly exists in Egypt that British trade with that country would benefit by the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures, and adds that the compulsory introduction of the metric system was strongly urged upon the NO. 1414, VOL. 55] Egyptian Government some years ago, when it was held that so brusque a change was to be deprecated. On the Egyptian railways, however, and in fact wherever there are Government weighing machines, the metric system has been adopted, and it is hoped that it will thus gradually take root throughout Egypt. WE learn from the Aritish Medical Journal that, on the suggestion of Dr. Nicholson, Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen, the Town Council of Aberdeen agreed some time ago to utilise part of the buildings of the old bathing station as a marine aquarium. The tanks have been made, and the further necessary fittings are-in hand. In view of the great importance of the fishing trade at Aberdeen, further developments have been contemplated with regard to combining a department for fish hatching and culture on a scientific basis with the aquarium. It is to be expected that the investigations carried on in such an institution should prove of great interest and importance to the students of zoology at the University. THE juvenile lectures at the Society of Arts will this year be given by Mr. Clinton T. Dent, past president of the Alpine Club. Mr. Dent has taken for his subject ‘‘ The Growth and Demolition of Mountains.” The lectures will deal mainly with the destructive agencies, weather, frost, glacier movements, avalanches, waterfalls, floods, &c. They will be delivered on January 6 and 13. AN advertisement inviting applications for the position of Macleay Bacteriologist to the Linnean Society of New South Wales, Sydney, has lately appeared in NATURE. It may be of interest to state that the salary attached to the post arises from a sum of £12,000 bequeathed by Mr. William Macleay, whose total benefactions to science in New South Wales amounted to about £100,000. In making the appointment the object in view is entirely the advancement of natural knowledge by research, the Linnean Society not deriving any pecuniary benefit therefrom. M. A. A. L. TRECUL, whose death, at the age of seventy- eight, we announced on November 5 (p. II), was one of the highest authorities on vegetable organogeny. In addition to a monograph of the Artocarpaceze, he had contributed, during a period extending over half a century, a very large number of papers on various points in the anatomy of plants to the French botanical journals. Among the subjects thus treated of are adventitious roots and buds ; the increase in diameter of woody dicotyledons ; the origin and development of the fibres of the xylem and phloem; the theory of the graft; the formation of leaves ; secondary formations in vegetable cells ; laticiferous vessels, &c. His latest observations, contributed to the Comptes vendus of the French Academy, were on the ultimate ramifica- tions of the vascular bundles in leaves and petals. On Friday last, at a meeting of the full Committee formed to establish an international submarine telegraph memorial, the report of the Executive Committee was received and adopted. The following are the resolutions: (1) That a bust of the late Sir John Pender, at a cost not to exceed 500/., be erected in the Imperial Institute or other suitable place ; (2) that a sum of not less than 5000/. be placed in trust with the Council of Uni- versity College, London, to form an endowment fund for the maintenance of the electrical laboratory in that College, on the condition that the Council name the laboratory the “ Pender Laboratory,” and the existing chair of Electrical Engineering the “Pender Chair of Electrical Engineering”; (3) to endow a scholarship, or a scholarship and medal, in connection with elec- tricity at Glasgow. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh desired the word ‘‘ Edinburgh” substituted for ‘‘ Glasgow” in the third resolution. This was not done, but the Chairman (the — DECEMBER 3, 1896] NATURE 109 = Marquis of Tweeddale) said, if the funds permitted, the claims of Edinburgh would probably be considered by the Committee. Subscriptions will be invited to carry out these resolutions. Dr. BAUMANN, whose death we announced last week, was professor of medical chemistry at the University of Freiburg in Baden. He was (says the Zamcet) the son of a chemist, and served the full period of a pharmaceutical apprenticeship, after which he entered the Technical College of Stuttgart in order to complete his studies in chemistry, physics, and natural science. In Tiibingen, where he went to take his diploma, the celebrated physiologist, Hoppe-Seyler, recognised the great talent of the young man, and not only made him his assistant, but when Prof. Hoppe-Seyler had been elected to the professorship at the Uni- versity of Strassburg in Alsace, in 1872, Baumann accompanied him thither. In 1879 he was made director of the chemical department of the new Physiological Institute of Berlin, and in 1882 he became ordinary professor of medical chemistry in Frei- burg, where he remained till his death on November 2. Prof. Baumann’s work included researches on the subject of meta- bolism and on cystin. He was the discoverer of the specific action of sulphonal and trional, and also of the presence of iodine in the thyroid gland, this last being one of his latest and most notable achievements. He was only forty-nine years of -age at the time of his death. Mr. S. STAINER sends us a further communication on his observations of swallows at Southampton, up to the end of November. He saw these birds on twelve separate days, from November 6 to November 25, the highest number (ten) occurring on November 12, and the lowest (one) on November 25. The weather for the first three weeks of last month was very mild, and it is suggested that during that period the insects upon which swallows feed were present in the air. The east wind, which prevailed during the last week of the month, may have so reduced the food supply as to force migration upon the birds. Ar the Royal Societies Club on Monday, Dr. John Murray, F.R.S., editor of the ‘* Cha//enger Reports ” and naturalist on the expedition, was presented by the contributors to the various sectional reports, with an album containing their portraits. ‘The album is a very handsome volume bound in morocco, with illuminated address and dedication plate designed by Mr. Walter Crane. It contains eighty-six portraits. The *motzf of the design adopted for the cover is deep-sea and other animals collected by the expedition. The chair was taken by Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S. (President of the Club), and the presentation made by the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, SBR: 9: ALL who have attempted to determine a miscellaneous collection of fossils from any geological formation have soon discovered the difficulty of affixing correct names to all the specimens, and if they have been doing this work with the object of publishing some paper, either dealing with the stratigraphy of a district, or attempting to correlate geological horizons in different parts of the world, they have probably given the task up in despair. A few, no doubt, have been fortunate in possessing friends, whose knowledge of particular groups of fossils could be drawn upon. But it is not always that one knows the best person to apply to, or that one can be certain of a favourable reception. Natural Sczence, in its December number, has published a list of twenty-six specialists who are willing to determine various groups of fossils from various strata, when requested to do so for purposes of publication, and this enterprising action will doubtless be welcomed by many 4ocal geologists. We hope that this list is only a first instal- anent, for there certainly appears to be a large number of groups No. 1414, VOL. 55] of fossils in which no one is prepared to pose as an authority. We should have thought that some one might have been found for the trilobites, the belemnites, or the palaozoic brachiopods. Obviously, if any one wishes to take up the study of some special division of paleontology, he need not be deterred by the lack of an opening. THERE has recently been launched in France a novel kind of vessel, named the Zrvwest Bazin, after the name of the inventor. This vessel, which is only a large model, is intended to demon- strate the feasibility of driving steamers through the water at high speeds without increasing the engine power, and consequently the quantity of coal required beyond practical mercantile limits. The inventor considers that it is possible, with vessels designed on his principle, measuring between 400 and 500 feet in length, to realise, with a consumption of 800 tons of coal, a speed of thirty knots, which means that the voyage from this country to America could be accomplished in 100 hours. As a comparison with this, vessels of the type of the Campanta use between 3000 and 4000 tons of coal to attain a speed of twenty-two knots, and if this speed were increased to thirty knots, there would be required for each voyage 70,000 tons. This result is to be attained by constructing the vessel on a series of large hollow wheels or rollers, which are to be made to revolve. In the model there are three rollers on each side, the vessel itself being carried on a framework resting on the axles of the rollers. The rolling motion of these wheels offers much less resistance in displacing the water than the propulsion of a fixed body through it. The rotation of the floating wheels has the effect of trans- forming fixed into moving elements, each point of which flies before the resistance of the water in proportion to the advance of the float, the resistance consequently becoming lessened. By experiments, M. Bazin has shown with small models that when a vessel, designed on his principle, is moved through the water with the rollers fixed, it will be brought up by an object of sufficient size floating on the water coming in contact with the rollers. Whereas, when the rollers are made to revolve, it will pass over the obstacle without loss of speed, the obstruction sinking in the water and returning to the surface after the roller has passed. The possibility of building a roller-ship has been practically demonstrated. It remains yet to be seen what the effect will be as to speed and other conditions. Ir is a popular idea that the seeds of many plants pass unharmed through the digestive canal of birds, and, being voided with the excrements, reach the ground in a peculiarly favourable condition for germination ; and this is generally believed to be especially the case with the mistletoe, the seeds, in this case, being deposited on the branches of the tree on which the mistletoe is parasitic. Ina paper contributed to the Transactions of the Linnean Society, Mr. F. W. Keeble shows that this is at all events not universally the case with the Loranthacee, especially with the Cingalese species of Loranthus. The species of this genus with tubular flowers which are natives of Ceylon are ornithophilous, the bird most effective in their pollination being a honey-bird, a species of Nectarinia. In the large- flowered species, the buds remain closed ; but, when tapped, the corolla-lobes fly open with an explosion, and the pollen is scattered. The closing of the flower-buds appears to serve the purpose of protecting the pollen against rain, while the violent expulsion of the pollen aids in its carriage by the visiting birds, their beaks being frequently found to be covered with pollen after visiting the flowers. When the fruit is ripe, the bird eats the succulent portion only, wiping out the seeds with its beak on to a branch of the tree, to which they thus become attached by their viscid coating. If swallowed, the seeds are found to be digested and destroyed. IIO NATURE [DrceMBER 3, 1896 A VALUABLE memoir by Prof. Augusto Righi, entitled «* Sulla propagazione dell’ elettricita nei gas attraversati dai raggi di Rontgen,” has just been published by Signori Gamberini é Par- meggiani, Bologna. Practically all the experimental work which has advanced the knowledge of Réntgen rays is brought together and coordinated in the memoir, full references to the original papers being given in each case. THE Cambridge University Press is about to issue a ‘* Manual and Dictionary of the Phanerogams and Ferns,” by Mr. J. C. Willis, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon. The work is in two volumes, printed on thin paper, the second of which can be placed in the pocket as a handbook for ready reference in a botanic garden or museum. The first volume serves as an introduction to the second or dictionary part, and deals with the vegetable morphology, variation, and the prin- ciples of classification in a decidedly original manner. It con- siders plants largely from a biological standpoint, and attempts to indicate the effects of the environment on the organisms. THE Annales of the French Meteorological Office for 1894 have recently been published. They consist of three large quarto volumes : (1) Memoirs, containing a discussion of tracks of thunderstorms, magnetic observations at various places, with a summary of the principal disturbances, and a comparison of | the curves with those furnished by the registration of earth- currents, showing the relation which exists between these phenomena; a discussion of the observations made on the Eiffel Tower, &c. (2) Observations made at French stations and in their colonies. (3) Rainfall values: the number of these stations is 2039, which exceeds those given in any previous year. CHEMICAL papers abound in the volume of Proceedings (vol. Xxill. mew series, 1895-96) just issued by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. We select for special mention the following subjects of contributions to the volume :—The composition of the Ohio and Canadian sulphur petroleums, by Charles F, Mabery ; the chemical potential of the metals, by Wilder D. Bancroft. Among the conclusions are: (1) The potential difference between a metal and an electrolyte is not a function of the concentration of the salt solution, nor of the nature of the positive ion, except in certain special cases. (2) | It is a function of the electrode, of the negative ion, and of the solvent ; a revision of the atomic weight of zinc, by T. W. Richards and E. F. Rogers; (with o = 16 the atomic weight found is 65°404; with 0 = 15°96, the value is 65°240; and for 0 = 15°88, it is 64’912); thermo-electric interpolation formule, by Silas W. Holman; melting points of aluminium (660°), silver (970°), gold (1072°), copper (1095°), (1760°), by S. W. Holman, R. R. Lawrence, and L. Barr. The melting point of gold was assumed by the observers, and upon it the other values more or less depend. There are also papers on the thermal conductivity of mild steel, the outline of Cape Cod, and the embryology of the star-fish. ALL chemists will welcome the appearance of a new instal- ment (part 2 of vol. ii.) of the ‘‘ Lehrbuch du Organischen Chemie,” by V. Meyer and P. Jacobson, which has just been issued. The new part deals with the aromatic phenols, quinones, aldelydes, ketones, and carboxylic acids, With the next part, the second volume, which deals with the chemistry of carbon rings, will be completed. Mr. Crookes has been experimenting witha solution of ucium nitrate, and a larger quantity of precipitated oxalate, both supped by M. P. Barriere, the patentee of the alleged new element, lucium. In the Chemztcal News he describes his experiments, and states that the results have convinced him that the claim of lucium to form one of the chemical elements is not justified. Chemical examination confirms the results obtained 0. 1414, VOL. 55 | and platinum | by spectrum observations, that lucium is nothing but impure yttrium. In the current number of the Zeétschrift fiir Physikalische Chemie, H. Euler gives the results of a series of measurements of the electrolytic dissociation of some organic acids at different temperatures. On warming a solution of benzoic acid the ionisation—?.e. the fraction existing in the form of ions— increases until 35° C. is reached, after which it decreases, showing that the heat evolved by the change of the undis- | sociated molecule into the ionic condition is negative at tem- peratures lower than 35°, and positive at higher temperatures. m-Oxybenzoic acid also has a maximum ionisation between 25° and 30°. In general the ionisation either increases or decreases continuously as the temperature is raised. These results are of interest in view of the belief, which is not un- frequently met with, that the ionisation necessarily increases with rise of temperature. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Leopard (4edis pardus, 2) from Ceylon, presented by Surgeon-Major N. Manders ; two Tigers (Fedés tzgris, 8 6) from India, presented by Captain Alex. W. Thorny- croft, Royal Scots Fusiliers ; a Malabar Squirrel (Sczarus maxe- meus) from India, presented by Mr. G. W. Vidal; a Ring- tailed Coati (Vasea v2fa),a —— Courlau (4vamus, sp. inc.), a King Vulture (GyAagws papa), three Violaceous Night Herons (Nycticorax violaceus) from South America, an Impeyan Monaul (Lophophorus tmpeyanus) from the Himalaya Mountains, pur- chased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. EPHEMERIS FOR COMET PERRINE.—The following positions. for Perrine’s comet have been computed by Otto Knopf, and are given in Edinburgh Czrcular, No. 51 :— Ephemeris for Berlin Midnight. R.A. Decl. Brightness, 1896. h ms. ae Dec. 4 19 52 8 +4 42°7 0°99 5 19 51 49 4 14°7 6 19 51 3 BN47.2 1'00 7 19 51 14 3 20°2 cS) 19 50 59 2 536 9 19 50 44 2 27°5 10 19 50 31 2 18 I‘O1 II 19 50 19 I 36'5 12 19 50 7 1 Bea) i) 19 49 57 0 47° 14 19 49 47 +O 23'0 104 The Beieniness ee this comet on November 2 has been takem as unity. ““THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL. ’—Among the articles of this journal for the present month may be noted Mr. W. Je Humphrey's further study of the effect of wave-lengths of lines in the are spectra of certain elements. In this investiga- tion he has examined the lines of several other elements, the best out of one hundred and seventy-five negatives having been employed. The new facts thus gleaned haye necessitated — a modification of his previous statement concerning the connec- tion between the atomic weights and the shift of the lines. Prof. J. Feényi communicates a statement with two diagrams. of the positions of the prominences on the solar limb at the time of the recent eclipse on August 8 Mr. Alexander Roberts, commenting on the growing importance of the value of the light ratio, adds some notes on a method of determining this quantity. Mr. Wadsworth, in continuation of the series of articles that has been given on “‘ The Modern Spectroscope,” describes an ingenious fluid prism without solid walls, and its use in an objective spectroscope. The general idea of the arrangement may be summarised quite briefly. A Littrow spectroscope has its axis of rotation arranged horizontally. The collimating beam from the slit falls on a free horizontal surface of a liquid contained in a glass or metal cell, and is there refracted. A mirror, also movable about the same axis, is immersed in the liquid at such an angle that it receives DeEcEMBER 3, 1896] NATURE III the refracted ray normally, and reflects it back again to the observing telescope. ‘for use in an astronomical spectroscope of either the com- pound or the objective type in connection with a polar heliostat, . .. the heliostat is arranged to send the beam down the polar axis instead of up, as is usually done.” The author suggests that the instrument must be mounted so as to be entirely free from any vibration. Prof. Rowland continues his valuable tables of solar spectrum, wave-lengths extending here from 3133 to 3259. Prof. B. Hasselberg’s researches on the spectra of metals are translated from the original, the metals here dealt with being cobalt and nickel. great difficulty of eliminating impurities, and states that the iron spectrum of Kaiser and Runge is to a large extent con- taminated with foreign lines, which fact has led him to make iron comparisons from his own photographs. The number of lines having the same position in the spectra of cobalt and nickel is found to be very great. We may mention also that two excellent photographs, showing the erection of the polar axis and declination axis of the Yerkes telescope, together Erecting the declination axis of the Yerkes 4o-inch refractor. with a general view of the Observatory, are also given in this number. The accompanying illustration is a reduced reproduction of the second of these photographs, and it gives a good idea of the immense scale of the undertaking. PLANETARY Norrs.—M. Flammarion reports in a telegram, dated November 21 from Juvisy, that the observations of Mars made there show the doubling of the canals Cyclops, Cerbere, Galaxias, Brontes, Orcus and Euphrates (Astr. Wach., No. 3387)- Herr Leo Brenner has also been making some interesting observations on the planets Uranus and Mercury, which he has communicated to the samenumber. As regards the first of these bodies, he has with his 7-inch Reinfelder refractor observed on twelve evenings (April 28 to July 9), and made the same number of drawings. The spots on the disc are, ashe says, the dimmest he has ever seen on a planet’s disc, but nevertheless he has made a rough determination of the planet's time of rotation, the deduced value being about eight hours. The planet was also NO. 1414, VOL. 55] This form of liquid prism is well adapted | | question.” The author points out the | | aged 76. noticed as being flattened at the poles, thus corroborating previous observations. The observations of Mercury, which are illustrated by twenty drawings, indicate a comparatively greater amount of detail than one would expect. The drawings show that the movements of the surface markings are really the result of rotation, the value of this latter being about thirty-three to thirty-five hours. Herr Brenner says with regard to the longer period suggested by Schiaparelli, that “*so far, I am perfectly certain that a rotation of about three months is quite out of the The drawings, he further remarks, indicate on single days distinct forward motions of the spots, the different appear- ances of the planet’s disc at various times, the undoubted polar spots, and, further, the circumstance that the markings seen by him do not always assume the same positions as those seen by Schiaparelli and recorded on his chart. There seems, however, to be evidence that in some cases the spots seen by both observers are permanent markings, as is shown by a comparison of these drawings with Schiaparellis map of 1890. Herr Brenner has also examined Prof. Vogel’s drawings of Mercury, which, he finds, prove the accuracy of his (Brenner’s) observa- tions, and suggest the impossibility of a slow rotation. A Companion vo 6-Scorpil.—Dr. T. J. J. See, with the help of the Arizona atmosphere and the 24-inch Clark refractor of the Lowell Observatory, has been able to discover that @- Scorpii is attended by a faint satellite of the 13th magnitude (Astr, Nach., No. 3387). In contrast to the reddish light of the primary, the companion appears of a greenish hue, making the system resemble Antares. The position of @ for 1900 will be R.A. 17h. 30m. 8'ts., Decl. =—42° 54’ 1'5”. The discovery was made when the star was less than 12” in altitude, which speaks well for the position of the observatory. THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF THE ROVAL SOCIETY. | Lé4st Monday was St. Andrew’s Day, and, in accordance with the usual custom, the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society was held in the apartments of the Society at Bur- lington House. The auditors of the Treasurer's accounts having read their report, and the Secretary having read the list of Fellows elected and deceased since the last Anniversary, the President (Sir Joseph Lister) delivered the following address :— Nineteen Fellows and four Foreign Members have been taken from the Royal Society by death since the last Anniversary Meet- ing. The deceased Fellows are :— John Russell Hind, December 23, 1895, aged 73. The Right Hon. Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, January 29, 1896, aged 69. General James Thomas Walker, February 16, 1896, aged 69. Charles Chambers, March, 1896, aged 61. William Sharp, April 10, 1896, aged 91. Sir John Russell Reynolds, May 29, 1896, aged 68. Sir George Johnson, June 3, 1896, aged 78. Sir Joseph Prestwich, June 23, 1896, aged 84. The Right Hon. Sir William Robert Grove, August 2, 1896, aged 85. Alexander Henry Green, August 19, 1896, aged 64. : The Hon. Sir George Frederic Verdon, September 13, 1896, aged 62. Sir John Eric Erichsen, September 23, 1896, aged 78. Sir George Murray Humphry, September 24, 1896, aged 76. Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, October 9, 1896, aged 71. Henry Trimen, October 18, 1896, aged 53. George Harley, October 27, 1896, aged 67. Henry Newell Martin, October 28, 1896, aged 44. Admiral Sir George Henry Richards, November 14, 1896, 1896, aged Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, November 21, 68. The Foreign Members are :— Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, May 29, 1896, aged 82. August Kekulé, July 13, 1896, aged 66. Hubert Anson Newton, August 12, 1896, aged 66. Hippolyte Louis Fizeau, September 18, 1896, aged 77. Benjamin A. Gould, November, 1596. II2 NATURE [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 Although biographical notices of all will be found in the Proceedings, there are some to whose labours I may make brief reference to-day. Sir William Grove presented the rare spectacle of steady and distinguished devotion to science in spite of the claims of an exacting profession, Grove was an eminent lawyer. Called to the bar in 1835, he was for some time kept from active work by ill-health ; but he subsequently acquired a considerable practice, and becoming a Queen’s Counsel in 1853, was for some years the leader of the South Wales Circuit. His practice was mainly in patent cases, and the reputation he obtained in that field led to his being appointed a member of the Royal Commission on the Patent Laws. His work as an advocate was, however, by no means confined to such matters; he was one of the counsel— Sergeant Shee and Dr. Kenealy being the others—who defended the Rugeley poisoner, William Palmer, and he was engaged in many other cazses célébres. The eminent position to which he had risen at the bar led to his appointment in November 1871, as a Judge of the old Court of Common Pleas, a post which in 1875 was converted by the Judicature Act into that of a Judge of the High Court. This office he held until his retirement in 1887, when he became a member of the Privy Council. Throughout the greater part of his long and distinguished legal career, Grove’s love of science impelled him to devote a large share of his energies to its pursuit. It is remarkable that his first paper. which was communicated to the British Associa- tion in 1839, and which also appeared in the Coweples rendus, and in Poggendorff's Azalen, contained a description of the *¢ Grove’s cell,” which was afterwards used in every physical laboratory in the world. This was succeeded by a long series of memoirs, chiefly on electrical subjects, among which one of the best known is that on the gas battery. In 1842 he delivered, at the London Institution, an address which was, in the following year, developed into the celebrated series of lectures: ‘*‘On the Correlation of Physical Forces.” In these he discussed what we should now call the transformations of energy, and, though Prof. Tait, in his ‘‘ Historical Sketch of the Science of Energy” (‘‘ Thermodynamics,” p. 58), assigns precedence in calling ‘‘ atten- tion to the generality of such transformations”? to Mrs. Somer- ville, there can be no doubt that Grove was an independent and very advanced thinker on that subject. For many years Sir William Grove took a very prominent part in the affairs of the Royal Society, and was one of the most active promoters of the reform of its constitution, which took place in 1847. It is largely to his efforts that we owe our present system of electing only a specified number of Fellows in each year. He was also one of the founders of the ** Philo- sophical Club,” and was the last survivor of the original members. { He was President of the British Association in 1866, and, in the course of his address, observed: ‘‘ The Kew Observatory, the petted child of the British Association, may possibly become an important national establishment ; and, if so, while it will not, I trust, lose its character of a home of untrammelled physical research, it will have superadded some of the functions of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, with a staff of skilful and experienced observers” (‘‘ Correlation and Continuity.” Fifth Edition, 1867, p. 278). Although the British Association long ago handed over the care of its *‘netted child” to a Committee appointed by the Royal Society, the Society and the Association have lately appointed a joint Committee to urge the Government to supply the funds for converting the Kew Observatory into a ‘‘ national establish- ment ” similar to the Reichsanstalt at Charlottenburg. We are thus striving to realise to-day the suggestion thrown out, thirty years ago, by Grove. In Sir Joseph Prestwich we have lost almost the last link that remained which connected geologists of the present day with the founders of the science in the first half of this century. To him we are indebted, not only for the first comprehensive classification of the tertiary beds of this country—to several of which he assigned the names by which they will henceforth be universally known—but, also, for their correlation with the strata of the Paris Basin. To him, also, is due the credit of having been the first to establish the authenticity of the remains of human workmanship found in the drift-deposits of the valley of the Somme, and of thus having laid secure foundations on which arguments as to the extreme antiquity of man upon the earth may be based. In France his name was known and NO. 1414, VOL. 55] | respected as much as in England, and it would be hard to say how much of the advance in geological knowledge during the last sixty years was not due to his unintcrmitted labours, which extended over the whole of that period. The earliest scientific investigation of Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau was on the use of bromine in photography, and was published in 1841. He will always be remembered as the first who carried out experiments designed to measure the velocity of light produced by a terrestrial source, and travelling through a comparatively small distance near the surface of the earth. These observations, made in 1849, were very difficult, but the velocity deduced from them differs by only about 5 per cent. from the mean of all the best modern results. The value of the method employed is attested by the fact that a quarter of a century afterwards it was adopted by M. Cornu, and that with the improved apparatus employed by him it gave results of the highest accuracy. A few years afterwards Fizeau performed another classical experiment, by which he measured the change in the velocity of light produced by the motion of the medium in which it travels. He also devised an extremely delicate method (based on the: interference of light) of determining the coefficients of thermal: expansion of small bodies, such as crystals. The instrament he: designed has been carefully studied by the Bureau International des Poids et des Mesures, with very satisfactory results. On account of these and other researches, M. Fizeau has, for nearly half a century, occupied a conspicuous position among European physicists. He was awarded the Rumford Medal in 1866, and became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1875. Our distinguished Foreign Member, Prof. Hubert Anson Newton, Senior Professor of Mathematics at the Yale Univer- sity, New Haven, died at his home in New Haven on August 12 last. He was born at Sherbourne, in the State of New York, in 1830; studied at Yale College, where he graduated in 1850, and was called to the Chair of Mathematics in the University at the early age of twenty-five. On the organisation of the Observatory of the University in 1882, Prof. Newton was appointed Director; but though he resigned this position in 1884, the whole policy and success of the Observatory ever since, and, indeed, its very existence, are in no small measure due to his warm interest and untiring efforts. Prof. Newton’s name will ever remain associated with his important researches on Meteor Astronomy, beginning as early as 1860; and with his inquiry into the possible capture of comets by Jupiter and other planets. His historical investig- ations, and discussions of the original accounts, showed that the phenomena of meteor showers are of a permanent character, and come within the range of Celestial Dynamics, and that predic- tions of returning meteoric displays are possible. Prof. Newton was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1885, and was for many years an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Science. He was a man of noble character, held in universal esteem, and greatly beloved by all those to whom he was personally known. The death of August Kekulé will be felt as a severe loss to chemical science all over the world. Not only did his great activity in original research enrich organic chemistry with many new and interesting compounds, but his announcement of the tetradic valency of carbon, and, especially, his theoretical con- ception of the benzene ring, gave an impulse to the study of structural chemistry which has introduced order into the vast array of organic compounds, both of the alcoholic and aromatic types, and has not, even yet, expendeditself. In recognition of his lifelong work, the Council of the Royal Society awarded Prof. Kekulé the Copley Medal in 1885. Another Foreign Member who has passed away from us during the year is the distinguished mineralogist and geologist, M. Daubrée. After leaving the Ecole Polytechnique in 1832, he was sent on a mission to investigate the modes of occurrence of tin-ore in Cornwall and on the continent. His reports showed such ability that he was appointed Professor of Mineralogy and Geology at Strasburg, at the age of twenty-five; afterwards (1861-2) he became Professor of Geology at the Musée d Histoire Naturelle at Paris, and at the same time Professor of Mineralogy at the Ecole des Mines; in the same year he succeeded; to the Chair at the Institut vacated by M. Cordier. From 1872 to 1884, when the rules of the Service made retirement by reason of age compulsory, he acted as Director of the Ecole ces Mines. NATURE Li DeEcEMBER 3, 1896 | M. Daubrée was the leader in France in experiments for the synthetic reproduction of minerals and rocks, and his laboratory furnace was the first to yield crystals of oxide of tin having the lustre, colour, and hardness of the mineral cassiterite ; his memoir on the zeolites and other minerals, produced since Roman times through the action of the hot springs of Plombieres on the bricks and concrete, has been of general interest both to mineralogists and geologists. Other important experiments led him to infer that circulating water, rather than heat or vapours, has been the essential agent in all phenomena of rock trans- formation. M. Daubrée gave much attention to the description and classification of meteorites, and made numerous experiments relative to the reproduction of material having similar characters. The Council was much occupied during the earlier part of the session with the consideration of the proposed ‘‘ Standing Orders” relating to the conduct of the meetings, and to the publications of the Society—a subject which has engaged the anxious attention of previous Councils. In framing these Stand- ing Orders two principal objects were kept in view. Firstly, to to increase the interest of the meetings by giving greater freedom in the conduct of them, and by enlarging the opportunities for discussion ; and secondly, to obtain a more secure, and, at the same time, more rapid judgment as to the value of communi- cations made to the Society ; so that, while the high standard of the Philosophical Transactzons is retained, or even raised, greater rapidity in the publication of these and of the Proceedings may be attained. To secure these latter objects, the Council has called to its aid, in the form of Sectional Committees, a number of Fellows much greater than that of the Council itself, to whom will be entrusted the task of reviewing the communications to the Society, and of making to the Council such recommendations with respect to them as may seem desirable. It is further probable that by using the special knowledge of the several Sectional Committees in the detailed consideration of special questions, the Council will have more time at its disposal than it has at present to consider the matters of larger policy which are so frequently brought before it. It soon became evident that no satisfactory Standing Orders securing these adyantages could be drawn up which would not be insome way or other inconsistent with the Statutes at present in operation. It wasaccordingly resolved to modify the Statutes ; and this has been dong by giving to certain Statutes a more general form than that in which they have for a long time appeared, so that such alterations of detail as may from time to time seem desirable may be effected by changes in the Standing Orders only, without interfering with the Statutes. I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of acknowledging the great help which the Council received from Mr. A. B. Kempe, in respect to the many legal points which arose in connection with the change of Statutes. A copy of the Statutes, as amended during the present session, as well as of the Standing Orders adopted, will be found in the Year-book, which has been instituted by one of the new Standing Orders, and which will be published each year, as soon after the Anniversary Meeting as possible. The International Conference called to consider the desirability and possibility of compiling and publishing, by international co- operation, a complete catalogue of scientific literature, was duly held ; and the Society may be congratulated on the successful issue of a meeting, to the preparations for which a special Inter- national Catalogue Committee, appointed by, and acting under the authority of, the Council, had devoted much time and labour. The Conference met in the apartments of the Society on July 14, 15, 16, and 17, under the presidency of the Right Hon. Sir J. Gorst, Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, and was attended by forty-one delegates, representing nearly all countries interested in science. The Society was represented by the Senior Secretary, Prof. Armstrong (Chairman of the International Catalogue Committee), Mr. Norman Lockyer, Dr, L. Mond, and Prof. Riicker. Three other Fellows of the Society—Dr. D. Gill, Prof. Liversidge, and Mr. R. Trimen— were among the delegates appointed by Colonial Governments. The Conference resolved that it was desirable to compile and publish a catalogue of the nature suggested in the original circular issued by the Royal Society, the administration being carried out by an International Central Bureau, under the direction of an International Council, with an arrangement that each of such countries as were willing to do so, should, by some national organisation, collect and prepare for the Central Bureau all the entries belonging to the scientific literature of the NO. 1414, VOL. 55] country. It was further resolved that the language of the catalogue should be English, and a proposal that the Central Bureau should be placed in London was carried by acclamation. The Conference finding itself unable to accept any of the systems of classification proposed, requested the Royal Society to form a Committee which should consider this and other matters which were left undecided by the Conference. The Council are already taking steps to perform the duties thus entrusted to them by the Conference. The delegates of the Society reported that the whole pro- ceedings of the Conference were carried on with remarkable good feeling, and even unanimity, and that the confidence felt and expressed by the various delegates in the fitness of the Royal Society to complete the work begun by the Conference was most gratifying. In connection with the fact that the proposed International Catalogue is to be in part arranged according to subject matter, it may be stated that the Council, acting upon a resolution of the International Catalogue Committee, have taken steps towards the practice of appending subject indices to the papers published by the Society, and have recommended the same practice to other Societies. The work connected with the Society’s own Catalogue is progressing. Vol. XI, the last of the decade 1874-83, has been published, and the preparation of the Supplement, which has been found necessary for this and preceding decades, is being pushed on. For the Subject Index to the Catalogue, slips have been prepared, and the Catalogue Committee will soon have to advise the Council as to the system of classification to be adopted. The Grant of 1000/., in aid of publications, which My Lords of the Treasury promised last summer to place upon the Estimates of this year, has been sanctioned by Parliament, and a moiety of it has already been paid to the Society. The Council have already felt the great advantage of having this money at their disposal, and have framed regulations for its administration, which they trust will be found to work satisfactorily. The Council have made some small changes (which have been approved by My Lords of the Treasury) in the Regulations for the administration of the Government Grant of 4000/. in aid of scientific inquiries, directed chiefly towards more effectually securing that Grants made should be expended for the purpose for which they were given, and that objects of permanent interest obtained by Grants should be properly disposed of. The only two Grants made this year which call for special mention are that of 10007. to the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee of the Royal and Royal Astronomical Societies, for observations of the Solar Eclipse of August, and that of 800/. for boring a coral reef in the Pacific Ocean, administered by the Committee appointed by the Royal Society, both drawn from the Reserve Fund. The Expedition to bore the Coral Reef received valuable assistance from My Lords of the Admiralty, who directed H.M.S. Penguzn to carry the observers from Sydney, N.S.W., to Funafuti, the seat of the boring, and to render the Ex- pedition all possible-help during the whole of the operations. I desire to express on behalf of the Society our recognition of this renewed token of the willingness of My Lords of the Admiralty to further scientific inquiry. Though the full Report of the Expedition has not yet reached the Council, information has been received to the effect that the boring operations had to be suspended when a depth of only 75 feet had been reached ; a layer of sand and boulders presenting obstacles which the experts employed were unable to overcome. It is much to be regretted that an undertaking which promised scientific results of very great value has thus so far failed. 7 t The appeals of the Council to H.M. Minister for Foreign Affairs and to My Lords of the Admiralty for assistance to the Eclipse Expeditions met with most cordial and effective response, for which we would express our gratitude. We also desire to acknowledge the courtesy shown and help afforded to the observing parties in Nerway and Japan by the respective Governments of those countries, and to record our high appreciation of the enthusiastic and effective aid given to those under the direction of Mr. Norman Lockyer, at Vadso, by Captain King Hall and the officers and crew of H.M.S. Volage. Both in Norway and in Japan unfavourable weather rendered to a large extent nugatory the elaborate preparations which had been made for observing the eclipse. But British astronomy was splendidly saved from failure on this important occasion by 114 NATURE the munificence and public spirit of Sir George Baden Powell, who fitted up, at his own expense, and accompanied an ex- pedition in his yacht Ofaréo to Novaya Zemlya. The instru- ments employed were provided by our Fellows, Mr. Lockyer, and Mr. Stone, of the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford ; and the observations were entrusted to Mr. Shackleton, one of the computers employed by the Solar Physics Committee. In bril- liant weather photographic observations were made, which promise to yield novel results of a highly important character. At the request of the President of the Board of Trade the Council nominated, in March, Profs. Kennedy and Roberts- Austen as two members of a Committee to investigate the loss of strength in steel rails. So far as I am aware, the Committee has not yet made its report. More recently, in July, the Council, at the request of H.M. Secretary for Colonial Affairs, appointed a Committee to consider, and if necessary to inves- tigate, in conjunction with Surgeon-Major Bruce, who has made important researches in the matter, the disease caused in cattle in Africa by the Tsetse fly. The Committee is still engaged on the inquiry. We believe that the Council, in cordially responding to requests like the above, and in freely placing at the disposal of H.M. Government its scientific knowledge and its acquaintance with scientific men, is performing one of its most important functions. The Council of the Royal Society is again and again called upon to approach H.M. Government on behalf of the interests of science, and when it does so always meets with a cordial reception and a respectful hearing, even on occasions when public necessities prevent a favourable reply being given to its requests. In return, the Council believes it to be its duty {when called upon to do so), not only to place its own time and labour ungrudgingly at the service of H.M. Government, but also to ask for the co-operation of other Fellows of the Society, or even other scientific men not Fellows of the Society, feeling confident that whenever the matter in hand has practical bear- ings beyond the simple advancement of Natural Knowledge, the value of a scientific man’s time and energy will be duly | considered. Some correspondence has taken place with the War Office relative to resuming the borings in the Delta of the Nile, which were carried on for a time some years ago, and which, though not completed, yielded valuable results. The Expedition to the Soudan has, however, prevented anything being done. The Council learn with pleasure that the old borings, undertaken for a purely scientific object, have indirectly been a valuable means of supplying certain districts of the Delta with sweet water. If anything had been needed to justify the meetings for dis- cussion recently established, it would have been supplied by the brilliant success of that held during the present session on Colour Photography. On that occasion, M. Lippmann gave us a demonstration of results of unprecedented beauty, obtained by extremely simple means, though based on profound mathe- matical reasoning. Such meetings can only prove fruitful when they are held in consequence of some theme needing such a discussion as is afforded by a special meeting ; and their occur- rence must therefore be uncertain and irregular. The purpose for which they were instituted would be frustrated if they were held at times fixed in any formal way, irrespective of whether they were needed or not. Three of the informal gatherings recently instituted, limited to Fellows of the Society, have been held during the session, and were judged to be very successful. The Council has had occasion during the past session to present an address of condolence to her Majesty, the Patron of the Society, on the lamented death of Prince Henry of Batten- berg, and to the Royal Academy on the occasion of the death of their President, Lord Leighton. In the absence of Council, during the recess, I sent another message of sympathy on the death of Sir J. Millais. I had the privilege of presenting, on behalf of the Council, an address of congratulation to our late President, Lord Kelvin, on the occasion of his Jubilee, nobly celebrated in Glasgow last summer, by a very remarkable concourse of scientific men from all parts of the world, assembled to do him honour. Addresses were also sent to our Foreign Member, Prof. Cannizzaro, on the celebration of his seventieth birthday, and to | the University of Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the occa- sion of its Sesquicentenary Anniversary. Under the guidance of the Scientific Relief Committee, the NO. 1414, VOL. 55] [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 Council has during the year granted 100/. to assist scientific persons or their relatives in distress. The Council desire to call the attention of the Fellows to the fact that, during the year, as during past years, the income of the fund has exceeded its expenditure, and that more aid could be given than has been given. With the view of increasing the usefulness of the fund, the Council has added to the list of those who can make repre- sentations to the Council concerning relief the Presidents of the | Mathematical, Physical, and Entomological Societies. I cannot but give expression to my deep regret, shared, I am sure, by every Fellow, that Lord Rayleigh, whose tenure of office as Secretary has been marked as much by faithful devo- | tion to the interests of the Society as by scientific brilliancy, has thought it right, in consequence of increasing pressure of other engagements, to retire. But I rejoice that the Council can submit to your suffrages a man well qualified to wear the mantle laid down by Lord Rayleigh. The Fellows will be pleased to learn that Mr. Rix, who was compelled, by the condition of his health a year ago, to resign the position which he had held for many years with such great advantage to the Society, has much improved under the lighter labour of the Clerkship to the Government Grant Committee. As his successor in the office of Assistant-Secretary, the Council, out of eighty-four candidates, unanimously selected Mr. Robert Harrison, who entered upon his duties on April 24 last. The scientific work of the Society during the past year has been full of deep and varied interest. Early in the session the announcement of Rontgen’s great discovery burst upon the world. Its wonderful applications to medicine and surgery attracted universal attention to it ; and physicists everywhere have since been engaged in investigating the nature of the new rays. Perhaps no outcome of such inquiries has been more remarkable than the fact observed by our Fellow, Prof. J. J. Thomson, that the rays have the power of discharging electri- city, both positive and negative, from a body surrounded by a non-conductor ; a mass of paraffin wax, for example, behaving in their path for the time being like a conductor of electricity. It appears that Lenard had before observed the discharge of both kinds of electricity through air by the rays with which he worked. Lenard’s rays, however, differ from Réntgen’s in be- ing deflectable by a magnet, implying, in the opinion of most British physicists, that they are emanations of highly electrified particles of ponderable matter, while Rontgen’s are regarded as vibrations in the ether. The question naturally arises whether Lenard, in the observations referred to, may not have been working with a mixture of Réntgen’s rays and his own. While points like these are still under discussion by experts, we can- not but feel that the letter X, the symbol of an unknown quantity, employed originally by Réntgen to designate his rays, is still not inappropriate. I have before referred to Lippmann’s beautiful demonstration and discussion of colour photography in one of our meetings. Very important researches have been made both by Lord Rayleigh and by Prof. Ramsay into the physical properties of the new substance, helium, discovered by Ramsay in the previous session. Among their most striking results is the fact ascertained by Rayleigh that the refractivity ot helium is very much less than any previously known, being only 0°146 ; between three and four times less than that of hydrogen, the lowest that had before been observed, although helium has more than twice the density of hydrogen. And equally surprising is Ramsay's observation of the extraordinary distance through which electric sparks will strike through helium, viz., 250 or 300 mm. at atmospheric pressure, as compared with 23 mm. for oxygen and 39 for hydrogen. Such properties appear to indicate that in helium we have to do with an exceedingly remarkable substance. The density of helium appears to be really slightly different according to the mineral source from which it is obtained ; and this circumstance seems to give countenance to the opinion arrived at by Lockyer and also by Runge and Paschen, from spectroscopic investigation, that helium is not a perfectly pure gas. But whatever other gas or gases may be mixed with it, they must be as inert chemically as the main constituent ; for all Ramsay’s elaborate attempts to induce it, or any part of it, to combine with other bodies have entirely failed. Prof. Roberts-Austen, in the Bakerian lecture, brought before us astonishing evidence that metals are capable of diffusing into each other, not only when one of them is in the state of fusion, but when both are solid. We learned that if clean surfaces DECEMBER 3, 1896] NATURE 115 of lead and gold are held together zz waco at a temperature of only 40° for four days, they will unite firmly and can only be separated by a force equal to one-third of the breaking strain of lead itself. And gold placed at the bottom of a cylinder of lead 70 mm. long thus united with it, will have diffused to the top in notable quantities at the end of three days. Such facts tend to modify our views concerning the mutual relations of the liquid and solid states of matter. Such are a few samples of the many highly interesting com- munications we have had in physics and chemistry. On the biological side, also, there has been no lack of important work. Of this I may refer to one or two instances. Prof. Schafer has given us an account of the well-devised experiments by which he has conclusively established that the spleen is on the one hand capable, like the heart, of independent rhythmical contractions, and, on the other hand, has those con- tractions controlled by the central nervous system acting through an extraordinary number of efferent channels. Prof. Farmer and Mr. Lloyd-Williams made a very beautiful contribution to biology in the account they gave of their elaborate investigations on the fertilisation and segmentation of the spore in Fucus. Especial interest attached to this com- munication, from the fact that it described in a vegetable form exactly what had been established by Oscar Hertwig in Echinodermata, viz., that out of the multitude of fertilising ele- ments that surround the female cell, one only enters it and becomes blended with its nucleus. Lastly, I may mention the very remarkable investigation into the development of the common eel, which was described to us a fortnight ago by Prof. Grassi, to which I shall have occasion to refer in some detail when speaking of his claims to one of the Society's medals. These, as I have before said, are but samples of what we have had before us ; but Iithink they are in themselves sufficient to justify the statement that in point of scientific interest the past year has been in no degree inferior to its predecessors. Corley MEDAL. Prof. Card Gegenbaur, For. Mem. RS. The Copley Medal for 1896 is given to Carl Gegenbaur, Pro- fessor of Anatomy in Heidelberg, in recognition of his pre- eminence in the science of Comparative Anatomy or Animal Morphology. Professor Gegenbaur was born in 1826, and a few weeks ago his seventieth birthday was celebrated by his pupils (who comprise almost all the leading comparative anato- mists of Germany. Holland, and Scandinavia) by the presenta- tion to him of a *‘ Festschrift ” in three volumes. Gegenbaur is everywhere recognised as the anatomist who has laid the founda- tions of modern comparative anatomy on the lines of the theory of descent, and has to a very large extent raised the building by hisown work. His *‘ Grundziige der vergleichenden Anatomie ” was first published in 1859, when he was thirty-three years old. In the second edition, published in 1870, he remodelled the whole work, making the theory of descent the guiding principle of his treatment of the subject. Since then he has produced a somewhat condensed edition of the same work under the title of **Grundriss” (translated into English and French), and now, in his seventy-first year, he is about to publish what will pro- bably be the last edition of this masterly treatise, revising the whole mass of facts and speculations accumulated through his own unceasing industry and the researches of his numerous pupils during the past quarter of a century. Gegenbaur may be considered as occupying a position in morphology parallel to that occupied by Ludwig in Physiology. Both were pupils of Johannes Miiller, and have provided Europe with a body of teachers and investigators, carrying forward in a third generation the methods and aims of the great Berlin pro- fessor. Gegenbaur’s first independent contribution to science was published in 1853. It was the outcome of a sojourn at Messina in 1852, in company with two other pupils of Johannes | Miiller, namely Albert Kolliker (still professor in Wiirzburg) and Heinrich Miiller, who died not long afterwards. young morph ologists published the results of their researches in common. Gegenbaur wiote on Medusz, on the development of Echinoderms, and on Pteropod larve. A long list of papers on the structure and development of Hydrozoa, Mollusca, and various invertebtata followed this first publication. The greatest interest, however, was excited among anatomists by his re- searches on the vertebrate skeleton (commenced already in 1849 with a research, in common with Friedreich, on the skull of NO. 1414, VOL. 55] These | axolotl). In a series of beautifully illustrated memoirs he dealt with and added immensely to our knowledge of the vertebral column, the skull, and the limb-girdles and limbs of Vertebrata, basing his theoretical views as to the gradual evolution of these structures in the ascending series of vertebrate forms upon the study of the cartilaginous skeleton of Elasmobranch fishes, and on the embryological characters of the cartilaginous skeleton and its gradual replacement by bone in higher forms. His method and point of view were essentially similar to those of Huxley, who independently and contemporaneously was engaged on the same line of work. For many years Gegenbaur was professor in Jena, where he was the close friend and associate of Ernst Haeckel, but in 1875 he accepted the invitation to the chair of Anatomy in Heidel- berg, and in view of the increased importance of his duties as a teacher of medical students, and therefore of human anatomy, though still continuing his researches on vertebrate morphology, he produced a large treatise on that subject, which has run through two editions. In this work he made the first attempt to bring, as far as possible, the nomenclature and treatment of human anatomy into thorough agreement with that of compara- tive anatomy, and to a very large extent the changes introduced by him have influenced the teaching of human anatomy through- out Europe and America. There is probably no comparative anatomist or embryologist in any responsible position at the present day who would not agree in assigning to Gegenbaur the very first place in his science as the greatest master and teacher who is still living amongst us. He is not only watching in his old age the developments of his own early teaching and the successful labours of his very numer- ous disciples, but is still exhibiting his own extraordinary in- dustry in research, his keenness of intellectual vision, and his unrivalled knowledge and critical judgment. RoyaL MEDAL. Sir Archibald Gethie, F.R.S. One of the Royal Medals is conferred on Sir Archibald Geikie, on the ground that of all British geologists he is the most distinguished, not only as regards the number and the importance of the geological papers which he has published as an original investigator, but as one whose educational works on geology have had a most material influence upon the advance- ment of scientific knowledge. His original papers range over many of the main branches of geological science. Wis memoir upon the ‘‘ Glacial Drift of Scotland ” (1863) is one of the classics in British geology. His work on the ‘‘ Scenery of Scotland, viewed in connection with the Physical Geology” (1865) was the first successful attempt made to explain the scenery of that country upon scientific principles, and is still without a rival. _ His papers on the ** Old Red Sandstone of Western Europe” (1878—79) gave for the first time a clear and convincing picture of the great lake period of British geology, founded upon personal observation in the field. re His many original contributions to the volcanic history of the British Isles form a succession of connected papers, crowded with important observations and discoveries, and brilliant and fertile generalisations respecting the abundant relics of former volcanic activity in the British Isles from the earliest geological ages to Middle Tertiary times. f , In the first series of these papers—commencing with the “*Chronology of the Trap Rocks of Scotland i (1861), and ending with the ‘* Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of the British Isles ~ (1869), abundant original proofs were advanced of the activity of volcanic action in the Western Isles of Scotland, and of its long duration in geological time. The second series (1871-88) was especially distinguished by the publication of his remark- | able paper on the ‘‘ Carboniferous Volcanic Rocks in the Basin of the Firth of Forth,” our earliest, and, as yet, our only mono- graph on a British volcanic area belonging to a pre-Tertiary geological system. The third series (begun in 1888) com- menced with his memoir on the ‘‘ History of Volcanic Action during the Tertiary Period in the British Isles,” a paper which is by far the most detailed and masterly contribuiion yet made to the subject, and for which the Brisbane Medal was awarded him by the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; and this succession of papers has been followed by the publication of others of almost equal importance. ‘ Sir Archibald Geikie has also written many papers and -memoirs bearing upon geological processes and their effects, 116 NATURE [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 was'| ¥ Was [Photographed by Lantin, Aachen. [Photograpned by E. Hanfstaengl, Frankfurt a/M. Pror. Poitree LENARD (Rumford Medallist). Pror. W. C. RONTGEN (Rumford Medallist). . [Photographed by Te Lieure, Rome. Pror. G. B. Grassi (Darwin Medalist). Pror. C. V. Boys (Roya? Medaltist.) [Photcgraphed by Melhuish, 58 Pall Mall, S.W+ NO. 1414, VOL. 55 | DEcEMBER 3, 1896] which have become permanent parts of our scientific literature. While carrying out this highly important original work in Geology, Sir Archibald has most materially contributed to the advancement and diffusion of scientific knowledge by his many educational works upon Geology and Physical Geography. His **Elementary Lessons on Physical Geography” has passed through several English and foreign editions; his ‘‘ Outlines of Field Geolagy ” is now in its fifth edition ; and his article on Geology—originally contributed to the ‘ Encyclopedia Britannica” in 1879—was afterwards expanded by him into his well-known ‘‘ Text-book of Geology,’’ which has become the acknowledged British standard of Geology in general. RoyaLt MEDAL. Prof. C. V. Boys. The other Royal Medal is awarded to Prof. Boys, who has given to physical research a method of measuring minute forces far exceeding in exactness any hitherto used, by his invention of the mode of drawing quartz fibres, and by his discovery of their remarkable property of perfect elastic recovery. Prof. Boys has himself made several very important researches in which he has employed these fibres to measure small forces. Using a combination of a thermo-junction with a suspended coil in a galvanometer of the usual D’Arsonval type, a combination first devised by D’Arsonval himself, Prof. Boys developed the idea in the microradiometer, an instrument rivalling the bolo- meter in the measurement of small amounts of radiation. Its sensitiveness and accuracy were obtained in part by the use of a quartz fibre to suspend the coil, in part by the admirable design of every portion of the instrument. Prof. Boys was the first to show its value in an investigation into the radiation received from the moon and stars. In this great research on the value of the Newtonian con- stant of attraction, Prof. Boys used quartz fibres to measure the gravitation forces between small bodies by the Michell- Cavendish torsion method. He redesigned the whole of the apparatus, and, calculating what should be the dimensions and arrangements to give the best results, he was led to the remark- able conclusion that accuracy was to be gained bya very great reduction in the size of the apparatus. -This conclusion he justified by a determination of the value of the Newtonian constant, which is now accepted as the standard. Prof. Boys has also made some remarkable studies by a photo- graphic method of the motion of projectiles, and of the air through which they pass. All his work is characterised by the admirable adjustment of the different parts of the apparatus he uses to give the best results. His instruments, are, indeed, models of beauty of design. RuMFORD MEDAL. Prof. Philipp Lenard and Prof. W. C. Réntgen. In the case of the Rumford Medal, the Council have adopted a course, for which there are precedents in the awards of the Davy Medal, but which is, as far as the Rumford Medal itself is concerned, a new departure. They have decided to award the Medal in duplicate. It has often happened in the history of science that the same discovery has been made almost simultaneously and quite independently by two observers, but the joint recipients of the Rumford Medal do not stand in this relation to each other. Each of them may fairly claim that his work has special merits and characteristics of its own, To-day, however, we have to deal not with points of difference, but with points of similarity. There can be no question that a great addition has recently been made to our knowledge of the pheno- mena which occur outside a highly exhausted tube through which an electrical discharge is passing Many physicists have studied the luminous and other effects which take place within the tube ; but the extension of the field of inquiry to the external space around it is novel and most important, There can be no doubt that this extension is chiefly due to two men—Prof. Lenard and Prof. Réntgen, The discussion which took place at the recent meeting of the British Association at Liverpool proved that experts still differ as to the exact meaning and causes of the facts these gentlemen have discovered. No one, I believe, disputes the theoretical interest which attaches to the researches of both ; or the practical benefits which the Rontgen rays may confer upon mankind as aids to medical and surgical diagnosis. But whatever the final verdict upon such points may be, the two investigators whom we NO. 1414, VOL. 55] NATURE Eig honour to-day have been toilers in a common field, they have both reaped a rich harvest, and it is, therefore, fitting that the Royal Society should bestow upon both of them the Medal which testifies to its appreciation of their work. Davy MEpat. Prof. Henrt Motssan. The Davy medal is given to Prof. Henri Moissan. Notwithstanding the abundant occurrence of fluorine in nature, the chemical history of this element and its compounds has until recently been scanty in the extreme, and, as far as the element in the free state is concerned, an entire blank. And yet from its peculiar position in the system of elements, the acquisition of a more extended knowledge of its chemical properties has always been a desideratum of the greatest scientific interest. The frequent attempts which have been made from time to time to clear up its chemical history have been constantly baffled by the extraordinary difficulties with which the investigation of this element is beset. Thanks to the arduous and continuous labours of M. Moissan, this void has been filled up. Tle has effected the isolation of fluorine in a state of purity, and prepared new and important compounds, the study of which has placed our knowledge of the chemical and physical properties of this element on a level with that of its immediate allies. During the last few years M. Moissan has turned his attention to the study of chemical energy at extremely high temperatures, and by the aid of the electric furnace, which he has contrived, he has succeeded in obtaining a large number of substances whose very existence was hitherto undreamt of. It is impossible to set bounds to the new field of research which has thus been opened out. The electric furnace of M. Moissan has now become the most powerful synthetical and analytical engine in the laboratory of the chemist. On studying the accounts which Moissan has given of his researches, we cannot fail to be struck with the originality, care, perseverance and fertility of resource with which they have been carried on. The Davy Medal is awarded to him in recognition of his great merits and achievements as an investigator. . Darwin MEDAL, Prof. Giovanni Battista Grasse. The Darwin Medal for 1896 is awarded to Prof. Grassi, of Rome (late of Catania), for his researches on the constitution of the colonies of the Termites, or White Ants, and for his dis- coyeries in regard to the normal development of the Congers, Murzenze, and Common Eels from Leptocephalus larvee. From a detailed examination of the nature and origin of the colonies of the two species of the Termites which occur in the neighbourhood of Catania, viz., Zermes luctfugus and Callo- termes flavicollés, he was able to determine certain important facts which have a fundamental value in the explanation of the origin of these and similar polymorphic colonies of insects, and are of first-rate significance in the consideration of the question of the share which heredity plays in the development of the re- markable instincts of ‘* neuters,” or arrested males and females, in these colonies. Prof. Grassi has, in fact, shown that the food which is administered by the members of a colony to the young larvee determines, at more than one stage of their development, their transformation into kings or queens, or soldiers or workers as the case may be, and the value of these researches is increased. by the observations. which he has made on the instincts of the different forms, showing that they do not in early life differ from one another in this respect, and are all equally endowed with the potentiality of the same instincts. These do not, however, all become developed and cultivated in all alike, but become specialised, as does the physical structure in the full-grown forms. A very different piece of work, but having a no less important bearing on the theory of organic evolution, is that on the Lepto- cephali. These strange, colourless, transparent, thin-bodied creatures, with blood destitute of red corpuscles, had been re- garded as a special family of fishes, but have been proved by Grassi’s patient and long-continued labours to be larval forms of the various Mureenoids. The most astonishing case is that of the Common Eel (Azguélla vulgaris), the development of which had been a mystery since the days of Aristotle. It had been long known that large eels pass from rivers into the sea at certain seasons, and that diminutive young eels, called in this country Elvers, ascend the rivers in enormous numbers. But, 118 although the species is very widely distributed, no one in any country had been able to discover how the elvers were pro- duced. Grassi has shown that, large as the eels are that pass into the sea, they are not perfectly developed fish, but only attain maturity in the depths of the ocean. There they in due time breed, and from their eggs are hatched the young Lepto- cephali, which, after attaining a certain size, cease to feed, and assume the very different form of the elver. The possibility of establishing these remarkable facts depended on the powerful oceanic currents that prevail about t Straits of Messina, bringing up occasionally to the surface the inhabitants of the depths of the sea. was thus able to obtain, from time to time, both adult eels with fully developed sexual organs and their larval progeny, and he actually observed in an aquarium the development of a Leftocephalus brevirostris into an elver. Such highly meritorious contributions to evolution are fitly recognised by the award of the Darwin medal. E 1e Grassi The Society next proceeded to elect the Officers and Council for the ensuing year. The list suggested by the President and Council, and adopted by the Society, was given in these columns November 12 (p. 38). on [Photogripuea by Martin Jacobette, Queen's Gate Hall, South Kensington. Pror. A. W. RUCKER (appointed Junior Secretary). [We are glad to be able to give portraits of the new Secretary of the Society, and of the recipients of the Rumford medal, Royal medal, and Darwin medal. It was unnecessary to include Sir Archibald Geikie’s portrait among these, as it has already been given in our series of Scientific Worthi and we regret that we have not received the portraits of Prof. Gegenbaur and M. Moissan. } In the evening the Fellows and their friends dined together at the Whitehall Rooms, Hotel Métropole, the attendance being larger than any up to the present time. Amongst the guests of the Society were the American Ambassador, the Italian Am- bassador, the Speaker of the Hou-e of Commons, and the Lord Mayor. After the usual loyal toasts had been drunk, the President proposed ‘‘ The Legislature,” and the Speaker of the House of | NO. 1414, \OL. 55 NATURE A po) [DECEMBER 3, 1896 Commons responded. The American Ambassador proposed ‘* The Royal Society,” and the toast was acknowledged by the President. | M. Henri Moissan responded to the toast of ‘* The Medallists.” Sir John Lubbock proposed the health of the retiring Secretary (Lord Rayleigh) and the present Secretary (Prof. Riicker), both of whom responded, the evening con- cluding with the toast of ‘‘The Guests,” proposed by Prof. Riicker, and acknowledged by the Lord Mayor. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. OXFORD.—Convocation has approved the holding of an examination in the theory, history and practice of education. The examination is to be held every year, and will be open to members of the University and others, subject to certain regula- tions. No member of the University is to be admitted who has not kept residence for at least seven terms. ‘‘ The delegates of local examinations shall have power to make arrangements for lectures and courses of instruction to be given within the University on the theory, history and practice of education. They shall also have power to make arrangements with the managers or teachers of any secondary or other school, whereby students who purpose to be teachers in secondary schools may acquire a practical knowledge of educational methods.” Mr. C. W. M. Bromley, of Kendal Grammar School, has been elected to a Scholarship, and Mr. A. G. Gibson, of Aberystwyth College, to a College Exhib‘tion in Natural Science at Christ Church. The Junior Scientific i Club held a meeting on Friday, November 27. Mr. ES. Goodrich exhibited a cast of Helo- derma and some specimens of a deep-sea Cephalopod. Papers were read by Mr. R. Wilkinson on the varieties of Coléas edusa and hya/e in England and Switzerland, and by Mr. E. F. Morris on dyeing. The Provost of Oriel has been re-elected a Delegate of the University Museum. Messrs. E. S. Craig (University College), J. A. Gardner (Magdalen College), M. S. Pembrey (Christ Church), and W. Garstang (Lincoln College) have been approved by Convocation as examiners for the preliminary examinations in the Honour School of Natural Science. Lorp Reavy has been elected President of the University College, London, in succession to the late Sir John Erichsen. UNDER the will of Mrs. Roxburgh, who died last week, the Bath Technical Schools are bequeathed one-fourth of the residuary estate, after legacies to certain charities have been deducted, to provide scholarships ; while the remainder, about £8000, is to be used for the erection of an art gallery. THE following appointments are announced: Dr. Karl Mobins, professor of zoology in Berlin University, to succeed Prof. Beyrich as director of the Natural History Museum there ; Dr. W. Dames, professor of geology, to be director of the geo- logical section of the same museum ; Dr. Emil Schmidt to be professor of anthropology in Leipzig University; Dr. Ernst Pringsheim to be associate professor of physics at Berlin; Dr. Traube and Dr. Friedheim to be associate professors of chemistry at Berlin; Dr. Kepinski to be associate professor of mathematics at Krakau ; M. Poincaré to be professor of mathe matical astronomy and celestial mechanics in the University of Paris, and M. Boussinesq to be professor of mathematical physics in the same University; Prof. Schenk to be professor of anatomy in the University at Vienna ; and Dr. London, of the University of Breslau, to be associate professor of mathe- matics there; Dr. Kippenberger, Privat-docent at Jena, to be professor of chemistry in the medical school at Kairo; Dr. R. H. Saltet to be professor of hygiene at Amsterdam, in succession to Dr. M. J. Foster; Dr. Gilson to be extraordinary professor of chemistry and pharmacy at Ghent ; Dr. C. Julin to be pro- fessor of anatomy at Liege; Dr. Theodor Beer to be privat- docent in comparative anatomy at Vienna; Dr. Bubnoff, of Iurieff (Dorpat), to be professor of hygiene at Moscow, in suc- cession to Prof. Erisman. THE necessity of early legislation for the promotion of tech- nical and secondary education was urged by a large and influential deputation, representing many educational bodies and associa- tions, which waited upon the Duke of Devonshire on Wednesday in last week. In introducing the deputation, Sir Henry Roscoe DECEMBER 3, 1896] NMARORE 119 referred to the Report of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, and the remarkable unanimity with which it had been received by educationists. (For a criticism of the Report from the scientific side, see NATURE, vol. liii. p. 79.) The bodies for which he spoke approached the subject especially from the point of scientific and technical education of the country. It is an acknowledged fact that the higher technical education of the country suffers from the lack of suitable pre- paration in the secondary schools, and that little can be hoped for in the way of systematic and advanced technical instruction until a basis of secondary education, such as has long existed in continental countries, has been established. Fortunately this organisation, for which Sir Henry Roscoe pleaded on behalf of the deputation, is unaccompanied by many of the difficulties which surround the subject of primary education, and, therefore, in this case Parliamentary unanimity in securing the great bene- fits which such a secondary system would confer upen the country might be expected. No detailed statement was made as to the form which legislation should take, but Sir Henry Roscoe pointed out that the most important recommendations of the Royal Commission are, in the first place, the establishment of local authorities, consisting of not smaller areas than counties and county boroughs, and, in the second place, of a central authority, chiefly of an advisory character. After several other members of the deputation had spoken, the Duke of Devonshire said that the Government hoped to deal with the better organisation of secondary schools in the next session of Parliament. It is in- tended to follow, generally speaking, the lines which were indicated in the proposed measure of last year. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LonpDoNn. Physical Society, November 27.—Prof. Riicker, Vice- President, in the chair.—The President (Captain Abney) de- scribed and exhibited some apparatus for giving diagrams of the efficiency of a photographic shutter. In addition to the **speed ” of a shutter, which is concerned with the interval (T) between the moments when the shutter admits the fs¢ and Zast rays of light, it is most important to know the efficiency of the shutter. The efficiency may be defined as follows: Let x represent the portion of the available aperture of the lens ex- posed by the shutter at a time ¢, and let X be the total available aperture. Then if the shutter were perfectly efficient, z.e. if the whole of the aperture were efficient during the time T, the quantity of light admitted would be proportional to XT. In other cases the quantity of light admitted will be proportional i mid : to | xdt. ence the efficiency is 0 The apparatus employed by the author consists of a slit placed near the shutter, so that the length of the slit is at right angles to the direction of motion of the shutter, and a lens by means of which an image of the slit is thrown on to a rotating drum or plate. The slit, when the shutter is open, is illuminated by the light of an arc lamp, a condensing lens being employed. In order to obtain a time scale two devices have been employed. In one of these a spoked wheel is rotated at a known speed so that each spoke, as it passes, momentarily cuts off the light. In the other arrangement a small lens, attached to the prong of a tuning-fork,throws a small spot of light on to the rotating drum, and thus gives a wavy line. Bromide paper or celloidin films are employed to record the diagrams. If the shutter were per- fectly efficient, the diagram would consist of a rectangle crossed, if the rotating wheel is used, by a number of white lines, caused by the interruption of the light by the spokes of the wheel. These lines give a time scale by which the speed of the shutter can be calculated. The author showed a number of diagrams taken by the apparatus and illustrating the behaviour of different shutters under varying conditions. In one of these the rebound of the Shutter at quick speeds is clearly shown by each of the principal diagrams being followed by a small auxiliary one Prof. Perry said he supposed that what was required Was some method of showing the motzon of the shutter. Mr. Boys suggested that the efficiency might be defined as the ratio of the area of the actual diagram to that of the rectangle NO. 1414, VOL. 55] having as base the time between the commencement and end of the exposure. Mr. Inwards asked if the author had made any experiments to determine the amount of shake communicated to the camera by the motion of the shutter. Prof. Perry said what was required was an exceedingly light shutter that got up a great speed before it reached the aperture. The author, in his reply, said he had investigated the question of the shake due to the movement of the shutter. He considered that the amount of this shake depended upon the extent of the movement of the centre of gravity of the shutter. With a small stop the Thornton- Pickard shutter fulfilled Prof. Perry’s requirements. The ex- periments have shown that the exposure does not always vary as the square of the aperture, on account of the small efficiency of some shutters for oblique rays. Thus in one case, by doubling the aperture, you only increase the light threefold. Royal Meteorological Society, November, 18.—Mr. E. Mawley, President, in the chair.—Mr. W. Ellis, F.R.S., gave an account of the Proceedings of the recent International Meteoro- logical Conference, which was held at Paris, from September 17 to23. The Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell read a paper on haze, fog and visibility. | Haze is most prevalent when the wind is from the north-east, and is due probably to excess of dust brought about by conflicting currents. The causes of fog are to a great extent the same as the causes of haze, although radiation in certain states of the air and ground playsa more conspicuous part. The main cause of fog is mixture of airs of different tempera- tures ; and the attainment of a size of water particle so much larger than in the case of haze is due to suddenness of mixture, greater humidity, or greater differences of temperature. The conditions favourable to visibility are dryness of the air near the ground level, uniformity of temperature and moisture, radiation below the mean, steady and homogeneous © winds through a great depth of the atmosphere, approximation of the temperatures of sea ana land, and a number of dust particles less than the mean. PARIS. Academy of Sciences, November 23.—M. A. Cornu inthe chair.—On some properties of uranic rays, by M. H. Becquerel. The rays emitted by uranium and its salts have some properties in common with the X-rays, but differ from them in being reflected and refracted like light. Even after eight months in complete obscurity, this radiation from uranium and its salts remains unchanged. The property of discharging an electrified body, which iscommunicated to a gas by exposure to the X-rays, or by transmitting electric sparks through it, isalso possessed by air which has passed over uranium in the dark.—Decimalisation of the hour, by M. Bouquet de la Grye.—Theoretical study on the pitching of submarine vessels, by M. Leflaive. An investi- gation of the relations between the displacement, speed, and depth under water ; the pitching is also studied, and the results displayed graphically.—On a particular case of the motion cf liquids, by M. E. Fontaneau.—Euclid’s postulate, considered as a property of three-dimension space, by M. G. Morosov.— Observations on the new Perrine Comet (1896, November 2) made at the Observatory of Algiers, by MM. Rambaud and Sy. —On algebraic curves of constant torsion, by M. Eugéne Fabry. —On an application of the theory of continued groups to the study of the singular points of linear differential equations, by M. F. Marotte.—On the singularities of the equations of dynamics, and on the problem of three bodies, by M. P. Painlevé —On the movement of a solid in an infinite liquid, by M. R. Liouville. —On the distribution of deformations in metals submitted to stresses, by M. George Charpy. A continua- tion of the discussion with M. Hartmann.—Discharges by the Rontgen rays; influence of temperature and pressure, by M. Jean Perrin. It is found that for the same gas, at a constant temperature the quantity of electricity lost per unit mass of gas 1s independent of the pressure, and proportional to the absolute temperature. It is noteworthy that according to the kinetic theory of gases the energy possessed by a molecule is also independent of the pressure and proportional to the absolute temperature.—Illusions which accompany the formation of penumbra, and applications of these to the X-rays, by M. G. Sagnac. No conclusions can be drawn from any peculiarities exhibited by shadows, without taking into account the extent and form of the source, the relative lustre of its different points, the form and position of the opaque body, and the photometric properties of the retina or photographic plate. The precaution should always be taken of replacing the Rontgen tube, in any 120 NATURE [ DECEMBER 3, 1896 given experiment, by a luminous source emitting ordinary light, and of a shape and lustre as nearly similar as possible to the Crookes’ tube.—Action of some hydrogen compounds upon thionyl chlorides, by M. A. Besson. With hydrogen iodide complete decomposition occurs, with formation of hydrogen chloride, iodine, sulphur dioxide, and sulphur. With hydrogen sulphide in a freezing mixture of ice and salt the main re- action is 2SOCI, + 2H.S=4HCl+SO0, + 3S, but a little S,Cl, is formed in a secondary reaction, especially if the temperature is allowed to rise. Hydrogen phosphide gives hydrogen chloride, and a mixture of P,S3, phosphorus, POCl, and PSCl;.—On the neutral crystallised chromite of magnesium, by Em. Dufau.—The salts of hexamethylene, by M. Marcel Delepine. Measurements of the heat of neutralisation by hydro- chloric, sulphuric, nitric, and oxalic acids, and the heat of solution of the hydrochloride, the three sulphates, and two nitrates. —The function of boric acid in glasses and enamels, by M. L. Grenet. An experimental study of the relation between the quantity of boric acid in a glass and its coefficient of expan- sion.—On the non-retractile blood clot; suppression of the formation of blood serum in some pathological states, by M. G. Ilayem,—Research on caramel in wines. Possible confusion with coal-tar colours, by M. A. J. da Cruz Magalhaés.—On the osmotic pressure in germinating grains, by M. L. Maquenne. The osmotic pressure was determined indirectly by taking the freezing points of the expressed juices. The values found in some cases approached ten atmospheres.—On the Elasipoda collected by the Zvavazl/lewr and Talisman, by M. Rémy Perrier. —On compound nucleoles, especially in the egg of the Annelida, by M. Auguste Michel.—On the development of the ‘‘ Black Rot” in the vine, by M. P. Viala.—On the development of a fungus in a liquid in motion, by M. Julien Ray.—Geological researches in the Central Caucasus, by M. Vénukoff. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3. LINNEAN Society, at 8.—Does Natural Selection play any part in the Origin of Species among Plants: Rev. Geo. Henslow. Cuemicat Society, at 8.—Election of Fellows.—Constitution and Colour: Arthur G. Green.—Some Experiments on Sea-water: E. Sonstadt.— Derivatives of a-Hydrindone: C. Revis and Dr. F. S. Kipping.—Notes on Nitration: Dr. H. E. Armstrong.—2 : 3’ Bromobetanaphthol: Dr. H. E. Armstrong and W. A. Davis.—Derivatives of Nitrobetanaphthols : W. A. Davis.—Morphotropic Relations of Betanaphthol Derivatives : W. A. Davis.—Researches on Tertiary Benzenoid Amines: Miss C. Evans. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4. GEOLOGISTS’ ASSOCIATION, at 8.—The Foraminifera of the Thanet Beds of Pegwell Bay : H. W. Burrows and Richard Holland. Institution: or Civit ENGINEERS, at 8.—Address by J. Wolfe Barry, C.B., F.R.S. (President).—Railway Signalling : David W. Kinmont. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6. Sunvay Lecture Society (St. George’s Hall), at 4.—New Zealand—the World’s Wonderland : W. Herbert-Jones. MONDAY, DECEMBER 7. Society or Arts, at 8.—The Use of Gas for Domestic Lighting : Prof. Vivian B. Lewes. Roya. GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, at 8.30.—A Journey to the Sources of the Niger: Colonel J. K. Trotter. Society oF CHEMICAL INDusTRy, at 8.—The Alkali Manufacture: An Historical Sketch: Alfred E. Fletcher.—Notes on the Spontaneous Oxidation of Aluminium in contact with Mercury : H. F. Hunt and L. J. Steele. Vicrorra INSTITUTE, at 4.30. TUESDAY, DECEMEER 8. ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, at 8.30. INSTITUTION OF Civit ENGINEERS, at 8.—Tipping and Screening Coal: James Rigg.—The Surface Plant at Kirkby Colliery : Thos. Gillott. Royat PuoroGrapHic Society, at 8.—Dr. Selle’s Process for Natural- Colour Photography: Dr. Neuhaus. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9. Society oF Arts, at 8.—Mining at Great Depths: Bennett H. Brough. Sanitary Instrrure, at 8.—Soils and their,Suitability for Sewage Farms, with the 7#Ze of Bacteria in Sewage Disposal : Dr. Samuel Rideal. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10. Roya Society, at 4.30.—On Prof. Hermann’s Theory of the Capillary Electrometer: G. J. Burch.—An Attempt to determine the Adiabatic Relations of Ethyl Oxide: E. P. Perman, Prof. Ramsay, F.R.S., and J. Rose-Innes.—Experiments in Examination of the Peripheral Distribu- tion of the Fibres of the Posterior Roots of some Spinal Nerves, Part LI. : Prof. Sherrington, F.R.S. MATHEMATICAL SocieETy, at 8.—A Discovery in the Theory of Compound Denumeration: Prof. Sylvester, F.R.S.—On the Stationary Motion of a System of Molecules having Finite Dimensions: S. H. Burbury, F.R.S. NO. 1414, VOL. 55] Concerning the Abstract Groups of Order K! and 3 K! Holoedrically Isomorphic with the Symmetric and the Alternating Substitution Groups on K Letters: Prof. E. H. Moore.—On the Influences of Viscosity on Waves and Currents: S. S. Hough.—On a Series of Co-trinodal Quarties : H. M. Taylor and W. H. Blythe. INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Annual General Meeting. Sour Lonpon EnTomoLocicaL anp Natura History Society, at 8.—Notes on the North American Agrotis subgothica : W. Mansbridge. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11. Puysicat SocierTy, at 5.—The Application of Physics and Mathematics to Seismology : Dr. C. Chree.—On Musical Tubes: R. J. Rudd. Royar ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, at 8. BOOKS AND SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, with Memoir of his Life and Work : J. Campbell Irons (Stanford):—The Aurora Borealis: A. Angot, translated (K. Paul).—Navigation, Practical and Theoretical : D. Wilson-Barker and W. Allingham (Griffin).—Practical Electricity : Prof. Ayrton, Vol. 1, new edition (Cassell).—The Exploration of the Caucasus : D. W. Freshfield, 2 Vols (Arnold).—Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Local Government Board. Supplement in continuation of the Report of the Medical Officer for 1894-5, on Oyster Culture in relation to Disease (Eyre and Spottiswoode).—The Russian Fur-Seal Islands: L. Stejneger (Washington).—Bicycles and Tricycles : A. Sharp (Longmans).—A History of Elementary Mathematics : Prof. F. Cajori (Macmillan).—Motive Power and Gearing for Electrical Machinery : E. T. Carter (Alectrician Company). —Crags and Craters: W. D. Oliver (Longmans).—F'ur and Feather Series. Red Deer : Macpherson; Cameron of Lochiel ; Viscount Ebrington and Shand (Longmans).—Pocket Atlas of the World: J. G. Bartholomew, roth edition (Walker).—Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, &c. : G. J. Brush, revised and enlarged by Prof. Penfield (Chapman).—Guttersnipes : Phil May (Leadenhall Press).—The Struggle of the Nations—Egypt, Syria, and Assyria ; G. Maspero, translated by M. L. McClure (S.P.C.K.). Ser1ats.—English Illustrated Magazine, Christmas (198 Strand).—Long- man’s Magazine, December (Longmans).—Chambers's Journal, December (Chambers).— Lloyd's Natural History. Mammals: R. Lydekker, Part 3; Monkeys: Dr. H. O. Forbes, Part 3 (Lloyd).—Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 1896-97, Vol. 41, Part 1 (Manchester).—Journal of the Anthropological Institute, November (K. Paul).—Good Words, December and Christmas (Isbister).—Sunday Magazine, December and Christmas (Isbister) —Natural Science, Decem- ber (Page).—History of Mankind: F. Ratzel, translated, Part 14 (Mac- millan).—National Review, December (Arnold).— Humanitarian, December (Hutchinson).—Contemporary Review, December (Isbister).—Physical Re- view, (November—December (Macmillan).—Century Magazine, December (Maemillan).—Scribner’s Magazine, December (Low). CONTENTS. PAGE ThesYakouti. (By Weiewklcpsges « . « vielen Chemical’ Dynamicsys ByaawVe «= .« oesiien enn Oriental Wit and Wisdom = 5 . . ... 2). aaeeeeGS Our Book Shelf :— **Biedermann’s Electro-physiology” .... .. 99 ‘*Cat and Bird Stories” . . 100 Maddison : ‘‘ Handbook of Courses open to Women in British, Continental, and Canadian Universities” 100 “* Ostwald’s Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften” . 100 Letters to the Editor :— Production of X-Rays.—Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, Responsibility in Science.—Prof. Edward B. Poulton, F-Riss 7 205. + as %) ae a 5) OO Measurements of Crabs.—J. T. Cunningham. . . 101 Suggested Reef Boring at the Bermudas—and else- 100 where. —W. Saville-Kent .......... IOI The Structure of Nerve Cells.—Alfred Sanders . . 101 Snow Buntings.—J. R. Dakyns_ 101 Books on Mountains. (///ustraded.) By Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. . F 5 OPS Mec so. ED Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease. ‘By Dr. T. E. Thhoxpe, Etc ie : 105 INGEST Ss, «ceo Rate G0 Gs, «7 a a. en Our Astronomical Column:— Bphemenis for, Comemeemine=. . ... sun v-aewin IIO The Astrophysical Journal. (Llustrated.) .. . . 110 Planetary (NOtCS = eeemcmenron cis Mictotn edd III A Companion to @-Scorpii III The Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society. UAT HALAL Wed 25 CO. Gee OREM OO BE cable So ie University and Educational Intelligence ..... 118 Societies and Acadenties 3 =. . «0. «con eee 220 Diary of Societies . . 5 QYOMOMOMEE WC Co O's ce EAS) Books and Serials Receive Sm GeUMOmG clo ooo re cog NATURE 121 THURSDAY, DECEMBER io, 1896. MODERN PSYCHOLOGY. Analytic Psychology. By G. F. Stout. Pp. 289, 314. Ltd., 1896.) An Outline of Psychology. Titchener. Pp. vii + 352. millan Company, 1896.) R. STOUT’S “Analytic Psychology” is a very important and valuable contribution to the study of mental processes. With the exception of Dr. Ward and Prof. James, no other English writer in modern times has treated the subject with as much originality and freshness as the present editor of Mud. The two volumes before us are, however, only introductory to further work from the same hand, to which we shall look forward with special interest. Problems.of genesis and development are not examined in the present work, which treats only of fundamental questions connected with analysis and definition. Yet the reader who peruses Mr. Stout’s powerful criticism of current doctrines will at once realise the importance and difficulty of these preliminary questions. Unfortunately the science of mind is still at an inorganic stage. Its authorities are still in conflict on the most elementary questions of classification, terminology, method and scope. We are bound to say that the author’s method of solving time- honoured puzzles, highly suggestive as it is, raises almost as many difficulties as it meets. This hardly detracts from the merit of the work, which we appreciate un- reservedly. Students of psychology need not be re- minded ofthe troublesome questions which are inevitably thrust into the foreground at the beginning of every text-book or treatise. The antithesis between knowing and feeling, the limits of consciousness, the conception of activity, the function of introspection—these are some of the well-known problems which our author handles in novel manner. Undoubtedly the most striking in- novation in terminology and method is the author’s in- troduction and use of the contrast between what he terms voefic and amoetic consciousness. Modifications or contents of consciousness are broadly contrasted, according as they do or do not refer to an odject; the former are called woef%c, the latter amoetic. This dis- tinction, of course, roughly corresponds to distinctions variously formulated by previous writers. What amounts to nearly the same as the anoetic consciousness has been vaguely and variously styled pure sentience or feeling, or has been obscurely relegated to the regions of sub- consciousness. But Mr. Stout throws light on many obscurities of exposition by his thoroughgoing applica- tion of this antithesis between anoetic and _noetic. Thus previous writers have identified the odject of thought and attention with the presentations entering into the current of conscious experience. Mr. Stout definitely opposes presentation and object. The object to whichnoetic consciousness refers cannot, from the nature of the case, be a present modification of individual consciousness. All thought and perception involve reference to some- thing which, as it is meant or intended, is other than NO. 1415, VOL. 55 | Two volumes. (London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co., By Edward Bradford (Mew York: The Mac- the thinker’s own conscious content. This view connects itself with every detail of analysis propounded by the author, and can hardly be appreciated without reference to his treatment of other topics, such as the conception of mental disposition, the relation of apperception to noetic synthesis, the interconnections of thought and conation, the development of desire and volition. A remarkable unity and harmony characterise the treatment of all these questions, in consequence of the very careful definitions and distinctions given at the outset. The chapter on “Relative Suggestion” is, perhaps, the most interesting and original in the book. It supplies a much- needed corrective of older associationist views, and an exposition of the link between mere cohesion of ideas and the processes of constructive thought and imagination. In another most important chapter, the conception of mental activity is very ably defended against Mr. Bradley’s attacks, and in opposition to some statements of Prof. James and others. Mr. Stout is a champion of the doctrine of apperception, as propounded by Herbart and his followers. But his own modifications of this doctrine are considerable and important. The chapter on “Noetic Synthesis” prepares the reader for the author’s special views on this point. Noetic synthesis involves a distinct content of consciousness, viz. “the apprehension of a whole which determines the order and connection of the apprehension of the parts.” But “when we consider a noetic synthesis not merely as involved in this or that conscious process, but as a mode of mental grouping which persists as a disposition when it has ceased to operate in actual consciousness, we have the idea of an apperceptive system.” Under appercep- tion we investigate the gradual growth and differentiation of new phases of noetic synthesis. Again, the view of the relations between apperception and attention is a special feature of Mr. Stout’s doctrine : “ Whereas atten- tion is an attitude of consciousness towards a presented object, apperception is a process of interaction between presentations ox datspositions.” Mis position on these points is worked out in most instructive detail, which it is impossible for the reviewer to indicate. Finally, Mr. Stout gives a prominent place to de/zef, as a fundamental attitude of consciousness towards its object, and pro- pounds an original doctrine of pleasure-pain, which is supported by subtle and suggestive reasoning. The general treatment is rendered especially instruc- tive by the large number of well-chosen illustrations of mental processes analysed at first hand. The psycho- logical standpoint is perfectly preserved throughout, and we do not find a substitution of physiological or physical hypotheses for genuine psychological analysis. In spite of the marked originality of style and exposition, at no point is the tone unnecessarily antagonistic ; and sugges- tions are accepted from writers of every school of thought, with only such modification as is necessary to adapt them to the author’s general scheme. Prof. Titchener’s “Outline of Psychology” is written with admirable clearness. The results of experimental psychology are expounded in a style both attractive and simple. The author’s own views are supported by careful reasoning, and at the same time the beginner is not overwhelmed with any superfluous con- G to i) NAT ORE [ DeceMBER 10, 1896 troversial matter. Rules for experimental and_intro- spective research and illustrations of their application are arranged and expounded in a thoroughly methodical manner. The author admits only two ultimate kinds of “conscious elements”—sensation and affection— definitely rejecting actzvzty as a third conscious element. Space is devoted to what may be called ‘“ Numeral Psychology,” ze. the estimate of the total number of different conscious elements. The method, of course, is to ascertain the just discriminable difference. Underlying this whole procedure there appears to be a logical fallacy, or at least a difficulty which modern text-books entirely ignore. Thus, suppose that a, 6, c, d,e,f.. . is a series of measurably different physical stimuli, and A, B, C, D, E, F ... the sensation-processes supposed to cor- respond with the stimuli. Suppose, further, that a—d or A—D represents the just discernible difference. Then, by hypothesis, sensation A zs just distinguishable from sensation D, while sensation B is vo¢ just distinguishable from sensation D. Hence sensations A and B have opposite predicates, and therefore they are different, although, by hypothesis, they are consciously un- distinguishable. Now in “counting” the number of sensation-elements, it is always assumed that difference means the same as distinguishableness. But that this leads to logical contradiction is obvious from the above, while it is in flat opposition to Weber's logarithmic formula, which implies that a continuous variation of stimuli corresponds to a continwous—-not discrete— variation of sensation. The author's mode of dis- tinguishing (1) sensation, whether peripherally or centrally aroused, (2) perception or idea, and (3) the association of ideas, seems decidedly original and worthy of careful consideration. No doubt he is right in making the distinction between (1) and (2) depend on the absence or presence of objective significance ; but it seems un- satisfactory to offer only a “biological reason” (p. 183) for the unity possessed by the perceptual or ideal complex of sensations. Again, in treating of conception, judg- ment and reasoning, no higher mode of intellection seems to be recognised than association. We feel our- selves carried back to the dark ages of psychology when we read (p. 301)— “We speak of a comparison of two impressions when the ideas which they arouse in consciousness call up the verbal associate ‘alike’ or ‘different’ ... We have in this process of comparison or discrimination, then, a case of verbal association.” We are curious to know whether the words “alike” or “ different * have any significance ; and, if so, whether this significance is an object of conscious apprehension or not. Other passages point to similar defects, owing to the author’s confidence in sensation and association as the sufficient materials for all intellectual processes. It is true that the author avoids many of the fallacies of the old mechanical view of association, and many parts of his exposition are unexceptionable in the light of modern criticism, But the characteristics of the book that are to be most highly commended are clearness, simplicity, wealth of illustration, and, in general, adapt- ation to the needs of the beginner who requires to be placed ex rapport with the latest results of experimental psychology. W. E. JOHNSON. NU. 1415, VOL. 55] A MANUAL OF DAIRY WORK. The Book of the Dairy. Translated from the German of W. Fleischmann by C. M. Aikman and R. P. Wright. Pp. xxiv + 344. (London: Blackie and Son, 1896.) O branch of practical agriculture has made greater progress during the last quarter of a century than that which may be broadly described as dairy farming. The evidences of this advance are to be sought, however, not so much in the operations antecedent to the pro- duction of milk as in the processes employed in its after treatment. In making this assertion, we do not overlook the improvements which dairy farmers have effected in the housing, feeding, and general management of milch kine. But these have resulted mainly from the intelligent modification of time-worn practices. whereas in the manipulation of milk, either for sale as such, or for manufacture into butter or cheese, there has been ample scope for modern ingenuity in the introduction of novel methods. The cow remains to-day what she has been for ages—a physiological implement for the production of milk, and we may recall the words of Charles Dickens, “Tf civilised people were ever to lapse into the worship of animals, the Cow would certainly be their chief god- dess.” Cows, especially of certain breeds, have, by judicious selection exercised by the breeder, been greatly improved in their milk-yielding capacity, in respect both of quantity and of quality. But there is no essential distinction between the cows of to-day and those which furnished milk to our Saxon ancestors—the difference is only one of degree. On the other hand, the change in the methods and appliances of the dairying industry, even if the comparison be made with so recent a period as only thirty years ago, is so profound that it may well be termed revolutionary. The displacement of the old system of cream-raising by the rapid work of the centri- fugal separator, the rational use of micro-organisms in the ripening of cheese, the sterilisation of milk in the destruction of tuberculous and other germs, the direct and almost instantaneous manufacture of butter from fresh milk, are only a few illustrations of what has been. accomplished in very recent years. With such changes constantly in progress an extensive literature has sprung up around the industry of dairying, and many notable. works upon the subject have been published in the English, French, German, and Danish languages. Of the dairying experts of Germany, no one occupies a higher position than Dr. Fleischmann, of Koénigsberg, and no doubt many readers will welcome an English. translation of his well-known manual of the science and practice of dairy work, which Messrs. Blackie have issued in a style deserving of commendation. The first chapter deals with the secretion, properties, and com- position of milk, and discusses the defects which give rise to bitter, coloured, ropy, lazy, or sandy milk. The extraction, immediate sale, and testing of milk form the subject of the next chapter, which is partly commercial in its scope. For the third chapter the translators have chosen the not very intelligible title of “Milk in its relation to micro-organisms, dairying, and bacteriology.” Butter-making and cheese-making are the respective subjects of the two succeeding chapters, which are DeEcEMBER 10, 1896] NATURE followed by one on the ‘“‘ Preparation of keeping milk, fermented milk, and the bye-products of milk.” The economic aspects of dairying are next dealt with, and a concluding chapter is devoted to margarine and mar- garine cheese. The definition of milk, with which the book opens, seems to lack those qualities of precision which should characterise a definition. What kind. of notion would the following words convey to a reader who knew nothing about milk ?— “ By milk, in the widest sense of the term, is under- stood the secretion of the special glands of the female mammal. It is a white, opaque liquid, of the character of an emulsion, with a faint odour and a slight flavour ; and it is produced during a longer or shorter period after parturition. It consists chiefly of water, fat, casein, albumin, milk-sugar, and mineral salts, and is specially adapted for the sustenance of the young.” That milk “consists chiefly of water” we know; but had the translators been on the alert, they would have suppressed the word “chiefly” in the foregoing passage. The difficulties of translation, indeed, are exemplified in various unhappy phrases, as, for instance, when keeping milk is defined as milk which “ possesses the property of being able to keep.” A point about which there has been much controversy —the existence or not of an enveloping membrane upon each of the fat globules in milk—is dealt with emphatically enough :-— “The fat globules are not surrounded with a mem- branous envelope. Owing to the action of molecular force, the little globules are surrounded by a thin watery covering of serum, and act very much as if they were actually surrounded by a membrane.” Dairy farmers, and many who are not dairy farmers, will be puzzled by a statement, which apparently has been casually dropped in on p. 21, concerning the im- petus which a globule receives through its weight and centrifugal force ; there is at least novelty in the idea of the “centrifugal force” of a fat globule of milk. On p. 46 is another statement which will certainly startle all experienced feeders of dairy cattle; it is to the effect that “milk cows must not be fed with beans, peas, lupines, pea-straw.” Of feeding with lupines we do not know much in this country ; but as to the other materials, a footnote shows that even the translators felt uneasy, and it is regretable that they did not suppress the passage. The author recommends, in the winter feeding of butter cows, the moderate use of beet, in conjunction with other foods. This, of course, is perfectly intelligible to a German farmer ; but the translators should have added that for all practical purposes the English mangel is competent to take the same place in the food as the German beet. The feeding of cows, indeed, is a subject which might well have been treated more fully. This section contains a statement which we cannot forbear quoting. for it relates to a matter of as much practical interest to the dairy farmer as of scientific interest to the physiologist. On p. 42, the author says :— “There can be no doubt that, in the case of cows yield- ing a large amount of milk, the fat derived from the food is utilised for the formation of milk-fat.” The nature of the few criticisms we have made should render it obvious that a free translation and adaptation NO. 1415, VOL. 55] | of Fleischmann’s work would have been more valuable than the very literal translation that has been provided. Many of the woodcuts—of which there are eighty-five, besides half-a-dozen full-page plates—are different from those in the German original, and it is matter for regret that the same latitude was not allowed in connection with the text. It cannot be doubted that the translators possess the knowledge and skill essential to the pro- duction of a serviceable adaptation, and their description of—for example—the-manufacture of Cheddar cheese in this country would probably have differed considerably from that of which they have laboured hard to furnish a word-for-word rendering. Viewing the book as a whole, it is not one to put into the hands of a beginner. A discriminating reader, however, who already possessed some knowledge of the subject, would peruse its pages with profit. OUR BOOK SHELF. Elementary Geology. By G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S. Pp. viii+ 180. (London and Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, and Co., Ltd., 1896.) Dr. W. S. Davis’ “ First Book of Geology” has been re- written and revised throughout, and transformed by Prof. Boulger into the text-book now under notice. The chief criticism we have to offer upon this metamorphosed volume—and ‘the criticism applies to most elementary text-books—is that details are dealt with much too early. Four pages in the present volume are devoted to general remarks on the objects and methods of geology, geolo- gical evidence, and divisions of the subject ; and about five pages to descriptions of the form and size of the earth, terrestrial movements, the nebular theory, the probable condition of the interior of the earth, and the cause of the Glacial period. The nature of the descriptions may be gathered from the statement of the limited space occu- pied by them. Of this brief treatment of large subjects we do not, however, enter a complaint, for the book is intended principally for pupils connected with the De- partment of Science and Art, and, regretfully though we say it, these pupils like concentrated essence of facts, which can be assimilated with the smallest possible mental exer- cise. Such readers may develop a mild kind of interest in the first nine pages of the book ; but then comes the pons asinorum of text-book geology—the account of rock- forming minerals and their distinctive characters. Why should such a paragraph as the following be put before a beginner in geology ? “Sulphur unites with many metals to form su/phides, including the abundant iron-pyrites (FeS,), and many im- portant metallic ores, such as chalcopyrite, galena, and blende, ores of copper, lead, and zinc respectively. Chlorine with sodium forms the abundant ch/oride, common salt (NaCl). Iron forms two oxides, the ferric oxide (Fe,O,), which occurs as hematite and hydrated as limonite, both important ores, and the ferrous oxide (FeO), while both occur in the black oxide, magnetite (FeO, Fe,O,, or FegO,). The oxide of aluminium (Al,O;) is called alumina, that of calcium (CaO), dime, that of sodium (Na,O), soda; that of potassium (KO), potash ; and that of magnesium (MgO), magnesia; and these oxides and those of iron are, when in combination, known as dases. In combination with acids they form sa/¢s ; with silicic acid (H,SiO,), silicates ; with carbonic acid (H,CO,), carbonates ; with sulphuric acid (H,SO,), sul- phates. The majority of rock-forming minerals are silicates.” It seems to us to be a great mistake to assume that young students of geology possess sufficient know- 124 NATURE [| DECEMBER 10, 1896 ledge of chemistry to comprehend such a list of names and formule as is contained in the foregoing quotation. A book constructed on educational lines should not so readily run into details, and should never do so without sufficient explanatory text. Taking the book generally, it is better than many others of its class, but little more can be said for it. Every geologist will, however, endorse the prefatory remark that ‘no text-book, however large, can impart an adequate knowledge of geology unless supplemented and controlled by actual contact with the facts of nature.” Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Canada. Newseries. Vol. vii. 1894. (Ottawa: S. E. Dawson, 1896.) Tus large volume of over 1200 pages contains, in addition to the Summary Reports of the operations of the Survey for 1894, seven detailed reports on certain portions of the Dominion, and is accompanied by eleven geological maps. The Summary Report shows that geological work is being carried on by the large staff-of the Survey in every part of the Dominion. Especial mention is made of the trial borings now being put down at Athabasca Landing in the North-west Territories, where there is good reason to believe large supplies of oil will be obtained from the Devonian rocks at a depth of about 1500 feet. An account is also given of the recent advances in the development of the mining industry of British Columbia, where of late years such extensive mineral deposits have been discovered, as well as of the explorations in the Labrador peninsula carried out by Mr. Low, who has discovered in this inhospitable region deposits of iron ore which are believed to surpass in size any that have hitherto been discovered in North America. Of the special reports, two deal with British Columbia : one, by Dr. G. M. Dawson, containing a description of a portion of the interior plateau of that provincein the Kam- loops district ; and the other, by Mr. R. G. McConnell, giving an account of the explorations of the Finlay and Omineca Rivers. These are followed by a report on the country about Red Lake, in Keewatin, by Mr. Dowling. The fourth report is by Dr. R. H. Ells and Dr. F. D, Adams, on a portion of the province of Quebec, com- prising the island of Montreal and a part of the eastern townships to the south and east. Mr. Chalmers then describes the superficial geology of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island ; while, in the concluding reports, Dr. Hoffmann and Mr. Ingall treat of the chemical work of the Survey and the mineral statistics of the Dominion respectively. Dr. Dawson’s report contains an excellent description of the interior plateau of British Columbia from a geological and geographical standpoint. The very extensive de- velopment of the Cambrian in this part of the Dominion is noted, as well as the continued volcanic activity from Cambrian to recent times, the volcanic materials, at a very modest computation, having a thickness of 20,000 feet. Poems of George John Romanes. Pp. xvi+108. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) THIS small volume consists of a selection from the poems of the late Mr. George John Romanes. It contains two long poems entitled “A Memorial Poem to Charles Darwin,” and “A Tale of the Sea.” Both are fine and of a striking quality. Sonnets form the rest of the book, and in many of these the naturalist, as well as the poet, is revealed to us by the accurate descriptions of nature, and the many references to objects and phenomena con- nected with science. We may add that Mr. T. Herbert Warren, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, has written the introduction, in which he gives a short biographical sketch of the author. NO. 1415, VOL. 55] 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 ts taken of anonymous communications. | The Pound as a Force, and the Expression of Concrete Quantities generally. Wuar is Prof. John Perry tilting at in his educational tirade on page 50 of your issue for November 19? To judge from a friendly post-card asking me to reply, he seems to imagine that he is attacking physicists ; but apart from this private informa- tion I should have imagined that he had in his mind a nearly extinct type of Cambridge text-book, and some—I do not know how many—belated schoolmasters. Let me assure him, speaking no doubt for others but of most knowledge for myself, that if any student of mine could only express force in poundals and energy in foot-poundals I should be as disgusted as he himself. One of the first things a student of physics has to learn is that no numerical exercise is fully worked out until it is expressed in units to which he and others are accustomed, and of which they can ‘‘ feel” the magnitude. As an intermediate step such an expression as 10’ F.P.S. or C.G.S. units is legitimate enough, but the final answer should be expressed in hours, or days, or other appropriate unit, if time is the subject ; in miles, or millimetres, or inches, if it be a length; in hundredweights, or tons, or grammes, or pounds weight, if it be a force; and in ergs, or foot-pounds, or kilogramme-metres, or Joules, or even in kilo- watt-hours, if energy be the quantity under consideration, An educated student speaking to a workman should use the colloquial unit of the shire in which the works are situated ; in addressing a foreign correspondent (if orders ever reach this country now from Germany, for instance), he should employ a less insular and more international system ; he should, in fact, have no difficulty in making a specification in any conventional system of units to which he has the key. Prof. Perry asks us to limit ourselves to the C.G.S. system on the one hand, and to the British gravitational system on the other; with those he thinks we can jog along, but with any others we are liable to make mistakes. Does he call that education? If this is the type of ‘‘ finished engineering student ” he issaccustomed to, no wonder they ‘* cannot get into works without paying high premiums.” (Parenthetically I wonder what premium the Hopkinsons paid in order to be taken into works.) Surely he would not say to a youth training asa banker, “* despise all ¢ha/ers and marks as trumpery, let us have nothing but good English pounds, and then we shall know where we are, and make no mistakes.” Ab, but, he will say, these units are appropriate to different countries, and you must be able to adapt yourself to the coinage in travelling. Even so! Yet he would seek to limit the physicist, whose range of travel is as wide as the universe. Has he forgotten the variety of subjects with which physical science is concerned? Sometimes there is astronomical energy to be expressed, sometimes thermal, sometimes chemical energy, and sometimes electrical. Would he be content that his educated engineer should be able to express these in nothing but a unit appropriate to the pumping of water out of a mine? When an engineer sees the expression 4 72" (which, by the way, he seldom does see ; it is generally wv*/2¢in his books, as if gravity were concerned in every transaction of the universe), he is not to think of it straight as momentum multiplied by velocity, or even as inertia multiplied by the square of a velocity, or as energy in any of its protean forms; he is to think of it as a number of foot-pounds. He cannot receive the data in any units whatever and bring out the answer in any other units whatever, one set for the French motor car driver, and another set for the owner, and another for the electrician ; no, but he is to say, I must first have the mass given me in pounds, or I may make a mistake; then I must divide the number of pounds by a mystic number, viz. 32°18, in order to bring them to the particular kind of practical unit of inertia which my revered instructor so highly prized ; and then I must be told the number of feet per second contained in the velocity (I should be confused by a specification in tele- graph posts per minute or kilometres an hour); after that I can do the arithmetic quite nicely, and I remember that the answer always comes out in foot-pounds, which gives no trouble to any one; thus shall my employer not suspect me of being college- DECEMBER 10, 1896] NATURE 125 taught, and I shall gain advancement in the profession to which I have reason to believe that I was ‘‘ heaven-born.” Prof. Perry seems in a parlous state, between ‘‘ friends’? who ** worship a German soul-destroying fetish,” and foes, ‘‘ academic enemies,” who object to the use of the term centrifugal force ! Now, I wonder who they are, and why they object to this term. There was once a type of text-book wherein kinetic problems were treated statically, and the centrifugal force exerted by the revolving body was depicted in the diagram and reasoned about as if exerted zon the body ; does Prof. Perry count among his enemies those who fought against this misleading practice? Again, there appear to be other foes who will not let him use the pound-weight as a unit of force in peace ; but is he not a victim of some delusion? A pound-weight or an ounce-weight or a ton-weight are extremely handy force units for actual application, or for calculations dealing with heavy bodies at rest ; and an engineer is largely concerned with the statfts of heavy bodies, as Prof. Perry truly says, why then should he not use the appropriate unit? Again, when he is pumping water or lifting weights he finds the foot-pound or the kilogram-metre a handy conventional abbreviation for an energy unit: it must | be some churl who objects, not a physicist. Was the foot-pound repugnant to Joule? All that a physicist is anxious about in connection with units is that they shall be used accurately and intelligibly, he knows that they are mere agreed-upon convyen- tions, of which some are more generally convenient than others, and he tries to define them conveniently for the practical man’s use, and to retain visibly all essential factors ; but he is careful not to identify the number of units, or any other mere measure of the thing, with the thing itself. This last is a point on which some, I fear, are still not clear. Nobody makes this mistake with regard to matter. It can be filed and twisted and heated, &c., it never runs the risk of being thought of as a number of units. Energy is less tangible, and runs more risk of being so maltreated; while as to force, a few philosophers can now be found who teach that force is a mere measure of the time-rate of change of momentum. I wonder if they would say that to a man on the rack ! As to units, I have no objection on principle to hogsheads or kilderkins, but I should seriously object to a student who held that while a pound was a force, a kilogramme was a mass, and | at the same time was willing to believe that a kilogramme equalled 2°2 pounds. To identify weight and mass is barbarous, to denote their units by the same name is unwise, to lose sight of the dimensions of g, and treat it as merely equivalent to 32°18, is illiterate. The whole matter can be put in a nutshell by saying, w and g are both vectors, parallel vectors, and 7 is their (scalar) ratio, There are, in fact, three distinct things, all capable of being denoted by such a word as ‘‘ ton” in common parlance. There is the mass or quantity of material, which concerns us in dealing with markets ; there is the inertia or reaction to force, which is important when we are dealing with acceleration ; and there is the etherial stress, due to the neighbourhood of the earth, which but to an outsider it has seemed recently as if some few facts were unwelcome to the school of chemists represented by him- self. For instance, they seemed annoyed at one time with the. inertness and the specific-heat-ratio of argon; now he ex- presses himself as if vexed with the slowness of ionic velocities, and ‘‘ declines to accept it.” If the ions travelled quicker, a liquid would conduct better than it does, and perhaps that is what Prof. Armstrong desires ; but it is difficult to see any ground for his objection to the present state of things. Ina rare medium, like a gas, the ions migrate quickly ; in a dense medium, like a liquid, they migrate slowly ; and their numerical speeds, as measured, exactly for liquids, approximately for air, are not inappropriate to the relative crowdedness. What more can bedesired? The facts do not even demand much difference between the gaseous and liquid states ; though even if they did they would still have to be accepted, just as the facts of viscosity and its contrary affection by temperature in the two states have been accepted. I know very well, and have long known, that Prof. Armstrong objects to the idea of perfectly free ions ; but surely he is aware that many physicists object to it too, with whatever glimmering of chemical instinct they possess, and they have endeavoured to show that the facts can be expressed without such an hypothesis. Physicists have also objected to the idea of a dissolved salt existing as a free gas in a solvent, notwithstanding the remark- able analogies with gaseous laws, discovered in an admirable manner by physical chemists, that such a substance presents ; DECEMBER 17, 1896] NATURE 151 and now Prof. Poynting (P27. A/ag., October) shows in detail how the analogies may be accounted for without postulating any dynamical similarity. There remains the so-called dissociation needed to explain electrolysis. It has been long known, however, that a kind of instability, or ease of interchange, is all that is necessary, not actual permanent dissociation into donstituent atoms. What is ‘certain is (1) that the atoms of an electrolyte migrate in opposite directions, and (2) that they require no appreciable electric force to tear them asunder. These are facts, and the instability of composition thus evidenced is such as almost to compel the pro- visional use of the term. ‘‘ virtual dissociation” ; although that condition may very likely be brought about by the loose affinities of outlying members of complex molecular aggregates—a con- dilute sulphuric acid ? Why does solid Ag,S conduct electrolytically ? ciated into ions” ? There are many other questions, but I should really like to know the answers to these first. I believe many of the points I have here raised have been brought forward by others before, so- I lay claim to no originality in their suggestion, but hope that their consideration may give pause to those who are at present only partly ‘‘ dissociated,” until, at least, some reasonably satis- factory explanations are forthcoming. E. F. HERROUN. Queen’s College, Harley-street, W., December 2 “ Ts it ‘* disso- Responsibility in Science. My first letter (NATURE, October 15, p. 572) on this subject maintained that Prof. Poulton had no right to hold physicists as a body responsible for views presented by two or three of their number, however eminent. Prof. Poulton (NATURE, DECEMBER 17, 1896] NATURE 153 December 3, p. 100) seeks to justify his action on the ground that ‘‘ in a matter of such great importance . . . it is probably fair to conclude that, with the great majority of physicists, ‘silence gave consent.’” This doctrine of silence is surely untenable. If an authority on acoustics pronounces views even on the fundamentals of sound, is an electrician to be held consenting when he forms no opinion or reserves it to himself ? In the present case it should be added that whilst questions in geo-physics or astro-physics are often most interest- ing to the public, they hardly as yet touch the fundamentals of physics, but constitute merely theoretical applications. If we put at 5 per cent. the proportion of physicists who have studied tor themselves any given problem in geo-physics, and who have the necessary qualifications to justify the expression of an opinion, we should probably indulge in an over-estimate. It is in fact only a very small minority of whom anything but silence could possibly have been expected. In the next place, even if the doctrine of silence were accepted, the occasion for applying it does not exist. A considerable number of persons—some in my opinion imperfectly equipped for the task—have criticised the theories of Lord Kelvin and Prof. Tait. _ In his letter Prof. Poulton represents all such critics as geologists or zoologists, but in his B.A. address (NATURE, September 24, p. 502) he admitted the existence of mathemat- ical critics. Most of these critics had, I think, in reality as much claim to the title physicist as to that of mathematician. I my- self five years ago, in two papers whose physical character was indicated by the title ‘‘ Some Applications of Physics and Mathe- matics to Geology,” while pointing cut that in my opinion the critics were mistaken in supposing they had demonstrated the essential erroneousness of Lord Kelvin’s work, advocated strongly the maintenance of an agnostic attitude towards the question of the solidity of the earth’s interior. These papers appeared in the Phzlosophical Magazine, were reprinted in the ‘* Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution,” and have been referred to since in several standard works. So far as I know, no attempt to controvert their arguments has been published, so that on the doctrine of silence they would seem to represent the views of the ‘‘ majority of physicists.” It is obvious to any mathematical physicist, and I should have hoped to others, that so long as the solidity of the earth’s interior is an open question, no theoretical application of the mathematical equations for solids—whether to temperature or any other internal property —can be regarded as final. My reason for advising Prof. Poulton to allow for possible errors in speculations other than Lord Kelvin’s, and for com- menting on the absence of any reference on his part to Lord Kelvin’s recent experiments on rock conductivity, was as follows :— The key-stone in Prof. Perry’s valuable contribution to the subject, on which Prof. Poulton so largely relies, is the demonstration that, even on the assumption of a solid earth, the hypothesis of thermal homogeneousness does not necessarily supply an absolute maximum to the habitable age of the earth, inasmuch as higher estimates can be obtained on the simple hypothesis that the internal strata conduct better than the surface strata. This disposes of the secessary character of Lord Kelvin’s conclusions on this subject—even if solidity be granted —but still may leave his estimate a not improbable one, so far as physical grounds are concerned, unless a presumption can be raised that the conditions of Prof. Perry’s problem exist in nature. A study of Prof. Poulton’s address led me to think that in his anxiety to increase the @ frzo77 probability of the conditions postulated in Prof. Perry’s solution, he was attaching undue weight to theoretical speculations which seemed to tell in its favour, while omitting all mention of recent direct experiments by Lord Kelvin which told against it. In my letter I quoted Prof. Poulton's own words, so far as space allowed, and certainly did not represent him as holding the theoretical evidence to be ‘*conclusive.” The second half of my first letter was intended to show Prof. Poulton, by reference to his own address, another aspect of the case, viz. the serious inroads which would be made on a physicist’s time if he criticised everything he thought erroneous. It seems that Prof. Poulton agrees mainly with my criticisms, only he maintains that the views criticised are products solely of my imagination. Flattering as it would be to my amour propre to believe my imagination so gifted, I must acknowledge the sus- picion that most physicists who read Prof. Poulton’s address, as published in Nature, will find a simpler explanation. Take NO. 1416, VOL. 55] for instance Prof. Poulton’s remark, ‘‘the earth, even when solid, will alter its form when exposed for a long time to the action of great forces,” and my criticism, “* here and in the rest of the passage is a strong flavour of the erroneous view that a solid is rzg7d@ in the mathematical sense, except when viscous under great and prolonged stress.” Elasticians, I suspect, will fail to recognise this as the criticism solely of an exuberant imagination. One word more: Prof, Poulton speaks as if the opinion of “the majority of physicists’’ were binding on their fellows. Now in the first place the voice of the majority is not yet recognised as dominant in science, and in the second place no provision exists for collecting suffrages. In the society of zoologists and geologists the individual physicist may possibly become a very fountain of universal knowledge, but amongst his peers he is chary about expressing too definite an opinion on questions he has not specially studied. CHARLES CHREE. December 7. The Satellite of Procyon. Tue announcement in the Astronomical Column of NATURE for November 19 (p. 62), of the discovery of a close companion. to Procyon by Prof. Schaeberle, with the 36-inch telescope of the Lick Observatory, will be extremely interesting to those who: know anything of the history of the investigations which have been madeas to the cause of the irregularity in the proper motion of Procyon observed by Bessel in 1844, and Madler in 1851. Following up their observations, Dr. Auwers in 1861 computed an orbit on the assumption of a circular motion In a plane per- pendicular to the line of sight, round a point about 1-2 distant, having a period of about 40 years, the position angle being about 90° for 1873, and this, with an assumed motion of about 9° per annum, would make the present angle about 300° for the hypothetical companion. ieee Otto Struve measured a supposed new companion In 1873, March 28, with the 15-inch refractor at Pulkowa, and found, as a mean of several measures, the P. angle 90°"24, and distance 12”°49; and also in 1874, April 10, when he measured the P. angle 99°°6, and distance 11-67; but, singular to relate, though looked for with the 26-inch telescope at Washington on. several occasions from November 1873 until January 1876, and also by the three Clarks (father and two sons) with the McCormick 26-inch telescope, Otto Struve’s: companion was missed by both instruments. ; The Washington observers, however, gave estimated places for three new companions within 10” distance ; but when Mr. S. W. Burnham, at the Lick Observatory, examined Procyon on the early morning of November 18, 1888, with a view to confirm all these observations or otherwise, he gave the follow- ing record :—“* Procyon.—Carefully examined with all powers up- to 3300 on the 36-inch under favourable conditions. Large star single, and no near companion.” : : Should the existence of the new companion, now said to be discovered by Prof. Schaeberle, be confirmed by other large instruments elsewhere, the orbit will likely prove to be an excentric one, and that the companion has just emerged fom the dazzling rays of the bright primary sufficient to allow it tobe measured with the 36-inch ; but after the previous Cee a the supposed discovery of other companions, astronomers wi be the more inclined to await further observations, especially as the new Yerkes 413-inch object-glass is now ready for mownae at the newly-erected Observatory, and will be in the hae ° such keen-eyed and experienced double-star observers as Messrs. Burnham and Barnard. In Nature for March 28, 1889 (p. 510); Mr. J. M. Barr, et St. Catharine’s, Ontario, suggested that photography might, oe employed to obtain the image of a satellite on the sensi aye plate by intercepting the image of the brilliant primary a suitable screen, and in Nature for April 11 following (p- 55 i in addition to other particulars, I referred to the nse difficulties connected with getting the impress of a pe eta faint companion, at the extremely close distance of eyonS three seconds of are. Isaac W. WARD. Belfast, November 30. The Leonid Meteor Shower. Ir the recent observations proved that comparatively few i yer ar x as meteors of this system were visible, they were interesting a i 1 “WITTE e ming 0 showing the maximum to have occurred on the morning of 154 NATURE DECEMBER 17, 1896 the 15th, instead of on the morning of the 14th as expected: In 1879 I found the greatest density of the shower occurred some hours before its probable time, while in 1888 the best display came six hours later than I had been led to expect. Minor returns are, however, more difficult to determine as regards the exact period of maximum, and are likely to teach us little in this respect. The state of the sky, the altitude of the radiant, and the presence or absence of the moon have each an important effect on the visible aspect of a meteor shower, and render fair comparisons from year to year scarcely possible, the circumstances being rarely the same in two cases. The Leonids in 1896 were certainly more numerous, judging from the majority of the reports, than in an ordinary year, and no doubt a further increase in their strength will be apparent in 1897, but the moon will then rather seriously interfere with observ- ation. Judging from the times of maxima observed in 1799, November 12 a.m., 1833 November 13 a.m., and 1866 Novem- ber 14 a.m., the maximum will occur before midnight in 1899 ; but we have a good prospect of observing the return of 1900 at about 3 a.m. November 15. As regards the next return in 1933, it will probably be well seen from the eastern parts of Europe, while that of 1934 seems likely to be witnessed from England on the morning of November 16. Too much confidence should not, however, be placed in these indications, as the shower has ex- hibited some irregularities in the past. Thus in 1867 it returned about two hours later than its computed time, while in 1868 it most unexpectedly proved quite a brilliant display about fifteen hours. after its time. W. F. DENNING. Bristol, December 10. Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease. In Dr. T. E. Thorpe’s paper in the issue of NATuRE for December 3, there are several erroneous statements which are not calculated to do good. He says that the ‘‘ Belgian and Dutch oysters. chiefly come to. Grimsby and Brightlingsea.” This is quite wrong, as the greatest quantity of Dutch oysters come to London, some go to Manchester, .Liverpool, and other large towns: Belgian oysters are nearly unknown in England. > Again, Dr. Thorpe says that the greatest number of oysters are eaten in September. This again is wrong. The greatest quantity of oysters are sold in the months of November, December, and January. Again, Dr. Thorpe says ‘‘ the value steadily increases up to December, and gradually diminishes month by month until it reaches the minimum in June and July.” This is not correct, as the better class of oysters do not come to market so late, and the price of good oysters is always maintained. Dr. Thorpe says, further, ‘‘the layings in the bed of the Colne, which presumably furnish the supply for the time- honoured ‘ Colchester Feast,’ are subjected to the comparatively concentrated effluent of Colchester sewage at low water, and to the additional pollution to which the river is subjected at Wyvenhoe and Rowhedge.” The oysters sent by the Colne Fishery Board to London and the continent, also those eaten at the ‘‘ feast,”’ are not fattened in the bed of the Colne, but in a_ creek lower down the river called the *‘ Pyfleet.” On page 28 of Dr. Cartwright Wood’s report, reprinted from Zhe Britésh Medical Journal, he calls the Pyfleet oyster the standard oyster for purity. Dr. Cartwright Wood, on page 25, also says ‘‘ these experiments accordingly, as far as they go, tend strongly to confirm the view that in a state of nature the oyster might very rapidly get rid of the effects of contamination.” The Park, Flutton, Essex, December 7. G. H. BAXTER. BEFORE your correspondent peremptorily asserts that certain statements are ‘‘ quite wrong,” it might be worth his while to ascertain that he was quite right in so doing. To begin with, he has evidently not read the Report to the Local Government Board ‘*On Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease,’ or he would have discovered that the statements to which he takes exception are made not on my authority, but on that of the Inspector of the Local Oyster Industries. On p. 24 of Dr. Bulstrode’s report, under the heading ‘‘ Oysters imported direct from abroad and consumed without being relaid in our waters,” it is stated that ‘‘large quantities are also imported NO. 1416, VOL. 55] from Holland, Belgium, and other countries. . . . lam informed by Mr. Mussun, of Liverpool, with whom I conferred at Cleethorpes, that the chief ports for the introduction of American oysters into this country are Liverpool and Southampton, and for North Sea oysters Grimsby and Brightlingsea.” It is not to be supposed that all the oysters imported into Grimsby are eaten there: no doubt they find their way ‘‘ to Manchester, Liverpool, and other large towns.” I stated, on the authority of Dr. Bulstrode, that in 1894 27,747,000 oysters, of the value of 84,271/., were landed on the English and Welsh coasts by English dredges. Dr. Bulstrode also gives the following table (p. 4), showing how this number was distributed over the several coasts, together with the corresponding value of the oysters. Month. Oysters. Value. January 2,289,000 48437 February 2,217,000 7846 March 2,231,000 6838 April 1,768,000 6050 May 2,096,000 5497 June 1,768,000 3948 July 1,694,000 3967 August 2,670,000 6909 September 3,124,000 8054 October 2,947,000 8585 November 2,426,000 7493 December 2,517,000 10,647 27,747,000 £84,271 This table shows that the greatest number of oysters are landed, and’ therefore presumably eaten in September, and that their value increases up to December, and then gradually diminishes month after month until it reaches a minimum in June or July. My remarks on the Colne oyster layings were based on the statements of Dr. Thorne Thorne (p. xii) and Dr. Bulstrode (p. 40). The latter gentleman, after mentioning the fattening grounds in the Pyfleet, which, of course, are distinct from the layings in the Colne, says : ‘* Provided, therefore, that all oysters, prior to consumption, are laid down for a sufficient period on the fattening grounds of the Pyfleet, there is probably no reason to suspect the wholesomeness of Colne Fishery oysters, but it seems to me very undesirable that oysters should be despatched from market direct from the bed of the River Colne.”* Ihave no desire to asperse unduly the character of the Colne oyster, of which, if I were an Essex man, and interested in its culture, I should be as jealous as Mr. Baxter apparently is. I can only hope, therefore, with Dr. Cartwright Wood, that when the Colne oyster finds itself at the sea-side, and ‘‘in a state of nature,” it not only ‘‘ might” but will “get rid of the effects of contamination,” and rapidly show itself ‘* the standard oyster for purity.’’ Still, on the whole, it is to be preferred that the oyster, like the woman, should be without ‘‘a past.” T. E. THORPE. Radiography. Your columns are eagerly searched every week for inform- ation regarding the latest developments of radiography, and for the best methods of working. I think it may be said that we are still in a state of empiricism as to the technique of the sub- ject. We can get fair representations of most of the bones in the human body, though we have much to learn even in this elementary detail. But the definition of the soft parts with sufficient accuracy for diagnostic purposes is still, so far as I am aware, beyond us. Judging, however, from occasional results, I fancy this desir- able point will be reached ere long ; for on examining a recent radiograph of a rabbit, I find the masseter muscles well defined, together with accurate outlines of the internal organs. In the case of a partridge, radiographed to discover the cause of “* towering,” the tendons of the thigh muscles are sharply defined, andina hedgehog many minute details are perfectly clear. In each of these I gave an exposure of seventy-five minutes, at a distance of 14 inches with a low tension (under 3 inches). I am now using a Rhumkorff coil capable of giving a 10-inch spark, a Watson ““penetrator”’ tube, and Cadett “ professional” plates. Ishould en ‘on to sensitised paper, DeEcEMBER 17, 1896] NATURE 55 be glad of information as to the best method of working direct to save the time and expense involved in taking glass negatives. G. M. Lowe. Lincoln, December 7. “ Chelidonium majus” as a Cure for Cancer. Wuiru reference to the probable value of Chedidonzwm majus in the treatment of cancer, I beg to enclose the two following extracts from ancient writers for the purpose of showing that its value, for internal use, was not unknown. In the ‘‘Ortus Sanitatis,’ of J. A. Cuba, published at Mayence in the year 1491, he makes the following remark, inter alia, upon the property of this plant. ‘© Et ad cancrum oris pulvis radicis cum pulyere rosarum con- ficitur, et cum aceto decoquitur.” Again, Bodeeus a Stapel, of Amsterdam, in his edition of the “Jlistoria Plantarum” of Theophrastus (1644, p- 894), after describing the method of preparing a decoction of the plant, says :— x Primi liquoris seu elementi aquei usus existimatur, quod intra corpus sumptus, omnes humores corruptos et perniciosos corrigit et educat.” Barton and Castle, in their ‘‘ Flora Medica” (1838), remark that “ Linnzus, Murray, Gilibert, and others express their astonishment at the oblivion into which a plant so energetic as the Celandine has fallen, while the ancients knew how to ap- preciate its qualities.” C. LEESON PRINCE. . The Observatory, Crowborough Hill, Sussex, November 26. Measurements of Crabs. Tue crabs measured by Prof. Weldon, which’ “were “12°5 centimetres long, had the ratio of frontal breadth to carapace length equal to 778°39 thousandths with a quartile deviation of 10°79; the adult crabs had the above-mentioned ‘ratio 604°94 with a quartile deviation of 9°96. He concluded that since 9°96 is less than 10°79 the adults were less variable than the young, and that this diminution of variability might be accounted for by the selective destruction of those young crabs in which the ratio of frontal breadth to carapace length was much greater or less than the average. That Prof. Weldon was mistaken in making this inference may be shown thus :-— If he, in his investigations, instead of considering the ratio of frontal breadth to carapace length had considered its reciprocal, the ratio of carapace length to frontal breadth, he would have arrived at the result that those 12°5 centimetres long had a ratio of carapace length to frontal breadth amounting ‘to 1284°7 thousandths with a quartile deviation of 17°9, while the adults had a ratio of carapace length to frontal breadth of 1653°1 with a quartile deviation of 26. This would have shown that the ratio of carapace length to frontal breadth was more variable (in Prof, Weldon’s sense of the word) with adults than with the young. This, he would probably have argued, may be due to the selective szvzva/ of crabs in which the ratio of carapace length to frontal breadth deviates excessively from the average. But those crabs in which the ratio of carapace length to frontal breadth deviates excessively from the average are precisely the same as those in which the ratio of frontal breadth to carapace length deviates excessively from the average, which latter he concluded were selectively destroyed. Thus the same reasoning applied to the same data leads to two totally irreconcilable explanations. Such reasoning must be false. Prof. Weldon’s erroneous conclusion seems to have arisen from making the mistake he accuses me of making, z.e. con- fusing variability (the quantity measured by quartile deviation) with importance of variability. Having proved that variability in the above sense of the word was less in the case of adult than of young crabs in regard to the ratio of frontal breadth to cara- pace length, he argues about the diminished variability as if it were the same as diminished importance of variability, which is in the general case measured by ratio of deviation to average amount of the quantity measured. J. A. Coss. Minneapolis, November 25. Diselectrification by Phosphorus. IN No. 1410, vol. lv. of NATURE, Mr. Shelford Bidwell refers to the discharge of electricity by phosphorus when it is oxidised. In a paper published by Prof. Naccari (Attd della Science di NO. 1416, VOL. 55] Torino, vol. xxv., February 22, 1890) as well as in one of our own ( Wdedemann’s Annalen, xxxix. p. 321, 1890), you will find a record of this observation. ELSTER AND GEITEL. Many thanks for sending me the above. I much regret that I did not know of the experiments referred to. I made a considerable search before sending you my letter ; but it is so difficult to ascertain what has been done before, that one hesitates to publish anything. SHELFORD BIDWELL. Riverstone Lodge, Southfields, S.W., December 2. Cultivation of Woad. LaTELy at Leighton Buzzard, I saw an old *book, ‘f E. Bowen’s Complete System of Geography, 1743,” in which some account is given of the growth and preparation of woad in Bedfordshire. There isa Woad Farm at Lathbury Bridge, near the confluence of the river Lovat, or Ouzel, with the Ouse, at Newport Pagnell, Bucks, and commented upon in the Backs Standard, November 8. The author [name not given], after referring to the more ancient growth of woad, gives it as his opinion that, ‘‘this once largely used herb was grown on this farm at a later period, and hence its name.” The lands of the Woad Farm are alluvial clay and river gravel, and there is an osier-bed in the locality. December, 1896. A. C. G. CAMERON, Dormant Seeds. Tue remarkable experiments of Prof. C. de Candolle reported on p. 21, and those formerly described of Prof. Giglioli, seem | certainly to show that life in a seed may be prolonged indefinitely under suitable conditions; or rather, that so long as no destructive change occurs, the power of living, not necessarily life itself, persists in the protoplasm. It has occurred to me as barely possible that some seeds from amber might be made to grow. It sounds a very wild suggestion, but the conditions of perfect preservation, with protection from air and moisture, are peculiar, and should offer as good a chance as some of those arranged by Prof. Giglioli, or cited by Prof. de Candolle. _ T. D. A. COCKERELL. Mesilla, New Mexico, U.S.A., November 19. The Arrangement of Branches of Trees. May not the want of symmetry or the ‘‘anyhowness ” of the arrangement of the branches of trees serve some highly useful purpose? May it not help to prevent the trees being overturned in the highest winds by the want of synchronism in the motions of the branches? I have never seen or heard of such an idea’, and it may be open to serious objections ; but some time ago IT watched the branches of a large plane tree, still partially in leaf, during a high gale, and it seemed incredible the tree could stand, but for the fact that whilst one large limb was swaying one way, another would be swaying the opposite way, and so on, all plunging and bending anyhow, with no two in harmony. Some of the larger limbs would swoop down as others bounded up in a sudden gust, and some swaying laterally with the wind would be balanced by others at another part of the tree swaying against the wind. The oak, the beech, the ash, and so on, have all this ‘‘anyhow- ness” of branch arrangement, they at the same time being our largest trees and most in want of it. Do the early stages of tree evolution point to a more methodical mode of branching ? THOos. SWAN. Maryfield House, Leslie, Fife, December I1. Curious Purple Patches. REFERRING to “‘ Purple Patches,” in NATURE of November 12, Ihave frequently seen patches like those mentioned, but not quite so large, on the decks of ships immediately after they had been scrubbed with sa/f wafer. 1 have also seen them in bad weather at sea when salt water was coming over the side. I never remember noticing them after rain, or at any other time than when salt water has been on the decks. The idea I have always had, and heard others at sea speak of, is that they were small salt-water organisms squashed out by the foot. I have noticed them most frequently on the Scottish coast, but I have also seen them in China. Out here I have not observed them. E. Mediterranean Station. 156 NATURE [ DECEMBER 17, 1896 FASCINE TRAINING AND PROTECTION WORKS. N the Engineering Magazine (New York) for June is an interesting illustrated article on “‘ Bank Revetment on theMississippi,” with illustrations showing the condition of the banks of the river after “caving” and the method of making and fixing the fascine mattress work used for their protection. The lower part of the Mississippi runs through a vast alluvial plain, the surface of which is below the level of the water in the river in times of flood. This land is pro- tectedj by banks locally known as ‘“‘dykes” or “‘levées,” which«prevent the flood water from inundating the district. The first of these banks was built at New Orleans in the early part of last century. earth taken from surface of the ground close by, and are constantly liable to damage by floods. Some of them are of considerable dimensions, and of sufficient width at the top to form a roadway for carts and other vehicles. From time to time these banks have been extended until Fic. 1.—Details of Hydraulic Grading. there has been developed the great levée system which -extends nearly from Cairo to the Gulf of Mexico, protect- ing an area of about 30,000 square miles of rich land -and numerous towns and villages, and guiding the floods in a permanent high-water channel to the sea. These banks are a constant source of care and anxiety to those who have charge of them, being subject to “caving” caused by abrasion; the action of soakage water ; and the undermining of the foot of the slope by ‘the current. To prevent this caving, and for the repair of the bank, where it has taken place, brush and stone revetments are used. The material for this purpose is principally live willow or cotton wood poles from 25 to 30 feet long, and fascines fastened together in the form of mattresses by iron wire. Norevetment work in the world approaches the magnitude of that undertaken on the Mississippi. Here mattresses, having a superficial area of seven or eight acres, are sunk in the bottom of the river in depths of from 80 to roo feet, and in currents flowing at the rate of from 4 to 5 miles anhour. Dykes 430 feet NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | They are constructed of the | } long by 60 feet high, containing 80,000 feet of lumber, 2000 tons of rock, and nearly 20,000 lbs. of iron wire and rods, are placed in the water in a depth of 150 feet. The mattresses are constructed by first building on floating ways a rigid head of poles, to which weaving poles are fastened at right angles. On these, woven willow brush is laid ; a grillage of poles is then fastened to the top, and after being secured to the bank and mooring-barge, the mat, goo feet long by 150 feet wide, is sunk by means of large stones thrown from the barges. After sinking the mat the upper portion of the bank is levelled to a regular slope by what is termed an “hydraulic grader.” This machine consists of a pump having a discharging capacity of 2000 gallons a minute, fixed on a barge. The hose from this pump terminates in a 14-inch nozzle, from which the water is directed on the bank at a pressure of 160 lbs. on the inch, reducing it to the required slope. By this method the excavation of one cubic yard of earth takes a fraction less than one cubic yard of water, and uses 3lbs. of coal. The height of the bank thus graded often averages 30 feet, and the material removed along a length of 100 feet, about 3500 cubic yards, cost- ing about 4 cents (2¢.) per yard for removal. When the bank is levelled and dressed to the required slope, a revetment of two layers of brush, with pole grillage above and below, fastened with wire and spikes, is placed thereon and then covered with stone. Another method of protection is by fascine mats made of bundles of poles 3 feet in diameter, laid normal to the bank ; to these is fastened at intervals of 8 feet a 5/16-inch wire cable and q-inch wire strand. Fascines 11 inches in diameter, made of bundles of willows, are then placed parallel to and against the head, and held in place by a turn of the wire, and the operation repeated until the desired size is attained. These woven mats often have dimensions of 300 by 1000 feet. To build and sink a fascine mattress 300 feet wide, requires from 250 to 300 men, and the average progress per day is about 150 lineal feet. Of the finished cost about 45 per cent. represents labour, and 55 per cent. material. The article in the Engineering Magazine only deals with fascine work as applied to the maintenance and repairs of the banks of the river. The jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi, con- structed for the deepening of one of the outfalls of the river into the Gulf of Mexico, for the purposes of navigation, were constructed entirely of fascine mattresses. In order to improve the depth from the gulf into this magnificent river, which has a navigable water-way extending over 16,000 miles, Captain Ends advised the training of one of the principal outlets, and so by confining the water within defined limits, and increasing its velocity and scouring power, to obtain greater depth. He undertook to carry out the necessary works to effect this purpose without receiving payment unless he succeéded in obtaining a channel 200 feet wide with an average depth of 26 feet, and a central depth of 30 feet. This he successfully accomplished. The east jetty is rather over two miles in length, the other being a little shorter ; the effective width between them is 700 feet. The mattresses used in the construction of the jetties were made principally of willows brought from the swamps over distances varying from 20 to 300 miles ; DECEMBER 17, 1896] NATURE 157 these were weighted with stone brought down the Ohio River from a distance of 1320 miles, the quantity used amounting to 100,000 cubic yards. The mattresses used were about Ioo feet long, and from 4o to 50 feet wide. They were built on inclined ways at the head of the Pass, and when completed launched like a boat and towed floating to their place along the line of the jetty, and then loaded with stone and sunk. The same method of training the outfall of the river has been adopted on other parts of the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and of the United States. ; The jetties at the mouth of the river Maas, in Holland, were also constructed of fascine mattresses in a somewhat similar way. These piers are about one and a half miles in length, and terminate in a depth of twenty-two feet at low water. Experience shows that their elasticity saves them from any damage from the shocks caused by the impact of the waves. They were economical in construc- tion, and have been found after twenty years’ experience to stand the wear and tear of the waves of the North Sea. The great dam across the Zuyder Zee at Schelling- woude, in connection with the North Sea Canal, was also constructed with fascine mattresses on the exterior, the centre part being filled in with earth. Owing to the scarcity of material for making the fascines, this system of mattresses has not been employed in this country. But more than half a century ago fascine training walls were largely adopted for the improvement of the four large Fen rivers emptying into the Wash, and this system is still in use. They have answered their purpose admirably. The fascines are made of thorn faggots about three feet in girth, tied together by tarred rope. These faggots are brought to the spot where the training wall is being con- structed in barges, and placed in layers, the number of faggots in width de- pending on the height the wall is to be carried. Each layer is covered with clay or marsh sods, and the side next the river finished to a slope of about six inches horizontal to one foot vertical, the brush ends being placed outwards and trimmed up. Some- times the faggots are staked down, but this, as a rule, is not found to be necessary. This method of training has by experience been found to be economical, durable, and efficient ; and has this great advantage over stone training walls, that vessels which by accident run | on to the walls are not damaged in the way they are when they come in contact with the stone. A full description of this work, and also of the mattresses used in Holland and America, with illustrations, will be | found in the chapter on “Training,” in the work on w Tidal Rivers,” added a short time ago to Longmans’ Engineering Series. SIR WILLIAM ~MACGREGOR’S RECENT JOURNEY ACROSS NEW GUINEA, AND RE-ASCENT OF MOUNT VICTORIA. BY the courtesy of the Prime Minister of Queensland, Sir Hugh M. Nelson, I have been favoured with | the following copy of a telegram from His Excellency the | Administrator of British New Guinea to His Excellency the Governor of Queensland :— “Without loss of life or limb have crossed New Guinea 1 Read at a special meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Brisbane, October 30, 1596. NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | from mouth of Mambare to mouth of Vanapa. Followed Mambare to foot of Mount Scratchley where river divides to embrace the mountain. Ascended Mount Scratchley, on top of which observed with small theodolite. Found easy road west of Stanley Range, without descending re-ascended- Mount Victoria to observe, but weather unfavourable. Descended Mount Knutsford, and found a not difficult road to coast. The miners have been at work at foot of Scratchley, probably the whole of which is auriferous. Wharton Chain connects Mount Scratchley with the great Mount Albert Edward, which is also well inside British territory. All these great mountains seem composed of slate and quartz. No natives between Government Station and Mount Scratchley. On the latter is very friendly tribe. Excellent relations with natives from Mount Knutsford to the coast. Had scarcely a single completely dry day. I strongly dissuade any travelling towards the interior before April or May. Native carriers will not be permitted to proceed inland with Government sanction before then, when all possible Fic, 2.—Constructing Fascine Mat on Mattress Ways. facilities will be given to prospectors during the dry season, (Signed) “Wm. MACGREGOR.” It is well known that in 1889 Sir Wm. MacGregor, who at that time had but very limited resources at his command, successfully accomplished the ascent of the Owen Stanley Range to its highest summit, which he named Mount Victoria. In the course of my official duties, the work of com- piling the map illustrating the explorer’s route on that occasion devolved upon myself, and I am consequently morally responsible for the correct delineation of all the features upon it, although this does not appear on the face of the map itself. At the same time I had the privilege of being the first to deal with, examine, and make public the geographical results of that famous journey, in a paper read, in Sir Wm. MacGregor’s presence, at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, Brisbane, on September 2, 1889. I mention this to show that I have an intimate know- ledge of every detail connected with the work and results 158 NATORE [DEcEMBER 17, 1896 of the expedition in question, and am fully prepared to enter into all the particulars of it, even more fully than I have done on a previous occasion, or in my work on “British New Guinea.” For many years before the arrival of Sir Wm. Mac- Gregor in New Guinea, several attempts had been made to explore the Alpine region of the Owen Stanley Range. For various reasons, no one had been able to accomplish it. ‘These attempts, by Captain Armit, Messrs. Chalmers, Goldie, Morrison, Hartman, Hunter, Cuthbertson and Forbes, resulted in signal failure, neither of the ex- plorers reaching even the foot of the great range. In a letter published in the Proceedings of the Royal Geo- graphical Society, London, September 1890, Mr. H. O. Forbes stated that his “nearest approach to Mount Victoria, by my own map, is between eight and nine miles,” and that it was only necessary for him to descend to and cross the Warume River below him to obtain access to several leading spurs running directly to the summit of Mount Victoria. He believed that the road traced by his eye from the hills in the Sogeri region on his first arrival in New Guinea was more eminently feasible than the one followed by Sir Wm. MacGregor in the latter’s journey to the summit of Mount Victoria. Against this statement it may be pointed out that there seems no doubt whatever that Mr. Forbes did not see the highest «crest of. the mountain from his. nearest approach to it, and it is almost certain that he could not have: obtained .access ‘to the crown.of Mount Victoria along the-south-easterly spur: of it. » Concerning this accessible spur which Mr. Forbes purposed ascending, Sir Wm. MacGregor says, it is a mighty precipitous | buttress exceeding 12,000 feet in height “bristling with | peaks and pinnacle-like rocks, and contains ‘hundreds: of maccessible crags and precipices.” Sir Wm. MacGregor’s route lay for some distance up and along the Vanapa River, and apparently he has followed his old track very closely from the crown of the Owen Stanley Range to the South Coast in his recent journey. across New Guinea. The important bearing which the successful accomplishment of this remarkable journey must necessarily have upon the development of the country will be fully apparent to all who have watched the progress of British enterprise in the possession since its establishment some ten years ago. Apart from the increase to our knowledge of the geo- graphical conditions of the interior of the south-eastern portion of the island itself—an increase that cannot fail to be of the very greatest interest and importance—the advantage of having a practicable trade route across the | British Territory is one that can scarcely be over- estimated. Itis almost impossible to give an accurate forecast of its bearing upon the opening up and settle- ment of the country and the development of its mineral resources. That valuable minerals occur in the high ranges Of the interior has been clearly enough shown by the alluvial gold obtained in the upper reaches of the Mambare River, and the auriferous character of Mount Scratchley, to which special mention is made in Sir Wm. MacGregor’s telegraphic message to the Governor of Queensland. There is little doubt, too, that mineral deposits will also be found on the southern slopes, or near the base of the Owen Stanley Range, and this region will soon be rendered accessible along the over- land trade route passing the western spurs of the range in question. The Mambare River (the Clyde of the Admiralty Charts) debouches into Traitors Bay on the north-east coast of the possession. The mouth of this interesting river is only about two miles inside the Anglo-German boundary, on the 8th parallel. It is navigable for an ordinary-sized steam launch for about forty miles up, and on the lower reaches are extensive areas of good alluvial land interspersed with remarkably fine fields of NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | sago palms. The district is famous for its very lofty forest trees and fine climate. The river was explored for the first time by Sir Wm. MacGregor in 1894, and recently he again ascended it on his journey across the island. There is no doubt but that it affords easy access to the mineral areas of the interior, and especially to the bracing highland zones of the Owen Stanley Range, Mount Albert Edward, Mount Scratchley, and other neighbouring ranges, that were hitherto regarded as inaccessible. It forms an easy section of the great overland trade route now discovered, and for the first time opened up by the Lieutenant Governor, and it is. almost certain that the Mambare district will ere long become one of the most important in British New Guinea. ° Excellent relations have been established with the natives of the interior, and indeed all along the overland route the natives met with have been very friendly, a prevailing condition that will have an important bearing upon the future development of the country by British enterprise. : Not the least important geographical results ‘of Sir Wm. MacGregor’s recent journey is the discovery of a connecting chain between Mount Albert Edward and Mount Scratchley, and the practicability of ascending the Owen Stanley Range to its highest summit on Mount Victoria from the north-east as’ wellas from the opposite side. J. P. THOMSON. JOHAN AUGUST HUGO GYLDEN. (Pes ranks of astronomers have suffered severely of late, and it is with deep regret that we are com- pelled to record that the Royal Observatory of ‘Stock- holm has now lost its renowned Director. Prof. Hugo Gyldén could ill be spared, especially at such an early age as fifty-five. On November 9 last he was seized with paralysis of the heart, and died during the afternoon at the Observatory. The following particulars of his lifeand work have been gathered from the obituary notices con- tributed to the Astronomische Nachrichten by Herr Karl Bohlin, and to the Comptes rendus by M. Callandreau. Hugo Gyldén was born at Helsingfors in the year 1841 (on May 29), his father, Nils Abraham Gyldén, being a professor of Greek at the University. At the age of sixteen he went to the University of that town ; after first studying chemistry, and, at a later date, mathematical astronomy, he gained in 1860 the title of “ Magister der Philosophie.” To make his studies more complete he went abroad, and during the years 1861-62 he was found at Gotha and Leipzig, having come in contact with Hansen, Le Verrier, and Delaunay. In December of 1862 he was elected a Teacher of Astronomy, and in the following year a Doctor of Philosophy. Pulkowa saw him first in 1862, and after a year’s work there he was made an “Adjunct Astronom,” being promoted in 1865 to “ Alteren Astronomen.” The follow- ing year he received the title of “ Hofrath.” About this time his investigations related to the con- stitution of the atmosphere and refraction, which form now the basis of the refraction-tables at Pulkowa. At the same time, also, he was busy with elliptic functions in their relation to the “mécanique céleste,” the first results of which appeared in the Studien auf dem CGebiete der Storungstheorie, 1., 1871. ’ The important service he thus rendered to astronomical science led the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm to offer him the vacant place of Astronomer of the Academy and Director of the Observatory in Stockholm. This he accepted and retained until his death. © His activity, while holding this office, was displayed not only in the development of pure scientific works, but in drawing around hima number of students, among which may be mentioned O. Backlund, A. Donner, P. Harzer, DECEMBER 17, 1896] NATURE 159 A. Shdanow, E. v. Haerdtl, M. Wolf, M. Brendel, V. Wellman, and H. Masal. Such was his renown on the continent, that pupils came from all countries to study under him and hear his lectures. He was one of the few who knew how to communicate to his hearers the noble passion for the science which animated him. His enthusiasm raised the expectations of his pupils, while, at the same time, their spirits were benefited by the rich ideas of their master. Gyldén was a true teacher whose noble character ob- tained respect, while his simple and cordial nature in- spired affection. Astronomers know that to Gyldén a great advance- ment of the astronomy of precision is due ; his admirable series of observations with the meridian circle hold a high place of honour. He wrote his celebrated historical representation of astronomy, which appeared later (1877) in the German language as “Die Grundlehren der Astronomie.” He was also the founder and publisher of the observatory publication “Iakttagelser och undersdkningar anstalda pa Stockholms observatorium,” which contained not only the results of the observations with the meridian circle, but theoretical investigations carried out by him and, to some extent, by his pupils. Gyldén, is above all, known in the world of science by his works that he pursued since the death of Le Verrier, on the general theory of perturbations. In proceeding to a revision of the methods of approximation in the ““mécanique celeste,” he has rendered the most eminent service to this branch of science. Having completed the main points of his investigations on the intermediate and absolute orbits of the heavenly bodies in a series of publications, “ Undersékningar af theorien for himlakropparnas r6relser,” I.-III., 1881-1882, he was able in 1884, by means of a grant of money from his Government, to make considerable progress in the application of his theory to the solar system. It was his intention to bring together all the results in one work entitled ‘‘ Traité analytique des orbites absolues des huit planétes principales,” but only the first part, containing the analytical developments of the absolute orbits, has as yetappeared. Gyldén, unlike Tisserand, did not have the satisfaction of leaving behind him a complete work. Unfortunately he was denied the labour of completing the necessary numerical calculations. On the other hand it was a great pleasure for him to see his last great | work, consisting of tables giving the coefficients, in the expressions of the perturbations, dependent on the pro- portion of the half-major axes, in a nearly completely printed condition. This was brought about by the generous assistance of Miss Bruce, who supplied the necessary means. In the year 1884 he was called by the University of G6ttingen to fill the post of Professor of Astronomy there ; but, following the expressed wish of the Stockholm Academy of Sciences, he remained, receiving, through the generosity of the King, means to deliver lectures at the University. Since 1888 he was an active teacher of astronomy at the High School in Stockholm. The results of Gyldén’s many and varied scientific studies on stellar parallaxes, proper motion of. stars, explanation of certain variable stars, application of partial anomalies, conveyance of perturbation develop- ments, cosmical questions, &c., have appeared in a series of large and small treatises, in the Acta der Akademie der Wissenschaften, and the Acta Mathematica. Besides being a member of several foreign Societies, he was President of the Astronomischen Gesellschaft from 1889 to 1896. Gyldén has left behind him a widow, two sons and two daughters, besides numerous friends, scattered in different parts of the world, who lament deeply the loss of a kind friend and sympathetic fellow-worker. NO. 1416, VOL. 55] NOTES. THE final entombment of M. Pasteur is to take place on the 26th of this month, at the Pasteur Institute. The reason why so inconvenient a day for English people has been fixed is that the 27th is the anniversary of Pasteur’s birth, and as that day falls on a Sunday this year, the Saturday previous was chosen as more suitable. The ceremony is to be semi-official and sem tntime. The members of the family and a few intimate friends will attend a short religious service at Notre Dame, where Pasteur’s remains have in the meantime been deposited, and members of the Institute of the Academy, the representatives of the Government, and delegates from learned societies and foreign countries will meet the cortége on its arrival at the Pasteur Insti- tute at 9.45 a.m. It is expected that Sir Joseph Lister will represent the Royal Society, Sir John Evans the British Association, Sir William Priestley the University of Edinburgh, and Sir Dyce Duckworth the Royal College of Physicians. The mausoleum in which the. remains of the great-investigator will find their last resting-place, is a fitting memorial which has taken more than a year to complete, and will be decorated with various designs. indicative of Pasteur’s work and of the benefits he has conferred on humanity and the several industries. Dr. BEHRING, the discoverer of the anti-diphtheritic serum, has had the Grand Cordon of the Crown of Italy conferred upon him. Tue German Emperor has conferred upon Dr. Roux, of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, the Royal Order of the Prussian Crown of the second class. Lapy PRESTWICH has given to the Geological Department of the British Museum the collection of fossils forméd by her husband, the late Sir Joseph Prestwich. Ir is reported that Dr. Thorne-Thorne, chief medical officer of the Local Government Board, has arrived at Brussels, accom- panied by a colleague, to study the vaccination system in Belgium and the laws and regulations bearing upon the subject. THE death is announced of M. Alfred Nobel, whose name is well known in connection with the invention of dynamite and similar high explosives. Globus (vol. lxix. No. 24) announces that the waters of Lake Titicaca continue to subside with astonishing rapidity. A large area of land has been exposed on the northern shore. Ligzut. Hoursr, whose explorations in the Niger region were referred to last week (p. 133), arrived in Paris on Sunday last. The Z¢mes correspondent says he was welcomed at the railway station by representatives of the Colonial Office, the French Africa Committee, the Egypt Committee, the Paris Geographical Society, andthe Explorers’ Society. He has made a splendid collection of sketches and photographs. Mr. J. E. S. Moore, of the Royal College of Science, London, who has been investigating the African Lake Fauna, has this week notified his safe return to Zanzibar. In a letter, dated August 10, he reported himself about to start on his last dredging trip. He has made extensive zoological and geological collections ; and in the correspondence which he has sent home, he announces, among other things, the discovery of an apparent dimorphism in the Tanganyika medusa, with active budding in both forms, Ir is reported that the bubonic plague shows no abatement at Bombay. So far, eight hundred deaths have been reported ; but the actual number is believed to be much larger. The British Medical Journal has drawn attention to the serum pre- pared by Dr. Yersin at the Pasteur Institute in Saigon for the 160 NATURE [DECEMBER 17, 1896 treatment of the plague; and the authorities in Bombay are urged to request Dr. Yersin to visit their city, and to afford him opportunities of practising his serum injections on the plague-stricken. The success claimed for the serum in Amoy, China, can be readily tested in Bombay. REUTER reports that at Laurvik, on the southern coast of Norway, near the Swedish frontier, about nine o’clock on Monday morning, a wave of earthquake was perceived, taking the direction east to west. Several houses shook. At Karlstad in the province of Wermland, in Sweden, at 8.30 a.m. on Sunday, December 13, there occurred two very strong shocks of earthquake following each other in quick succession from south-east to north-west, and lasting about twenty seconds. Houses trembled, and furniture was thrown down. Seismic disturbances were also felt at other places in the province of Wermland. The shocks in this district were preceded by loud rumblings. WE are gratified to know that the year 1896 has not been permitted to pass without the formation of a strong and representative Committee to promote a national me- morial to Dr. Edward Jenner. At a meeting held St. George’s Hospital last week, Sir Joseph Lister occupying the chair, it was resolved, upon the proposition of the Bishop of Rochester: ‘‘ That the present year being the centenary of the first successful vaccination is an appropriate time to inaugurate a work of national utility in honour of Edward Jenner.” The resolution was seconded by Lord Reay, and supported by Sir Richard Quain and Dr. Michael Foster. Lord Glenesk moved the second resolution : ‘‘ That a subscription be set on foot with the view of founding some institution of a nature to be hereafter determined in connection with the British Institute of Preventive Medicine to be distinguished by Jenner’s name.” Dr. Wilks, in supporting the resolution, said that every civilised country in the world had accepted this discovery. We alone had no great national monument. Prof. Burdon Sanderson, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, Dr. Bond and Dr. Glover also expressed their support, and the resolution was passed. Prof. Clifford Allbutt moved: ‘‘ That a public meeting be called early in 1897 to consider the resolutions passed at this meeting, and to finally decide the form of the memorial.” He urged that the memorial should involve means of carrying on research. The motion was seconded by Mr. Brudenell Carter, and agreed to. A Committee, containing not only the names of a number of distinguished men of science, but of other men of “light and leading,” was nominated by the meeting ; so we may confidently expect to see, at no very distant date, a worthy monument erected in recognition of Jenner’s work and merit. at THE steamer W2/kommen, which arrived at New York from Dantzic a few days ago, is reported to have had a novel ex- perience. On the morning of November 17, in lat. 48° 10’ N., long. 44° E., an immense meteor fell from south-east to north- west, and leaving a trail of light which remained visible for several minutes, entered the ocean apparently about two miles ahead of the steamer. Fifty minutes later a great wave swept over the steamer, but there is no evidence that this had any connection with the fall of the meteor. THE preparation of a flora of Russia is being arranged, ac- cording to a Dazly News correspondent, by the Imperial Natural History Society of St. Petersburg. An appeal is to be sent to all institutions and persons occupied with the study of botany to assist in the work. The flora of European Russia will be pub- lished first, and followed in time by those of Asiatic Russia and the Caucasus, the material being acquired from voluntary workers. It is hoped that the undertaking will meet with support and encouragement because of its great scientific importance. NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | Pror. G. VICENTINI and Prof. G. Pacher, writing in the Atti e Memorte of the Academy of Padua, describe several interesting results obtained with the current of a Tesla trans- former, the most noteworthy effect being the production of shrill musical sounds with a disposition of the apparatus which the authors propose to call an ‘‘ electrical syren.” The phenomenon in question presents several peculiar features. AN apparent proof of the inheritance of acquired character- istics was obtained two years ago by Mr. Leonard Hill, in experiments upon guinea-pigs, the results being briefly de- scribed by him in these columns (vol. 50, p. 617). From a note in the current number of the Ayritish Medical Journal, upon a recent discussion at the Zoological Society, it appears that further experiments has led Mr. Hill to a conclusion opposed to that provisionally expressed in his letter to us. According to our contemporary, Mr. Hill has been entirely unable to confirm the experiments by which Brown-Séquard determined the inheritance of acquired characteristics. By division of the cervical sympathetic nerve, a permanent droop of the upper eyelid can be obtained. This Brown-Séquard stated to be inherited by the young. Mr. Hill divided the nerve in six guinea-pigs on the left side, but none of the children inherited the permanent droop of the eyelid. He again divided the nerve in twelve of the children, and interbred them, but none of the young inherited the permanent droop. A temporary droop of either the right or left upper eyelid, frequently observed in the young, was caused by conjunctivitis arising from infection of the eye at birth, for the young were never born with the droop. With the conjunctivitis disappeared the droop, which was not due to paralysis, but to photophobia, and often disappeared on sudden excitation of the animals. THE actual state of affairs as to the attempt to prevent free access to the Giant’s Causeway was described at a recent meet- ting of the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club, by the President, Mr. Lavens W. Ewart, in the following words :—‘‘ A few speculators have banded themselves together to endeavour to exclude the public from free access to this truly gigantic creation, and they have invoked the Court of Chancery to establish them in this undertaking. Three gentlemen, of whom, unfortunately, I am one, have been served with writs in respect of so-called trespass, and the battle has begun. A committee had already been formed to protect the rights of the public, and they are defending the action. Owing to the fact that the Causeway Syndicate is a public company, they cannot be required to give security for costs, and as their capital consists of, I am informed, but 77, whether we win or lose, we—that is to say, the Cause- way Defence Committee—will have to pay our own costs. Our solicitors estimate that the costs may amount to 400/., and this sum at least we must raise. We ask for help in the matter of collecting subscriptions, and collecting lists will be supplied to all who will take them. Large subscriptions, as a rule, are not asked for, but small sums given by the many, for it is a matter which concerns the many. Evidence is also wanted from those who have known of the Causeway as a public resort for forty or fifty years or more.” THE Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland has successfully promoted the study of the science of man ever since it was founded; and the twenty-five volumes of the Journal, now complete, contain abundant evidence of the extent to which the Institute has contributed to the progress of anthropology in the last quarter of a century. The Council are anxious, however, to obtain a greater measure of public support, to see a larger attendance of Fellows and their friends at the | meetings, to increase the number of papers printed in the Journal, and to illustrate them more fully, and to aid in many DECEMBER 17, 1896] other ways in the progress of anthropological research. ‘* In most continental countries,” rightly remarks the President, Mr. E. W. Brabrook, ‘*the means of doing this would be found in a subsidy from the State, and few appropriations of public money would be more worthy or more likely to prove repro- ductive, in benefit to the community at large, than a payment in aid of anthropological work. In this country, however, it is the practice to leave work of this kind to those who show a volun- tary interest in it by joining the Institute as Fellows.” It is hoped, therefore, that the number of Fellows will be largely increased, so as to increase the usefulness of the Institute, and assist still more actively the progress of anthropological science. WE have been glancing through a new list of the staffs of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and of botanical departments and establishments at home, and in India and the Colonies, in correspondence with Kew. If evidence of the influence of Kew upon the advancement of botanical science is ever needed it will be found in this list, published as Appendix III. to the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information. Nearly seventy mem- bers of the staffs of botanic gardens in diverse regions of the world are marked as having been trained at Kew. No establish- ment that we know of can present a better record of work accomplished, and none could desire a worthier testimonial of efficiency than that shown by the wide distribution of Kew men. For the information of directors, superintendents, and curators in botanic gardens across the seas, we announce that a list has just been published of seeds of hardy herbaceous annual and perennial plants and of hardy trees and shrubs which, for the most part, have ripened at Kew during the year 1896. These seeds are not sold to the general public, but are available for exchange with colonial, Indian, and foreign botanic gardens, as well as with regular correspondents of Kew. No application, except from remote colonial possessions, can be entertained after the end of March. The list is published in the Azé//etin for 1897, Appendix I., an advance copy of which has been sent us. DuRinG the last fifty years much work has been done by marine naturalists all round the British coasts, with a view to determining the distribution of those animals which live on the floor of the sea. It has been fully recognised that the localities frequented by many marine species are very definite and extremely limited in extent, and that both the nature of the sea- bottom and the creatures which live there exhibit as much variety as we are accustomed to find on land. The Marine Biological Association, with the assistance of a grant made for the purpose by the Royal Society, has recently been engaged in an attempt to place our knowledge of this subject upon a sounder basis by investigating in detail some of the grounds in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, including important fishing grounds, with reference to the nature of the sea-bottom at each locality, and the whole assemblage of animals found there. Detailed charts are being prepared to exhibit the variations which take place from point to point. No attempt has previously been made to study fishing grounds with such thoroughness, having regard not only to the fishes, but to the whole collection of animal life which forms the basis of the food upon which the fishes exist. The investigation, which has involved a large amount of dredging and trawling, as well as the identification of the numerous species captured, has been carried out by Mr. E. J. Allen, the Director of the Plymouth Laboratory. _ THE principles upon which long-period weather forecasts are made in India were described in a recent number of NATURE (November 26, p. 87). In connection with this subject it is interesting to note that the official forecast of the cold-weather ‘rains in Northern and Upper India has just been published. According to the Calcutta correspondent of the Z?es, the con- ‘clusions drawn are that the winter rains in Upper India (from ' NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | J: 4 NATURE 161 December to February) will very probably be at least normal, and that they may be in moderate excess. It is probable that the winter precipitation in the Gangetic plain will be about normal, and very probable that it will not be above normal. It is very probable that the rainfall of the next four months will be slightly defective in Assam and perhaps in Bengal. It is, on the whole, very probable that the rainfall in Central India and the Central Provinces will not be above the small normal of the period, and may be below it. The general inference is that the indications are to some extent conflicting, but that, on the whole, they are favourable in North-western India. The rainfall will hence be normal, or above it, in Upper India, and probably normal, or in slight to moderate deficiency, in North-eastern and Central India. THE jubilee of the foundation of the Hakluyt Society was celebrated by a special meeting on Tuesday. During the fifty years the Society has been in existence it has issued numerous volumes containing the texts of travellers and voyagers in all parts of the world, which were previously unedited, untranslated, orunknown. By this action, remarked Sir Clements Markham, in his address to Tuesday’s meeting, the Society has continued the work and strove to fulfil the aspirations of Richard Hakluyt. This great man, like the Society which bears his honoured name, is not so well known to the present generation, which owes so much to his labours, as he ought to be. Hakluyt saw the two great needs of his country. The first was caused by the ignorance of our seamen as regards the scientific branch of their profession. The second was the absence. of records, and the way in which important voyages and travels were allowed to fall into obllvion. He strove, during a long life, with great ability and untiring perseverance, to remedy these evils ; and the measure of success he attained justly placed his name among those of worthies who deserve well of their country. The great work of Hakluyt was the ‘‘ Principal Navigations,” in three folio volumes, a monument of useful labour. Shakespeare owed much to this work: Milton owed much more. Hakluyt died on November 23, 1616, in his sixty-fourth year. THE U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries has just distributed a report, by Mr. B. W. Evermann, upon salmon investigations in the headwaters of the Columbia River, in the State of Idaho, in 1895, together with notes upon the fishes observed in that State in 1894 and 1895. The observations refer chiefly to the spawning habits of the redfish ( Ozcorhynchus nerka) and the Chinook salmon (0. ¢schawytscha). The proof that the large form of redfish is anadromous—that is, passes from the sea into fresh waters at certain seasons—appears to be con- clusive, but the evidence that the small redfish comes up from the sea is not complete. It seems probable that both forms are anadromous ; but, so far as the Idaho lakes are concerned, the small form has not been proved to be so. The redfish all die soon after spawning, while the young remain in the lakes and connecting waters for at least one year from the time when the eggs were spawned. The Chinook salmon also die soon after spawning ; and the young appear to remain, for one year after the eggs are laid, near where they were hatched. THE current number of the Journal de Physique contains a paper, by M. C. Duperray, on the optical properties of a glass cylinder in rapid rotation in a magnetic field. The experiments were undertaken to test the accuracy of Villari’s result, that it requires quite an appreciable time (1/500 second) for a piece o flint glass to acquire the property of rotating the plane of polar- ised light when subjected to a magnetic field. Villari came to this conclusion, which is in direct contradiction to the results obtained by Bichat and Blondlot, and Curie by rotating a glass 162 NAT ORE [DECEMBER 17, 1896 cylinder between the poles of a magnet, with the axis of rotation perpendicular to the lines of force. If a beam of polarised light traversed the cylinder in the direction of the lines of force, Villari found that the rotation of the plane of polarisation de- creased as the velocity of rotation of the cylinder increased, so as to become zero for a velocity of about 200 turns per second. He explained this result as being due to the molecules of the glass requiring a finite time to acquire the power of rotating the plane of polarised light. The author, in order to test the accuracy of Villari’s deduction, has examined the optical pro- perties of the rotating glass cylinder, and he finds the following :— The effect of centrifugal force on the glass is to virtually con- stitute it a bi-refringent body, with its axis parallel to the axis of rotation. Hence, unless the plane of polarisation of the incident light is parallel or perpendicular to the axis of rotation, the emergent light is elliptically polarised. The author, making use of this discovery, then arranged the plane of polarisation either parallel or perpendicular to the axis of rotation, and found that in a magnetic field of sucha strength that the rotation was about 5°, so that the plane of polarisation of the emergent light remained practically either parallel or perpendicular to the axis of rotation, no change in the rotation produced by the magnetic field was produced by rotating the cylinder even at velocities exceeding 200 turns per second. Hence he concludes that the bi-refringence induced by the rotation may have vitiated Villari’s results. In Sczevce of May 1, 1896, Prof. Bigelow says :—‘‘ A scientific knowledge of the action of the currents in cyclones and anti- cyclones can be obtained only by a determined attack upon the physics of the upper levels of the atmosphere.” Following out this idea, and owing to the impetus given to the systematic study of the clouds by the action of the Meteorological Conference at Munichin 1891, Mr. H. B. Boyer, the Weather Bureau observer at Key West, Florida, has published a pamphlet entitled ** Atmospheric Circulation in Tropical Cyclones, as shown by the Movement of the Clouds.” The observations were begun in 1891,.and in the treatment of the data each storm is taken in its chronological order, while the different currents and the bearing of the centre are shown on diagrams. The conclusions as to the behaviour of the upper and lower clouds in tropical storms are, so faras they go, valuable, and agree, upon the whole, with those found to obtain in our latitudes. Sfelunca continues to publish accounts of cave exploration in various parts of the world. No, 7-8 of vol. ii. contains some good views of cliffs and caves in the Liparis, along with other interesting matter. Two publications of the Geological Survey of Alabama have come to hand. One is a very detailed description of the iron industry of that State; the other (Bzzd/etin No. 5) is a pre- liminary report on the mineral resources of the Upper Gold Belt, with petrographical descriptions of the crystalline rocks. PHYSICAL investigators and instrument makers will be interested to know that Prof. C. V. Boys contributes to the Electrician of December 11, the first part of a detailed description of the method of making and manipulating the fine quartz fibres for which his name is famous. Tue Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club has issued, as an ap- pendix to its Proceedings, a ‘* Bibliography of Irish Glacial and Post-Glacial Geology,” by R. Ll. Praeger. This contains a list of over 700 books and papers, varying in importance from a geological survey memoir to an anonymous letter to a local newspaper. A subject-index and a geographical index are added. It should prove of great value both to Irish and to ‘glacial’ geologists ; while in the thoroughness with which it has been compiled, and the method of cataloguing, it may serve as a model to all local bibliographers. NO. 1416, VOL. 55] | | | A DETAILED discussion of the meteorological conditions at Frankfurt a.M., from observations extending over thirty-six years (1857-92), has been completed by Dr. Julius Ziegler and Prof. Dr. Walter Konig, and is now published under the title “*Das Klima von Frankfurt am Main” (C. Naumann). The observations, which were made under the auspices of the Physikalische Verein, have been subjected to a very careful analysis, and the results are expressed diagrammatically upon ten full-page plates and several figures in the text. THREE local scientific societies have lately sent us reports comprising papers read at their meetings. In the Zyansactéons of the Edinburgh Field Naturalists’ and: Microscropical Society | (1894-96), we notice papers on Daubenton’s Bat ( Vespertzlio Daubentonz), as observed and captured in Glen Dochart, Perth- shire, the geology of Arran, trout and their influence in purify- ing water, the little Auk, poisonous plants, the habits of Gulls, popular delusions in natural history, and researches on snake poison, with special reference to the work of Dr. Cunningham, of Calcutta. —The Zyansactions of the Ealing Natural Science and Microscopical Society (1895-96) contain a descriptive list of the birds of the Lower Brent Valley, and abstracts of lectures on parasitic and saprophytic plants, the last stages of the Great Ice Age in the neighbourhood of Ealing, and the relation of man thereto, recent astronomical photography, the life-history ot Alypus piceus, wild bees, the structure of flames, and others. —The portrait of Prof. Ramsay forms the frontispiece of the Proceedings of the Bristol Naturalists’ Society, and is accom- panied bya short biographical notice. Among the papers is one on the British Jurassic Brachiopoda, and another on some ancient British remains at Long Aston, Somerset. Limits of space prevent us from doing more than refer to a few of the papers in the Jownal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales (vol. xxix.), received a few days’ ago. In an important paper Mr. Lawrence Hargrave describes his aeronautical experiments with cellular kites. Mr. G. H. Knibbs contributes a long account of the history, theory, and determination of the viscosity of water by the efflux method ; and Dr. C. J. Martin gives the results of a detailed investigation of the physiological action of the venom of the Australian Black Snake (Pseudechts porphyriacus). The surviving refugees, in austral lands, of ancient antarctic life are considered by Mr. C. Hedley. The paper by Mr. H. C. Russell, on icebergs in the Southern Ocean, and that of Mr. Henry A. Hunt, on types of Australian weather, have already been noted in these columns. In a paper on the amount of gold in sea-water, Prof. Liversidge concludes that gold is present in the sea-water off the coast of New South Wales in the proportion of about ‘5 to r grain per ton, or, in round numbers, from 130 to 260 tons of gold per cubic mile. The results, in a second paper on the removal of silver and gold from sea-water by Muntz metal sheathing, indicate that by keeping the metal in the sea for several years the pro- portion of gold increases, while that of silver decreases. Ethno- logists will be interested in Dr. John Fraser’s presentation of three myths about the Senga parroquet, showing how intimately Fiji and Samoa were connected in the minds of the early myth- makers. The subjects of other contributions to the volume are Australian vegetable exudations; notes on Antarctic rocks, collected by Mr. C. E. Borchgrevink; the great meteor of May 7, 1895; and fascine work in New South Wales. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Grey Ichneumon (Hevfestes grtseus) from India, presented by Colonel Smythe ; a Changeable Tree Frog (Ay/a versicolor) from North America, two White’s Tree Frogs (Ayla coerulea) from Australia, presented by Mr. F. E. Blaaw ; two Maned Geese (Chenonetta jubata):from Australia, purchased. DercEMBER 17, 1896] IVA LORE 163 OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. “© BUREAU DES LONGITUDES.”’—The Annual for the year 1897 is still as complete as ever, and is a necessary vade mecuni to the astronomer, physicist, and chemist. Our readers are so familiar with the usual contents of this compact littie volume, that we limit ourselves to summing up the chief alterations and additions. The table of minor planets has been completed up to September 7, 1896, the number of these bodies now amounting to 431. Cometary notices have been brought up to the year 1895, while several new values for double-star elements have been inserted. Among the articles, which are always of great interest, are three from the pen of M. F. Tisserand. The first is a masterly summary of our knowledge of the proper movement of the solar system; the second, on the fourth meet- ing of the International Committee for the completion of the photographic map of the heavens ; and the third, on the labours of the International Commission on fundamental stars. M. H. Poincaré writes on the kathode and Rontgen rays. M. J. Janssen discusses some epochs in the astronomical history of planets, and the work done at the Mont Blane Observatory during the present year. Several discourses are also included, namely, that delivered by M. A. Cornu at the funeral of’ M. Fizeau, and those delivered by M.M. Janssen, Loewy, and Poincaré at the funeral of the late Director of the Paris Observatory. **THE SYSTEM OF THE Wor LD.” —Inasmall pamphlet entitled **Unser Weltsystem” (Gustav Fock, Leipzig), Herrn A. F, Barth presents us with an essay on the movements of the bodies contained therein. Without going at all into mathe- matical reasonings, complicated by numbers, he limits himself to discuss in words the questions that arise. further movements due to perturbations, can be obtained. Not only are the earth’s motions discussed, but those of the moon are also taken in hand. what are the causes which give us different lengths of days, months and years, and how these may be converted into one another. These and several other points are touched upon, and the author concludes with a few general remarks on the extent of space. , Another pamphlet (Gauthier- Villars et Fils, Paris) contains an exposition of the mechanical formation of a ‘* Systeme du Monde,” after a new theory by Lieut.-Colonel du Ligondés. M. L’Abbé Th, Moreux is the writer of the essay, and he introduces this new idea to us after a short summary of previous hypotheses, such as those of Laplace and Faye. Assuming that motions in space can take place in all directions, then if there exist spots around which these movements are to a certain extent symmetrical, and if such a region be more or less homogeneous, then disturbances will be equally symmetrical in every direction, and a nearly round mass will be formed. The next stage in the development of this mass is its change of shape from circular to lenticular. This is brought about by the particles circulating towards the interior of the mass, and therefore coming into collision with one another. With condensation the mass becomes less homo- eneous, and the law of gravity becomes modified. A general deformation of all the orbits of the particles commences, and finally a lens-shaped mass is the result. A ring now begins to be formed, having its point of greatest density some distance from its centre. The values of gravity vary along a radius, being small at the centre, reaching a maximum some distance away, and finally vanishing. The point of maximum velocity coincides with the maximum value of gravity. The ring becomes now the centre of attraction of bodies lying near it. Stresses are set up and a rupture takes place, this ring being split into three parts. At a later epoch the conditions are such that another ring of small dimensions is formed; this forms a second maximum point of density on the flat disc, which eventually is ruptured. These rings finally condense and form the several planets. The theory accounts for the different densities, sizes, rotations, and velocities of the planets, and also for the cases of the satellites. Space forbids us, however, from going into this theory more in detail, but there are several good points about it which make it interesting. ““COMPANION TO THE OBSERVATORY.” —This annual for the year 1897 contains the usual amount of useful information, and the arrangement remains as formerly. Mr. Denning gives the list of principal meteor showers for the year, but we are surprised to see that no additional information is given of those swarms NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | In this way a clear | 4,500,000 gallons per acre daily, and its bacterial efficiency idea of the movements of the earth round the sun, and also those | One may here, among other things, learn | | bacterial efficiency in proportion to their period of service. | the filters but from the delivery pipes. which will be of special interest during the next year or two. Data for the total solar eclipse which will occur on January 21, 1898, in addition to the two annular eclipses in 1897, are given, An ephemeris for Jupiter’s fifth satellite up to the middle of May also receives a place, but its accuracy is doubted, for, as Mr. Marth says, no recent measures have been made, so that the adopted daily rate of motion is based on measures made in 1892 and 1893. The variable star information is very full and complete ; but, if we may venture to make a suggestion, the table giving the mean places for the year 1897 would be made more useful if the approximate periods were to be placed against each star. BACTERIAL WATER PURIFICATION. “THE twenty-seventh annual report of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts for 1895 has just been issued. This is the eighth year that the valuable experimencal work. of the now famous Lawrence Experiment Station has been con- tinued, Although no very remarkable novel features have been recorded in the practice of bacterial water. purification, jit 4s highly satisfactory to find that the previous important work of the station is fully confirmed by the investigations conducted during the past year. An interesting point to which attention is called is the tendency exhibited by sand-filters to increase in In support of this the working of the oldest experimental ‘filter at the station, and one of those with the greatest effective size of sand grain, is cited. This filter in 1893, filtering at an average rate of 2,000,000 gallons per acre daily, had a bacterial efficiency equal to 96°75 percent. ; during 1894 its rate of filtration was reached 98°97 per cent., whilst in 1895, although working at approximately the same rate as in the previous year, its bac- terial efficiency rose to 99°57 per cent. This increased bacterial efficiency, caused by greater length of service period, was ton- siderably more marked in the case of filters constructed of medium coarse or coarse sands than with those in which medium fine sand was employed. It would be out of place in these columns to discuss the various technical questions dealt with in the report, but there is one point which is very clearly brought out, and which is of particular interest in connection with the controversy which has recently arisen over the bacterial examinations of the London water-supply. An attempt has been | made more than once to discount the value attaching to early bac- terial examinations of the London waters, which first exhibited the efficiency of the purification processes employed, on the ground that the samples for investigation were not cullected direct from It has been contended that the numerical results obtained from samples drawn from the mains do not represent the bacterial efficiency of the purifi- cation processes in operation at the works, and this contention is based upon the hypothesis that the bacteria present in the effluent multiply in the pipes before delivery. The examina: tions made at the Lawrence Experiment Station show that there is no foundation whatever for this supposition. Thus in the monthly averages of daily bacterial examinations made of the Lawrence water conducted over six months, we find the raw river water contained 7533 bacteria per cubic centimetre, the effluent taken direct from the filter 134, the reservoir outlet 119, and the samples taken from the City Hall tap 86 bacteria per cubic centimetre. These results are sufficiently striking and instructive, and require no further comment. Another point to which considerable interest attaches is the effect upon the total number of bacteria which appear upon a gelatine plate, pro- duced by the time during which the latter is kept and the colonies counted. Thus a water-plate poured from raw river- water exhibited 913 colonies per cubic centimetre on the first day, after two days the number rose to 8613, alter three days to 12,317, whilst after four days they numbered 15,017 per cubic centimetre. Similarly in a sample of the same water filtered, whilst only three colonies could be counted on the first day, 48 made their appearance after two days, 72 after three days, and 87 per cubic centimetre after four days. The bacteriological examination of water, it cannot be too frequently insisted upon, is surrounded with subtle pitfalls into which the unwary may very easily be decoyed, and if the method is to take its position as a scientific process, too much attention to the details upon which its accuracy depends cannot be expended. In conclusion, in the section devoted to bacteriological technique, we note the 164 NATURE [ DECEMBER 17, 1896 introduction of a new word. Hitherto we have spoken of plate-cultivating a given water, but this expression we find cut down to ‘‘ plating” a water ; as, however, the general practice is now to substitute dishes for plates, we shall probably be reduced to the ugly phraseology of ‘‘ dishing” a water. G, C. FRANKLAND. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Oxrorp.—At the Junior Scientific Club, on December 9, Mr. E. S. Goodrich read a paper on the ‘‘ Evolution of the Ungu- lata,” and Mr. E. C. Atkinson gave an account of some further experiments on rowing, exhibiting and describing also the improved form of his rowing indicator. CAMBRIDGE.—AIl the graces which were non-placeted on December 10, were carried by considerable majorities. The professorship of Surgery has accordingly been suspended for one year, the professorship of Logic and Mental Philosophy is established, and the Sedgwick Memorial Museum of Geology will be built on the ground lately belonging to Downing College. At the same Congregation it was agreed to present to the Lord President of the Privy Council a memorial urging the necessity of legislation bearing upon secondary education. Mr. Ernest Clarke, Hon. M.A., of St. John’s College, Secre- tary of the Royal Agricultural Society, has been appointed the first Gilbey Lecturer in the History and Economics of Agri- culture. Mr. J. J. H. Teall, of St. John’s, has been appointed an elector to the Professorship of Geology ; and Dr. A. S. Lea an elector to the Professorship of Physiology. THE Hamilton Court Building Company, consisting of friends of Columbia University, have purchased land in New York City, at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and will erect upon it, at a cost of one million dollars, a-dormitory to accommodate goo students of the University. Tue following are among recent announcements :—Dr. W. Valentiner, associate professor of astronomy at Heidelberg, to be full professor, and Dr. Knévenagel to be associate professor ; Dr. P. Freiherr von Lichtenfels to be professor of mathematics in the Technical High School at Graz; Dr. W. Rothert to be associate professor of botany in the University of Kasan ; Dr. Seitaro Goto to be professor of botany in the First High School at Tokyo, Japan; Dr. Kepinsky to be associate professor of mathematics at the University of Krakau. THE William Gossage Laboratories, just added to the Chemical Section of Liverpool University College, were formally opened on Saturday by Lord Derby, President of the College, in the presence of a large and representative gathering. The labora- tories have been built and equipped at a cost of 7000/. by Mr. F. H. Gossage and his partner Mr. T. Sutton Timmis, as a memorial of the father of the former, the late Mr. Wm. Gossage, distinguished as a chemical investigator and inventor of chemical processes. An address was delivered by Prof. Ramsay on chemical education and the equipment of labora- tories. A full report of the address and other speeches made upon the same occasion is given in the Liverpool Courter of Monday, December 14. Str P. MaGnus, in the course of some remarks at the Norwood Technical Institute, on Wednesday of last week, reviewed the history of the polytechnic institutes in London and the provinces. He estimated the amount spent on evening teaching, exclusive of interest on capital outlay for buildings, at over 175,000/. a year. It was pointed out that the London institutes give facilities not only for technical but also for literary and general education, which are not obtainable on the same scale and on similar lines in any other capital in the world. The reason why in some other countries, especially in Germany and Switzerland, lads are better able to profit by the technical instruction of evening classes than they are in this country, is because the lads leave school at a later age and more generally attend continuation classes. Iv is very satisfactory to note that our political leaders have lately devoted themselves to expounding the connection of science with industry. Mr. A. J. Mundella, M.P., speaking at the Birmingham Municipal Technical School, on Friday last, on the NO. 1416, VOL. 55] subject of German competition, said he quite admitted that we had suffered loss from our past neglect, particularly in regard to the development of the new sciences and new discoveries, which Germany had adopted and developed in a marvellous manner. He instanced the growth of the colour trade in Germany. That industry was an English discovery, founded by a Birmingham man, and worked in Manchester. Yet English manufacturers, not for the want of money or want of enterprise, but from the want of knowledge, had allowed it to be exploited by Germany, and the trade, amounting to many millions a year, had almost entirely left this country. In the course of an address at the Battersea Polytechnic, on Wednesday in last week, the occasion being the distribution of prizes and certificates to evening students, Mr. John Morley, M.P., referred to a few points of importance to science and education. He remarked that those who had studied the education question seriously were aware that a London poly- technic was not the same thing as a German polytechnic. In German polytechnic institutions the students learned the highest, most important, and profoundest principles in connection with the scientific subject which they there studied. The main object in the London polytechnic institutes was a different one ; it was that the craftsman, the man who made things and did things with the labour and skill of his hand, should have opportunities brought within his reach of training not merely in the mechanical details but in the principles and the basis of his work. It was difficult, however, it was impossible, to put scientific methods and spirit into the habits of people who had not already under- gone a preliminary training. There was a direct connection between technical education and an improvement in their national system of secondary education which did not yet exist. He hoped that the Government before many weeks were over would lay before the House of Commons a scheme for the improvement of secondary education. Every one saw that a higher appreciation of science, of the technical arts, of the improvement of scientific.research and investigation on the part of the great English manufacturers was of the very utmost importance. One very often heard of the workmen being complained of ; but it was now being seen that the leaders and captains of industry, especially the employers and the heads of great manufacturing enterprises, must open their minds to the improving of scientific investigation and research and training, both for the heads of the enterprises as well as for those who had the actual conduct and the carrying of them out. When the sources of the successful competition against this country in certain branches of industry were investigated, he believed that competent men in trade who had examined the matter would say that one great source of the success of foreign competition, and especially of German competition, had been the existence in Germany for some years of an organised and systematic plan for technical education, technical education connected with the other branches of education; and he hoped that this country would speedily amend and reform its system. . . . A scheme was being framed for a Teaching University for London—a most important scheme. It was most desirable that this body, when it was established, should not be so constituted as to dis- courage the evening teaching and evening learning of such places as the Battersea Polytechnic. They should allow students from such institutions as this to be admitted by their examinations. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Physical Society, December 11.—Prof. Ayrton, Vice- President, in the chair.—A paper on the applications of physics and mathematics to seismology was read by Dr. C. Chree. Prof. J. Milne has attempted to account for certain changes in the indications of spirit-levels and delicately suspended pendu- lums by the supposition that they are due to meteorological agencies, such as rainfall or evaporation. Thus he considers that a relative excess of moisture—say, on the west of an ob- servatory—is equivalent to a surface load on that side tending to make the ground, on which the observatory rests, slope down- wards from east to west. The author, by making the assump- tions as to the physical state of the substance of the earth that it is a homogeneous, isotropic, elastic solid, has examined in as general a manner as possible the amounts of flexure which would be produced by different systems of loading. He points out that the alteration in the reading of such an instrument as DECEMBER 17, 1896, IEA TAC RE 165 a spirit-level depends not only on the bending of the surface of the earth, but also on the attraction exerted by the load, which slightly alters the direction of ‘‘ gravity.” He shows that if yw, is the alteration in level produced by the bending, and yp, the alteration in the direction of gravity, then the ratio W,/, depends only on the elastic constants of the earth, and is quite independent of the shape and size of the loaded area. In the case of a material having the elasticity of steel y,/, = 2, for brass Y,/) = 5, and for an incompressible material y,/. = 11. The author considers that this last value most truly represents what occurs in practice, and hence that the pressure effect is considerably larger than the gravitational effect. The pressure effect is worked out for the cases where the loaded area is a square, and a long narrow rectangle, and it is found that fora square of 100 metres side the effect, at a point one metre from one side, of loading the square with a layer of water one centi- metre thick, is to alter the level by o’oor2 second of arc. For the case of a tidal river 100 yards wide, and for arise of 5 metres, the effect on an observatory at 100 yards from the bank would be to alter the level by o*1 second of arc. Hence the effect of an estuary or tidal river is likely to be much more marked than differential evaporation or rainfall. The author also considers the effects of the attraction of the sun and moon, producing as they must ‘‘ tides” in the solid crust of the earth, on the reading of a level and the measured altitude of a star as obtained with an artificial horizon. Finally the author considers the light the measurements on the velocity of propagation of earthquake dis- turbances throw on the credibility of the hypotheses he has made us to the elastic constants of the earth. He shows that the two observed velocities of 2°5 and 12°5 kilometres per second would lead to values for Young’s modulus, and the rigidity below those found in the case of iron; the bulk modulus, however, obtained is very high, and this he considers quite probable on account of the enormous pressure to which the earth’s deep- seated material is subjected. Prof. Perry said he had thought of taking up the subject from an experimental point of view, and trying the effect of loading a large block of indiarubber. He had not had time to refer to the author's paper, in which the reasons were given for taking the earth as incompressible. He (Prof. Perry), however, thought that this assumption led to results in contradiction to actual observed facts. Prof. Milne had obtained results which, for want of any other explanation, he had been compelled to attribute to meteorological causes. The reason Dr, Chree had obtained so small a value for the effect of loading by surface water might be because he had assumed erroneous values for the elastic constants. If he took a value for Poisson’s ratio such as we meet with in practice, the effects would be much larger. Prof. Darwin had also investi- gated the folding of the surface of the earth due to loading. The results obtained by the author with reference to the ve- locity of waves did not seem quite satisfactory. The small waves which were found, both at Berlin and the Isle of Wight, to precede the main waves coming from an earth- quake in Japan were not accounted for. The wave velocity in an infinite mass of steel (a very elastic material) was about 6 kilometres per second, which was very different from 12°5 kilometres per second. The author had assumed such values for the elasticity as would give the correct velocity. The author in reply said that in applying the equations of elas- ticity to the earth’s interior, unless the material were supposed nearly incompressible, one obtained values for the strains too large to be consistent with the fundamental mathematical hy- pothesis, that the square of strains are negligible. In the case of surface loading no such restriction was necessary, so far as the surface layers, at least, are concerned. The differences between the several numerical estimates for the ratio of the gravitational and pressure effects of a surface load were prin- cipally due to the differences in the hypothetical values ascribed to the rigidity. It was his wish to make it clear that the pres- sure and gravitational agencies treated in detail in the paper were not the only ones likely to affect the level; he had specially called attention to solar heating and possible direct influence of moisture on the foundations of buildings, &c. The reason why for the one wave velocity so much higher a value was obtained than that Prof. Perry calculated for steel, was solely the high value, 24: 1, found for the ratio of Thomson and Tait’s elastic constants 7 and 7. He knew Prof. Darwin had treated of the phenomena met with in loose earth in some cases, but could not say whether this was what Prof. Perry referred to. He had him- self once thought of attempting an application of what Prof. NO. 1416, VOL. 55] Karl Pearson termed the ‘‘ equations of pulverulence,” as treated in detail by Prof. Boussinesq, but had not done so, partly from a feeling of uncertainty as to their physical value. Supposing these equations satisfactory, they ought to give better results than the equations of elasticity when surface load was applied to a deep alluvial soil.—A paper on musical tubes, by Mr. R. T. Rudd, was, in the absence of the author, read by the Secretary. The author has examined a set of tubes ranging in length from 95 inches to 12 inches, made out of ‘* 1-inch” gas-tube. Having tuned these to a diatonic scale, he found that there was a very marked difference in the character of the sound of the long, the middle, and the short tubes. Commencing with the long tubes, the first two octaves have a full rich tone very similar to that of a church bell. They range from D of 145 vibrations per sec. to D of 580 vibrations. At about this point the tone changes from that of a church bell to one peculiar to tubes, the note also falls back in the scale more than a fifth, viz. to F¥ (360), the san.e tube giving two notes, to either of which the attention can be directed. In order to distinguish these different classes of sound produced by tubes, the author calls the tone corresponding to that of a church bell the ‘‘low grade,” the next one the “middle grade,” and that produced by short tubes (27 in. and under) the ‘‘ high grade.” At the junction between the high and middle grade there is a fall in the note of about an octave anda half. The following formula may be used for calculating the pitch of the note given by a tube: V = DC/L’, where V = frequency, D = external diameter, L = length, and C is a constant which for iron tubes has the value 100 x 104, 62 x 104, or 22 x 10%, according as the note belongs to the low, the middle, or the high grade. The author explains the effects by a consideration of the partial tones present and their effect on the ear. Prof. Riicker said he thought it a great pity that in England such confusion of nomenclature existed, so that partials were often called over-tones. He considered that the author had made an extremely ingenious attempt to explain the differences of pitch observed, this explanation apparently resembling that given by Prof. Everett to account for combina- tion tones. The author explains the presence of a note of fre- quency 630, as being formed in the ear by the harmonies having frequencies of 1260, 1900, and 2600. He also explains the absence of lower partials having frequencies of 780, 390, and 140 by the supposition that they are so far removed from the “‘ focus” as not toappreciably affect the ear. Another explanation of the presence of a note of frequency about 630 would, however, be the formation of a difference tone between the partials of fre- quency 780 and 140. Mr. Blaikley agreed with Prof. Riicker as to the vagueness of the terms often employed, and said that it appeared that in the ‘“‘high grade” the note was caused by the first proper tone, in the ‘‘ middle grade” by the second, and in the ‘‘low grade” by a difference tone produced by the fourth, fifth, and sixth proper tones. The distance of the nodes from the end of the tube was ‘224 of the length, and not ‘25, as the author states, and in the case of a tube clamped at the node, this difference in the position of the clamp would have a marked effect on the tone. A great distance in the tone was also produced by varying the hardness of the hammer. _ Prof. Ayrton said he had once investigated the behaviour of some tubes by analysing the note given out by means of a Helmholtz analyser. In the case of the tubes that gave a good note, it was found that the components were few and well-marked, while in that of the tubes which gave 2 bad note, the com- ponents were numerous and sometimes very ill-defined. The relative length, diameter, and thickness of the tube had a great influence on the tone. Chemical Society, December 3.—Mr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, President, in the chair.—The following papers were read: Constitution and colour, by A. G. Green. Colouring matters may be classified in two groups, viz. : (1) Colours whose leuco-compounds are not readily oxidised on exposure to air; (2) colours whose leuco-compounds aye rapidly oxidised on ex- posure to air. It is shown further that the members of class 1 are all para-derivatives, whilst those of class 2 can all be repre- sented as ortho-compounds.—Derivatives of a-hydrindone, by C. Revis and F. S. Kipping. The authors have studied a- hydrindone in order to determine whether its reactions are analogous to those of camphor, which it resembles somewhat in constitution ; there is, however, a marked difference between the chemical behaviour of the two ketones.—Notes on nitration, by H. E. Armstrong.—3’-Bromo-f-naphthol, by 166 NATURE [| DECEMBER 17, 1896 H. E. Armstrong and W,. A. Davis. 3’-Bromo-8-naph- thol | is prepared by digesting 1 3/-dibromo-8-naphthol with hydriodic acid.—Derivatives of nitro-8-naphthols, by W. A. Davis.—Morphotropic relations of 8 naphthol derivatives, by |W. A. Davis. The author shows that a marked crystallo- graphic relation exists between a number of I : 2 and 1 : 3’: 2 naphthalene derivatives ; although the crystalline systems of the various substances examined are not the same, yet the axial ratio,¢ : 6 is nearly the same in all.—Researches on tertiary benzenoid. amines, by Miss C. de B. Evans. A number of sulphonic acids of benzenoid amines have been prepared ; it is shown that although orthosulphonic acids are readily obtained from aniline derivatives, there is usually extraordinary diffi- culty. in preparing metasulphonic acids.—On the circumstances which affect the rate of solution of zinc in dilute acids, with especial reference to the influence of dissolved metallic salts, by J. Ball. The effects on the rate of solution of zinc in dilute acids of (1) variations of concentration of the acid; (2) pre- vious special treatment of the acid ; (3) variations of temperature ; (4) variations of pressure ; (5) variations of the surface condi- tion of the zinc ; (6) admixture of other metals with the zinc ; (7) performance of the solution in vessels of different materials ; and (8) addition of various substances to the acid solution, have been studied. It is of interest to note that the addition of foreign salts to the solution always accelerates the dissolution of the zinc.—The oxidation of ferrous sulphate by sea-water, and on the detection of gold in sea-water, by E. Sonstadt. The author shows that by prolonged agitation of half-a-gallon of sea-water with twenty grains of mercury, an appreciable quantity of gold is taken up by the mercury, Mineralogical Society, November 17.—Annual Meeting ; Dr. Hugo Miiller, F.R.S., in the chair.—The balance-sheet for the year ending December 31, 1895, was presented, and showed that the state of the finances of the Society continues to be very satisfactory. The number of members is now 130. Two numbers of the journal have been issued during the past year, including an index of authors and subjects for the ten volumes of the journal which have now been published. The Council were able to congratulate the Society upon the continued steady sale of the journal. Mr. Thomas Henry Holland, superinten- dent of the Geological Survey of India, Calcutta, was elected a member of the Society. The following papers were then read : Notes on Zirkelite and Derbylite, by E. Hussak and G. T. Prior ; some crystals of iron pyrites from Cornwall, by A. Hutchinson ; crystallographic notes on Zinckenite, Wolfsbergite, Plagionite, Stephanite, Enargite, and Anglesite, by L. J. Spencer; the discovery of Prehnite in Wales, by T. J. Harrison.—It was subsequently announced that the following gentlemen had been duly elected as Officers and Council of the Society for the ensuing year: President, Prof. N. S. Maskelyne, F.R.S. ; Vice-Presidents, Rev. S. Houghton, F.R.S., and Dr. Hugo Miiller, F.RS.; Treasurer, Mr. F. W. Rudler; General Secretary, Mr. L. Fletcher, F.R.S. ; Foreign Secretary, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S.; ordinary members of Council, Mr. W. Barlow, Prof. A. H. Church, F.R.S., Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S., and Mr. W. J. Pope ; in addition to the following members not requiring re-election : Prof. Geikie, Messrs. Harker, Hutchinson, Kitto, Prof. Lewis, Lieut.-General McMahon, Messrs. Tutton and Watts. Geological Society, November 18.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—On Cycadeotdea gigantea, a new cycadean stem from the Isle of Portland, by A. C. Seward The specimen described by the author was dis- covered a short time since in one of the Purbeck dirt-beds, and is now in the Fossil Plant gallery of the British Museum. A comparison of this fossil with recent cycads and ferns brought out many points of close agreement with the former, and as regards the structure of the ramenta, evidence was afforded of an interesting survival of the closer resemblance which formerly existed between cycadean and fern-like plants. The stem has been named Cycadeoidea gigantea.—The fauna of the Keisley limestone (Part ii., conclusion), by F. R. C. Reed. The author described the ostracoda, brachiopoda, mollusca, echinodermata, and actinozoa of the Keisley limestone. He gave a list of fossils from the limestone, and indicated those species which occurred in the limestone of Kildare, the Zeffena-limestone of Sweden, and Stage F of the East Baltic provinces. As a result of his researches he concluded that the fauna had a thoroughly NO. 1416, VOL. 55 | ordovician facies; that it was closely comparable with that of the limestone of the Chair of Kildare, and of the Zeftena-lime- stone, and less closely with that of Stage F of the East Baltic provinces ; that its paleontological features pointed to its stratigraphical position being at the base of the Upper Bala, and that it must be regarded as the locally thickened development of a bed which was elsewhere in Great Britain very thin, or entirely absent, or represented by beds having different lithological characters and a different fauna; and that the fauna had certain unique characters which marked it off from all other known assemblages of fossils in Great Britain. Royal Microscopical Society, November 18.—Mr. A. D. Michael, President, in the chair.—The Secretary read a note, from Mr. E. M. Nelson, on the Hugh Powell Microscope in the Society’s collection. A discussion ensued, in which Mr. Ingpen, Mr. Vezez, Prof. Bell, Mr. Beck, and the President took part. —Lieut.-Colonel H. G. F. Siddons exhibited and described a portable cabinet for mounting apparatus. Linnean Society, November 19.—Mr. A. D. Michael, Vice- President, in the chair —Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G., exhibited from the Royal Gardens, Kew, the inflorescence of Prerzsanthes poltta, a singular species of the Vine Order (Ampelidez), received in 1894 from Mr. H. N. Ridley, of Singapore, and now in flower | for the first time in Europe. P¢erzsanthes is closely allied to Vites, but shows in a more interesting manner the true nature ot © the tendrils, and a special modification of the receptacle suggested only in V2tes macrostachya. Dr. Morris also exhibited dried flower-stems of the Australasian twin-leaved Sundew (Dvyosera binata, Labill.), received at Kew from the Sheffield Botanic Garden. In this instance the stems were 3 feet 6 inches high, bearing about thirty to fifty large pure white flowers, nearly 1 inch across. The plant grown in gardens in this country is seldom more than g inches to a foot high.—Mr. W. G. Ride- wood read a paper onthe structure and development of the hyobranchial skeleton and larynx in Xenopus and Pipa. The conclusions were drawn that Pépa and Xenopus are descended from tongue bearing ancestors, and that in spite of the anatom- ical differences between the two genera, the sub-order Aglossa is a natural one.—A paper was then read by the Rev. T. R. Stebbing, F.R.S., ‘‘On the collection of Amphipoda in the Copenhagen Museum.” Some of the more striking rarities were described, together with a few of a less uncommon type. The collection being cosmopolitan, the opportunity was taken of bringing into notice certain other new or insufficiently known forms received from Prof. Haswell, of Sydney, N.S.W., and from Mr. G. M. Thompson, of Dunedin, N.Z. The range of the various specimens described extends from Cuba to Ceylon ; from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific ; from the western coast of Scotland to the eastern coast of Australia and New Zealand. Nine genera and ten species were discussed, six ot each being new. Zoological Society, December 1.—Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. R. E. Holding exhibited and made remarks on a three-horned fallow deer’s head and a malformed head of a roebuck.—Mr. H. E. Dresser exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of Pallas’s willow- warbler (Phylloscopus proregulus), shot at Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, on October 31, 1896, being the first instance of the occurrence of this bird in Great Britain.—Dr. Forsyth Major gave an account of the general results of his zoological expedition to Madagascar in 1894-96. Amongst the more important results attained by Dr. Major was the discovery of remains of a new fossil monkey (MVesopzthecus), forming the type of a new family of Quadrumana, and of about twenty new species of living mammals, several of these belonging to new genera. A very fine series ot bones of the extinct 4Zpyornithes obtained by Dr. Major would enable some nearly complete skeletons of this group to be put together for the first time.—A communication was read from Mr. Stanley S. Flower, containing an annotated list of all the reptiles and batrachians known to occur in the Malay Peninsula and on the adjacent islands. A new species of gecko (Gona- todes penangensis) was described, and original observations relating to the distribution, variation, and habits of known species were added, especially with regard to the tadpoles of various batrachians.—Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F_R.S., read de- scriptions of some new fishes from the Upper Shiré River, British Central Africa, based on specimens collected by Dr. Percy Rendall, and presented to the British Museum by Sir DECEMBER 17, 1896] IAL ORE 167 Harry Johnston, K.C.B. The present collection contained | examples of fourteen species, of which five were now described as new to science. —A second communication from Mr, Boulenger contained remarks on the lizards of the genus Zvemzas. section Boulengeria,—Mr. R. Lydekker, F.R.S., gave an account of an apparently new deer from North China, living in the menagerie of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn Abbey, to which he pro- posed to assign the name Cervus bedfordianus.—The Secre- tary read a communication from Mr. A. J. North, of the Australian Museum, Sydney, containing an account of a cuckoo in the Ellice Islands (2udynamys ‘aztensis), which appears to lay its eggs in the nest of a tern (Azzozs stodzdus).—The Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing communicated a paper by Dr. H J. Hansen, of the Copenhagen Museum, on the development and the species of the Crustaceans of the genus Sergesées. Entomological Society, December 2.—Dr. Sharp, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—Dr. Sharp exhibited the series of Longicorn Coleoptera of the genus Plagithmysus from the Hawaiian Islands, of which a preliminary account had recently been given by him elsewhere. He said that these examples were the result of Mr. Perkins’ work for the Sandwich Islands Committee, and afforded a fair sample of his success in the other orders, which would be found to have completely revolutionised our knowledge of ‘the entomological fauna of these islands. He stated that Mr. Meyrick had recently informed him that the Geometride would be increased from six species to forty-four, and that the genus Plagithmysus showed an almost equal increase ; and that the working out of the specimens was very difficult, owing to the variability of the species and to their being closely allied.—Mr. Malcolm Burr exhibited a specimen of a cockroach, Pycnoselus zndicus, Fabr., taken in a house at Bognor, Sussex. He said this was the first record of the occurrence of the species in England. According to De Saussure, it was distributed throughout India, Ceylon, Mexico, and the United States.— Mr. P. Crowley exhibited a remarkable variety of Adraxas grossulartata taken in a garden at Croydon last summer.— Mr. Tutt exhibited some Micro-Lepidoptera from the Dauphiné Alps. Several specimens of Psecadia pusiedia, Rom:, showing considerable difference in the width of the black zigzag band crossing the centre of the forewisgs longitudinally. The species was taken at La Grave, in a gully at the back of the village. A large number of specimens were secured, chiefly resting on the trunks and branches of two or three ash and willow trees growing on the bank at the side of the gully. A few specimens, however, were obtained drying their wings on the grass on the bank, but Mr. Tutt stated that he failed to find pupa-cases. Mr. Tutt also exhibited specimens of a “‘plume” which had been named Lesoptdlus (Aluctta) scaro- dactyla. He also exhibited specimens, from Le Lautaret, of Gelechia spuriella, Sophronia semizcostella, Pleurota pyropella, Bcophora stipella, and Butalis fallacella. The latter were chiefly interesting from the fact that they were taken at an elevation of about 8000 feet.—Lord Walsingham, F.R S., read a paper entitled, ‘‘ Western Equatorial African Micro- Lepidoptera.” A discussion ensued, in which Dr. Sharp, Herr Jacoby, and others, took part. CAMBRIDGE. Philosophical Society, November 9.—Mr. F. Darwin, President, in the chair.—‘*‘On the Nature of the Réntgen Rays,” by Prof. Sir G. G. Stokes. In this communication the author explained the views he had been led to entertain as to the nature of the Rontgen rays, and to a certain extent the considerations which had led him to those conclusions. As Ro6ntgen himself pointed out, the X-rays have their origin in the portion of the wall of the Crookes’ tube on which the so- called kathodiec rays fall, and it is natural that notions as to the nature of the X-rays should be intimately bound up with those entertained as to the nature of the kathodic rays. Two different views have been adopted on this question. Several eminent German physicists hold that the kathodic rays are essentially a process going on in the ether, the nature of which nobody has been able to explain; and that if any propulsion of molecules from the kathode accompanies them, it is merely a secondary phenomenon The other view is that the kathodic rays are not proper rays at all, but that they are essentially streams of molecules. The author expressed the fullest conviction that the kathodic rays are no mere process going on in the ether, but that the propulsion of molecules is of the very essence NO. £416, VOL. 55] of the phenomenon; only it is to be remembered that the molecules are not to be thought of as acting merely dynamically, by virtue of their mass and velocity ; they are carriers of electricity ; and it would seem to be mainly to this circumstance that some at least of their effects are due. He indicated what he believed to be the true answers to the objec- tions of those who regard the kathodic rays as processes in the ether; and adopting the theory that they are streams of molecules explained how, in his opinion, this theory, taken in connection with the more salient features of the X-rays to which the kathodic rays give birth, leads us to a theory of the nature of the X-rays. Everything points to the X-rays as being, like rays of light, some process going on in the ether, and sufficient indications of their polarisation appear to have been obtained (at least when those indications are taken along with the undoubted polarisation of the Becquerel rays with which they have so many properties in common) to refer the Rontgen as well as the Becquerel rays to a disturbance transverse to the direction of propagation. The absence of refraction, which is so remarkable a feature of the X-rays, suggests that their progress through ponderable matter takes place by vibrations in the ether existing in the interstices between the ponderable molecules ; a view which, if correct, leads incidentally toa some- what novel view as to the mechanism of the refraction of light. The absence, or almost complete absence, of diffraction and interference of the X-rays leads to one of two alternatives— either that they are of excessively short wave-length, or. that they are non-periodic or only very slightly periodic, the X-light being on the latter supposition regarded as a-vast succession of independent pulses analogous to the *‘ hedge-fire”’ of a regiment of soldiers. According to the author's view, each electrically charged molecule on arrival at the target gives rise to an independent pulse, and the vastness of the number of pulses depends on the vastness of the number of molecules in even a minute portion of ponderable matter.—‘‘On the Contact Relations of certain Systems of Circles and Conics,”” by Mr. W. McF. Orr.—‘‘ On certain cases of discharge in vacun, and on the zigzag path of Lightning,” by Mr. J. Monckman. PaRIs. Academy of Sciences, December 7.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—Pleurisy in man studied by means of the Rontgen rays, by M. Ch Bouchard. The existence of pleurisy in the human subject is very clearly indicated by the Rontgen ray shadows, but the method offers no advantages over the ordinary clinical diagnosis. —On the composition of the gases which are evolved from the mineral waters of Bagnoles de Orne, by MM. Ch. Bouchard and Desgrez. The gas contained traces of helium, 4°5 per cent of argon, 5°0 per cent. of carbon dioxide, the remaining 90°5 per cent. being nitrogen.— The theory of the confluence of the lymphatics and the morphology of the lymphatic system of the frog, by M. L. Ranviér.—On the quaternary elephants of Algeria, by M. A. Pomel. In the two quaternary geological horizons six species of elephant have been found, the distinguish- ing characteristics of which are described.—The quaternary rhinoceri of Algeria, by M. A. Pomel.—Observations on the total solar eclipse of August 9, 1896, made in Japan by M. H. Deslandres.—Optical analysis of urine, and the exact estimation of proteids, glucosides, and saccharoid non-fermentable materials, by M. Fr. Landolph.—Germination of the spores of the truffle, by M. A. G, Grimblot.—Modification of a fundamental principle relating to imaginary quantities, by M. L. Mirinny.— An air compressor with two cylinders, by M. J. Niffre.—Com- parison of the observations of Vesta with the tables, by M. Leveau.—On a class of paraboloids, by M. A. Mannheim.—On the problem of Dirichlet and the fundamental harmonic functions attached to a closed surface, by M. Le Roy.—On the equations representable by three linear systems of points, by M. Maurice d’Ocagne.—The construction of standard plates for the optical measurement of small air thicknesses, by MM. A. Perot and Ch. Fabry.—On the property of discharging electrified con- ductors communicated ,to gases by the X-rays by flames and by electric sparks, by M. Emile Villari. A reply to the claim for priority in this subject by M. E. Branly.—On lithium nitride, by M. Guntz. It is practically impossible to prepare lithium nitride in a pure state, as it exerts a solvent acfion upon every substance used as a containing vessel.—On the heat of forma- tion of selenic acid and some selenates, by M. René Metzner. Measurements are given for the heat of neutralisation of seleni 168 NATURE [ DECEMBER 17, 1896 acid with soda, potash, baryta, lead oxide, and silver oxide ; and of the heat of formation of the various hydrates. —Estima- tion of phosphorus in the ashes of coal and coke, by M. Louis Campredon. It is shown that the whole of the phosphorus cannot be extracted from the ash even after a very prolonged heating with hydrochloric acid. Fusion with alkaline carbonates of the residue left after extraction with acid always gives a further amount of phosphate, which is the larger the longer the ash has been ignited.—Analysis of commercial copper by the electrolytic method, by M. A. Hollard. Details are given of the method employed for the exact estimation of the copper in crude coppers.—On ozone and the phenomena of phosphorescence, by M. Maurice Otto. Most organic substances are capable of giving rise to phosphorescence when placed in contact with ozone. The luminosity produced with ordinary distilled water is shown to be due to the presence of minute quantities of organic matter. —On the new bread for military purposes, by M. Balland.—Re- searches on the modifications of nutrition in cancerous subjects, by MM. Simon Duplay and Savoire. The alkaloidal substance isolated by M. Griffiths, in 1894, from cancerous urines, would appear to be due to the introduction of foreign micro-organisms ; when the cancerous growth is in a part of the body naturally aseptic, no such substance can in general be found in the urine. An alkaloidal substance, differing in its reactions from that de- scribed by Griffiths, was, however, present in one case of sar- coma.—On a new method of collecting the venom of serpents, by M. Paul Gibier. It has been found that after suitable arrangements have been made for holding the snake and collect- ing the venom, the serpent refuses to emit a single drop of the venom. This difficulty is overcome by stimulating the venom glands and neighbouring muscles with a weak alternating cur- rent, when, in a few seconds, the glands are completely emptied. —Use of the grisometer in the medico-legal examination for carbon monoxide, by M. N. Gréhant. The gas is extracted by the aid of acetic acid and the mercury pump, and the carbon monoxide determined in the gas mixture by means of the grisometer.—On the development of some annelids, by M. Auguste Michel. —Observations on the rhizoctone of the potato, by M. E. Roze.—Destruction of Heterodera Schachtit, by M. Willot.—The endomorphic transformations of t.e granitic magma of Ariége, in contact with limestones, by M. A. Lacroix. — Artificial reproduction of pirssonite, northupite, and gaylussite, by M. A. de Schulten.—The Upper Jurassic strata in the neigh- bourhood of Angouléme, by M. Ph. Glangeaud. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17. Royat Society, at 4.30.—On the Dielectric Constant of Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Air: Prof. Fleming, F.R.S., and Prof. Desar, F.R S.—On the Effect of Pre sure in the Surrounding Gas on the Temperature of the Crater of an Electric Arc: Correction of Results in former Paper: W_E. Wilson, F_R.S., and Prof. FitzGerald, F.R 5.—Influence of Alterations of Temperature upon the Electroto: ic Currents of Medullated Nerve : Dr. Waller, F.R.S.— Subjective Colour Phenomena attending Sudden Changes of Illumination : S Bidwell, F.R.S.—On_ the Occurrence of Gallium in the Clay-Ironstone of the Cleveland District of Yorkshire : Prof. Hartley, F.R.S., and H. Ramage.—On some Recent Investigations in Connection with the Electro Deposition of Metals: J C. Graham. Linnean Society, at 8.—On the Chalcididze of the Island of Grenada : Dr. L. O. Howard.—On the Development of the Ovule of Christisonia, a Genus of the Orobanchee : W. C. Worsdell. Cuemicat Society, at 8.—On the Experimental Methods employ ed in the Examination of the Products of Starch-hydrolysis; on the Specific Rotation of Maltose and of Soluble Starch ; on the Relation of the Specific Rotatory and Cupric-reducing Powers of Starch- -hydrolysis by Diastase : Horace T. Brown, F.R.S., Dr. G. H. Morris, and W. H. Millar. Roya STATISTICAL SOCIETY, at 5.30. FRIDAY, EpipEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8. DECEMBER 18. INSTITUTION OF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Wells, and Well-Sinking : John W. Kitchin. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20. Sunpay LecTurRE SocIETY, at 4.—Creatures of Other Days: Hutchinson. Rev. H. N. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22. Roya. InstiruTion.—Use of Liquid Air in Scientific Research (before H.R.H. the Prince of Wales): Prof. Dewar, F.R.S. InsTITUTION OF CrivIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Steel Skeleton Construction in Chicago: E. C. Shankland. 1416, VOL. 55 | BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 300KsS.—Alterations of Personality ; A. Binet, translated by H. G. Bald- win (Chapman) —The Cell in Development and Inheritance: Dr E. B. Wilson (Macmillan).—Second Annual General Report upon the Mineral Industry pf ths United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the Year 1895: Dr. le Neve Foster (Eyre and Spottiswoode).—light as the In- eeition of the Law of Gravity: A. M. Cameron (Sydney, Angus and Robertson).—London University Guide and University Correspondence College Calendar, 1895-7 (Clive).—Hygiene for Beginners: Dr. E. S. Rey- nolds (Macmillan).—Compressed Air Illness: Dr. E. H. Snell (Lewis).— Roentgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anodeand Cathode: E. P. Thomp- son (Spon).—Knowledge, Vol. xix (326 High Holborn).—Studies in the Morphology of Spore-producing Members: Prof. F. O. Bower. II. Ophio- glossacez (Dulau).—Die Leitfossilien : Dr. E. Koken (Leipzig, Tauchnitz). —Elementary Non Metallic Chemistry: S. R. Trotman eee So 8 The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, Moths, Vol. iv. Sir G. F. Hampson (Taylor and Francis). PaMmPHLETS.—Die Seen des Salzkammergutes und die Osterreichische Traun: Dr. J. Miillner (Wien, Hélzel).—Die Abfluss-und Niederschlags- verhiiltnisse von Béhmen, &c.: Dr. A. Penck (Wien, Hdélzel),—Atlas der Osterrischischen Alpenseen, i. Liefg.: Dr. F. Simony and Dr. J. Miillner (Wien, Hilzel) —Ditto, ii. Liefg.: Dr. E. Richter (Wien, Hélzel.—The Results of the Use of Tuberculin in the Castlecraig Herd: J. Wilson (Edin- burgh, Johnston). Seriats.—Lloyd’s Natural History. Game Birds: W. R. Ogilvie- Grant, Parts 1 and 2 (Lloyd),—Himmel und Frde, November (Berlin, Paetel).—Engineering Magazine, December (Tucker).—Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, Japan, Vol. x. Part 1 (Toky5),— American Journal of Science, December (New Haven).—Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, Part 20 (Leeds, Taylor). —Bulletin de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, &c., de Belgique, 1896, Nos. 9 and 10 (Bruxelles).— Journal of the Franklin Institute, December (Philadelphia). — Botanische Jahrbiicher, &c., Zweiundzwanzigster Band, 3 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann). CONTENTS. PAGE Sir George Airy. By W.E.P. .. POCO ie tN A New Work on Cytology. By J. B. F, 3 ht Ones Colliery Management. By Bennett H. Brough Bomati ts) Our Book Shelf:— Hertwig : ‘The General Principles of Zoology.”— S. J.-H: See os en hl A Haes: ‘‘ British Patent Law, and Patentees’ Wrongs and Rights” . 149 Gregory : ‘* Diagrams of Terrestrial and Astronomical Objects and Phenomena.”—C. P. B. . ..... 149 Whymper : ‘‘ The Romance ofthe Sea”. . . . . . 149 Letters to the Editor :— The Use of Kites for Meteorological Observations in the Upper Air.—H. Helm Clayton . 150 The Theory of Dissociation into Ions.—Prof. ‘Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S.; W. C. D. Whetham; E. B. Herrountasee ae URS Responsibility in Science. ‘Dr. Charles Chree = 2 52 The Satellite of Procyon.—Isaac W. Ward. . 153 The Leonid Meteor Shower.—W. F. Denning 153 Oyster Culture in Relation to Disease.—G, H. Baxter; Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S. . 154 Radiography. —Dr. G. M. Lowe : 154 Chelidonium majus as a Cure for Cancer. es Leeson Prince 4. «se Measurements of Crabs. z= a Al Cobb. / yee 155 Diselectrification by Phosphorus. —Profs. Elster and Geitel; Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S. . .:. 2 2 2° 155 Cultivation of Woad.—A. C. G. Cameron Seycei iS Dormant Seeds.—Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell - . . 155 The Arrangement of Branches of Trees.—Thos, Swan 155 Curious Purple Patches.—E. . Se MES Fascine Training and Protection Works. * (dllus- trated.) . = uso Sir William MacGregor’ s Recent. Journey across New Guinea, and Re-Ascent of Mount Victoria. By J.P. Thomson .. . SRE Ss Go RY Johan August Hugo Gyldén RCE So a BES INIOLES = ”., in. 6 ONCE scr o LSe Our Astronomical Column:— **Bureau des Longitudes? . - . . 2 ss so Oy ““The System of the World” BPM 5 Oo oc DS ** Companion to the Observatory ” . a eID Bacterial Water Purification. By Mrs. Percy Frankland .. . ee ee cies te} University and Educational ‘Intelligence sur Male ion LO Societies and Acadenmess).). 2°... ©: qnuns 204 Diary of Societies eee LOD Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received __ . 168 NALURE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1896. PETROLEUM. Petroleum: a Treatise on the Geographical Distribution. and Geological Occurrence of Petroleum and Natural Gas; the Physical and Chemical Properties, Pro- duction and Refining of Petroleum and Ozokerite ; the Characters and Uses, Testing, Transport, and Storage of Petroleum Products ; and the Legislative Enactments relating thereto; together with a Description of the Shale Oil and allied Industries. By Boverton Redwood, F.R.S.E., F.I.C., Assoc.Inst.C.E., assisted by G. T. Holloway, Assoc.R.Coll.Sc., F.1.C., and others. 2 vols. 4to. g00 pp. (London: C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1896.) Le Pétrole, Pasphalte et le bitume, au point de vue géologigue. By A. Jaccard. Professeur Geologie a FAcadémie Neuchatel. 1 vol., 8vo., 292 pp. (Paris: F. Alcan, 1896.) Petroleum : its Development and Uses. By R. Nelson Boyd, M. Inst. C.E. 1 vol. 8vo, 85 pp. (London: Whittaker and Co., 1896.) S A adopted a map of the world; and thereupon are indicated by red spots, the known localities of the occurrence of petroleum: so treated, only a few parts of the map remain undotted, and these are mostly those which, in the world, are either permanently ice or ocean- covered, or those which, such as Central Asia, Central Africa, and Central Brazil, are still but little explored. The universality, far from being confined to the geo- graphy of petroleum, is one of the main distinguishing features of this unique subject : the chemistry, geology, mining, technical applications, and legal and fiscal aspects, all demand, for their due elucidation, the most experienced experts, inasmuch as each of these aspects is of a quite special character, a peculiarity which, in its turn, arises from the fundamental fact that petroleum is unlike anything else among the world’s chief products. To write, or to compile, a comprehensive text-book on | petroleum demands, therefore, an acquaintance with | dissimilar subjects, and with varying walks of life, very rarely centred in one individual. will ever remain remarkable as the production of a man whose scientific attainments, and whose relation to the petroleum industries, were such that he, probably better than any other living man, was fitted to undertake | the task. But while the qualifications of Mr. Redwood singularly well fitted him for attacking a problem which even the German had not attempted, the inherent difficulties of compiling this treatise must be prominently kept before the mind in forming a judgment as to the quality of the authors work, and due allowance must be made for places where, to this geologist or to that chemist, to this inventor or to that lawyer, it might seem that the elaboration had been too restricted, or the facts presented too few. Certainly a sincere tribute must be paid to the great industry displayed in the production of this work, to the careful selection of its facts, to the eminent sense NO. 1417, VOL. 55] The present work is and | | frontispiece to his first volume, Mr. Redwood has | | are the most worthy of acceptance. of proportion shown in the marshalling of the latter, to the pure and lucid style, and especially to the wonderful fairness and judgment shown in briefly indicating the views of the principal disputants in the more contentious regions of its scope. The work contairis a vast volume of information, the errors are very few indeed, and to those familiar with the busy life of the author in the very vortex of petroleum matters, it will not be a matter of surprise to learn that the work is, whether treating of new petroleum fields, new methods of drilling, recent improvements in testing, or fresh legal enactments, modern in every sense of the word. Though in an encyclopedic work of this kind origin- ality is hardly expected, and is perhaps out of place, the author carries a curious, quite Plato-like, shrinking from the revealing of his individuality, to an unnecessary pitch: indeed, most readers will have to confess to some disappointment in being unable to get at Mr. Redwood’s own opinion on most of the debatable points connected with petroleum. Thus, Section iv., ‘The Origin of Petroleum and Natural Gas ”—one of the least satisfactory of the eleven sections into which the work is divided, is summed up in the following words: “Probably, on the whole, the Hofer-Engler views at present have the largest number of adherents, and in respect, at any rate, to certain descriptions of petroleum, At the same time, a careful study of the subject leads to the conclusion that | some petroleum is of vegetable origin, and it therefore follows that no single theory is applicable to all cases.” Here, and especially also in the section devoted to liquid fuel, the re seems to be too much quoting of “authorities,” and too little critical examination of the, not infrequently, intrinsically worthless, “ views” which, because emanating from the high*placed learned, have been allowed to obscure the subject : Mr. Redwood would have done good service in pruning away some of these. Two of the most valuable of the sections are those dealing with the “ Geological and Geographical Distribution of Petroleum ” and with the “ Testing of Crude Petroleum and Shale Oil Products, Ozokerite and Asphalt,” respec- tively. In the first of these Mr. Redwood has introduced a series of most carefully drawn maps and sections, many of these being original, and at any rate so in the forms now presented: the maps, in fact, constitute one of the most valuable features of the work, being the kind of map brought forward by the man who has visited the locality personally. As to the matters dealt with in the second of the sections mentioned above, Mr. Redwood is, of course, facile princeps, and it cannot fail to be a source of justifiable pride to him to see how much he has individually contributed to modern methods of testing petroleum. Equally (in conjunction with Sir F. Abel) in the flash-point apparatus, in the viscosimeter, and lately in the flame-cap apparatus, used for the detection of dangerous amounts of hydrocarbon gases in tank-ships and elsewhere, and in many other ways, the technical development of petroleum owes much to his labours ; much more than he has allowed himself, with characteristic modesty, to indicate here. The text is accompanied by over 300 illustrations, all most carefully revised and examined ; those dealing with drilling implements being particularly serviceable. I 170 NATURE [ DECEMBER 24, 1896 It may be said generally that any one mastering the work would have a very competent knowledge of the subject, and one which he could not obtain from any other single source. To summarise, it must be allowed (1) that a text-book upon petroleum—at once comprehensive and authori- tative—was greatly needed; (2) that there was hardly any one capable of compiling such a work; (3) that Mr. Redwood has most successfully essayed and accomplished the task by the production of this most excellent text- book. Unlike Mr. Redwood’s work, that of Prof. Jaccard is concerned solely with the geology of petroleum, though the geology is of that wide order that it embraces such subjects as the origin of petroleum and of natural gas, and the causes of “ bituminisation.” The study of the various conditions under which petroleum occurs in nature, is remarkably clearly written and is, moreover, illustrated by many admirable little semi-diagrams, thoroughly French in character, and truly luminous to the text: the work is, however, marred by the narrowness of view, displayed in the selection of the sources drawn upon, by the not infrequent antiquity of these latter, and by the only too obvious circumstance that for many of the localities, whose petroliferous peculiarities are described, the author only knew the facts at second-hand. Thus the account given of the occurrence of Galician petroleum and of the industry founded thereupon, is ridiculously brief; its inaccuracies at once stultifying also the author’s table showing the occurrence of petroleum in strata of various ages. Transylvanian petroleum, including the interesting deposits about Soosmezo, is, apparently, not even mentioned, while the Roumanian deposits, much less important than those of Austria-Hungary, are described at some length—or, rather, M. Coquand’s reports upon them are abstracted at some length. From the above it will be gathered that that study so much needed at the present moment, viz. a critical comparison of the petroliferous rocks of the Carpathians, has not been attempted by the author. Naturally, when treating of the Jura, Vosges, Hano- verian, &c., petroleum localities, subjects to which he has devoted individual attention, Prof. Jaccard speaks with unquestionable authority, and this is the most valuable part of the book. The author seems to have attempted to put forth his greatest strength in the chapters dealing with the origin of petroleum and its conditions of occurrence in the rocks, and the causes of these conditions. Though he admits a vegetable origin for certain petroleums, he considers, largely influenced to this opinion by his studies of the fossils of the Jura deposits, that a bitu- minisation of certain animal (especially molluscan) remains may be fairly demonstrated. In spite of the fact that the work of French geologists is too exclusively referred to, while the work of others is often ignored, yet the book is an eminently clear and readable one ; and, regard being had to the existing works, treating of the geology of petroleum, an English translation would undoubtedly be useful at the present time. It may be noted that, prefixed to the work, there is an NO. 1417, VOL. 55] account of the life and work of Prof. Jaccard (died January 5, 1895). In Mr. Boyd’s readable book of eighty-five short pages a well-known petroleum-expert glances rapidly over the whole range of the subject for the benefit, primarily, of those who wish to glean some smattering of petroleum- lore. The subject is one which is attracting in- creased attention from the general public, and this booklet will no doubt be found useful by a large class of readers. It isa pleasure to be able to add that the information contained in it is equally trustworthy within the scope contemplated, and entertaining, because well arranged and clearly explained. The work would be still more attractive, and its sphere of usefulness enlarged, if in another edition there were to be added to it two or three sketch maps and an illustration of a drilling plant. By RB: THE AIM OF BIOLOGICAL TEACHING. Biological Lectures Delivered at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Holl, in the Summer Session of 1895. Pp. 188. (Boston, U.S.A., and London: Ginn and Co., 1896.) “ 7T TRUST that you all, when you leave the laboratory, will carry with you a deeper and loftier enthusiasm for original research, which is at once the chief duty and the chief privilege of the biologist.” Thus Prof. Minot concludes the discourse which he has contributed to this volume ; and the sentence not only serves to illustrate the object of the lectures themselves, but at the same time expresses the ideal of that movement in biological teach- ing of which the lectures are a sign. It is to the credit of American teachers of natural science, and more especially of the teachers of biology, that they, more faithfully and successfully than their fellow-workers in this country, have striven to keep in view the true end and aim of all scientific teaching—a training in that method, whose ultimate goal is the increase of knowledge by means of scientific research. The lectures now brought together in volume form were delivered, as the title states, at the Marine Biological Laboratory of Wood’s Holl, in the summer session of 1895. At the laboratory there are assembled during the summer months a considerable number of naturalists engaged in biological research, together with a large body of university students, who have not yet completed their biological course, and the excellent practice has been instituted of inviting the investigators to deliver lectures upon their work for the benefit both of their colleagues and of the students. To students who have been taught to regard scientific research as the end towards which all their studies are directed, nothing could be more stimulating, especially at a time when they are brought into such intimate contact with nature, as a residence at a marine laboratory affords, than lectures such as these, delivered by men who are themselves actually working at the subjects about which they speak. Yet we cannot refrain from remarking, what no one who has been brought into contact with English students with the dead hand of the examination hanging over them will deny, that for the latter such discourses would possess but little interest. DEcEMBER 24, 1896| NATURE Let Our students, indeed, would seem to have no time to be interested ; all they demand is something that will “ pay,” when the examiners are met. And the result is,as might be expected, that when the goal at which they have aimed is reached, with memories ruined and enthusiasm killed, they are helpless in the presence of the simplest scientific problem, and have yet to learn the very elements of the methods of attack. What they have been taught is not how to gain knowledge, but how to undergo examination. Turning to the lectures themselves, and regarding them from the point of view for which they were de- signed, namely to awaken enthusiasm for the scientific method and to stimulate research, it must be admitted that they have a somewhat unequal value. Perhaps the most successful are those—such as that by Dr. Locy, on “The Primary Segmentation of the Vertebrate Head ”— which are simple, straightforward statements of the re- searches upon which their authors are themselves engaged, and in which they are, therefore, themselves most keenly interested. And without expressing an opinion on the morphological theories which the author advances, we would single out this lecture by Dr. Locy, as being likely for another reason to be specially instructive to the student who is feeling his way to investigations of his own. No idea is more frequently met with amongst those who have just completed their academic training, than that our knowledge of common things—of things which are easily procurable and, as it were, ready to hand—is complete, or, at any rate, as complete as it can be made with the methods at present available ; and as a consequence of this idea it is presumed that only by seeking for strange objects in strange places, or by the employment of some new and complicated method of research, is there any prospect of adding to the knowledge which already exists. Now, as Prof. Kingsley points out in his lecture on the subject in this volume, the question of the segmentation of the vertebrate head has occupied the attention of leading anatomists since the beginning of the present century, and perhaps no problem could be mentioned which has been more thoroughly investigated and discussed without a satisfactory conclusion being arrived at. On the other hand, no vertebrate embryo— not even that of the chick—has been more studied than the Elasmobranch embryo. Notwithstanding these two considerations, we here have Dr. Locy bringing forward a theory of the segmentation of the head, based very largely on a minute study of many stages of early embryos of Acanthias, chiefly in surface views. We could almost hope that Dr. Locy’s theories may prove to be correct, for the sake of the valuable lesson which his success would teach. In “ Bibliography : a Study of Resources,” Prof. Minot treats of a real difficulty which invariably confronts the young investigator at the outset of his work, and about which he is accustomed to receive little advice or help. The various methods are explained by which, amongst the vast mass of biological writings, the literature dealing with any particular subject may be most readily and completely discovered, and many practical hints on bibliography are given, which should prove exceedingly helpful to those for whom they have been brought together. NO. 1417, VOL. 55 | Prof. W. B. Scott’s remarks on “ Paleontology as a Morphological Discipline” contain many suggestive ideas, | and Prof. Osborne gives some interesting ‘“ Reminis- cences of Huxley.” In reading these we cannot but call to mind how large a share Huxley took in establish- ing that system of biological teaching which, as at present carried out in this country, seems to call for serious condemnation ; again an illustration of how a system, in its origin the embodiment of the thought of a master mind, may, in the hands of those that follow, become the mere corpse of an idea, better put from sight. The least successful portions of the volume are the two lectures by Dr. Dolbear, entitled ‘“ Explanations, or How Phenomena are Interpreted,” and “ Known Re- lations between Mind and Matter.” These are of a more or less metaphysical nature, and deal with some of the fundamental problems connected with the human mind and human knowledge. In treating such problems, especially before an assembly of students, the primary conditions of success must be that the propositions brought forward are stated in clear and definite language, without confusion of terms, and that there is not the slightest suspicion of any confusion of thought. That the lecturer cannot be congratulated upon having accomplished this, the following quotation is sufficient to show :— “The spectroscope, an instrument for determining whether matter is solid or gaseous, when turned towards the sky showed that there were vast numbers of gaseous masses there and in many degrees of condensation. This discovery was held to corroborate the idea of Kant and Laplace, so that to-day there is no astronomer who does not hold the view that the Solar system as we see it to-day is a growth, that it was not made as it is, and that gravity with the simple laws of motion are sufficient in themselves to organise the Solar system as we find it, and an explanation of it is an exposition of how these factors brought it about.” We must be pardoned for expressing a doubt as to whether the students derived much benefit from these remarks. Looking, however, at the lectures contained in this volume, as a whole, they must be regarded as possessing a very considerable value, not chiefly for what they themselves contain, but more especially as representing a movement towards a truer method of biological teaching, which cannot be too highly commended. A STUDY IN SYMBOLISM. The Buddhist Praying-wheel: a Collection of Material bearing upon the Symbolism of the Wheel and Circular Movements in Custom and Religious Ritual. By William Simpson. Pp. viii + 303. (London: Mac- millan and Co., 1896.) ANY people have seen a Buddhist praying-wheel, a small cylinder filled with written or printed prayers, and either surrounded by an outer case and turned by a twirl of a spindle, or else swinging round a spindle held in the hand. But besides these hand pray- ing-machines, which so often find their way to Europe as curiosities, there are larger forms of the same instru- ment of devotion in the temples and villages of Thibet. 172 NATURE [ DECEMBER 24, 1896 Huge cylinders inside the temples, turned by the priests, or rows of barrel-like cylinders along their outer walls, turned by a push of the hand of people passing in the street, or cylinders turned by water or wind, are common objects, and have never failed to attract the attention of travellers in that country. Such a traveller was Mr. William Simpson, who spent the hot seasons of 1860 and 1861 in the Himalayas, and in both years passed over the boundary into Thibet. He made sketches of the praying-wheels he came across, visited the temples, and watched the priests at their devotions endlessly turning the huge cylinders ; he also bought one of the small hand-cylinders, and learned the proper method of using it. On his return to this country he collected what information he could, and, although in 1867 he wrote a magazine article on praying-wheels, his interest in the subject did not cease, for he continued his read- ing, the results of which are embodied in the book before us. As its title suggests, Mr. Simpson has not confined himself to the Buddhist praying-wheel, but has extended his range of study to include the symbolism of the wheel in general which occurs in varied forms in different systems of religion, and has also touched on the circular movements and dances to be met with in the customs and ritual of many races. A glance at his index to book-references will show that Mr. Simpson has con- sulted a large number of very various works, from which he quotes passages which seem to bear on the wheel as a symbol, or on circular movements, and we gather that the principal contention or thesis that he seeks to establish is that the Buddhist praying-wheel, along with all forms of the wheel in symbolic art, has a solar origin, and that circular movements and dances which turn from right to left, are to be interpreted as symbolical of the apparent motion of the sun. It has long been recognised that with primitive races sun-worship is a.most important factor in ritual and belief ; but that all symbolic wheels and circular dances can be referred to a solar origin in the wholesale manner our author appears to suggest, is a theory that most students of mythology will regard with some suspicion. Perhaps one of the most fundamental axioms of the modern science of folk-lore is contained in the strict line of distinction it draws between the beliefs of primitive and undeveloped races, and those of nations that for many centuries have enjoyed a highly-developed civilisa- tion with an organised priesthood, and have been sub- jected to the various influences exerted by their own literature and the literatures of other nations with whoni they may have come in contact. It has been abundantly proved that in two or three generations the influence of literature on a nation can work a complete revolution in its beliefs and superstitions ; so that in tracing the origin and development of its rites and symbols, a completely different method of investigation and standard of judg- ment must be adopted to those employed in the case of less developed and more primitive races. The weakness of Mr. Simpson’s theory, therefore, appears to us to lie in the fact that he does not lay sufficient emphasis on this fundamental principle. He has, in fact, approached his subject rather from the outside, to some extent neglecting—in the case of ancient and _highly-cultured NO. 1417, VOL. 55 | races—the infinite number of influences that have been at work to mould the form their beliefs subsequently assumed. It must be added, however, in fairness to the author, that he himself does not regard his theory as more than a tentative suggestion, and that he considers his book rather in the light of a collection of material : and as such it will, no doubt, be of considerable service to those who are interested in the subject. In conclusion, a word of praise should be given to the excellent illustra- tions scattered through the book, many of which have been reproduced from the author’s own drawings. OUR BOOK SHELF. Physiography for Beginners. By A. T. Simmons, B.Sc., A.R.C.S. Pp. vill + 344. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1896.) As an introductory science it is, perhaps, but natural that the scope of physiography should be somewhat nebulous and liable to occasional modifications ; but after its long existence as a separate subject for the examinations of the Department of Science and Art, one would have expected it to have assumed fairly-defined boundaries. Nevertheless, although important alterations in the syllabus were made only a year ago, still more sweeping changes have been introduced during the present year. We learn from the official statement, that the syllabus “has now been so framed that it is, particularly in the elementary stage, a real introduction to the various branches of physical science... . One object of this revision has been to adapt it for pupil teachers who may be called upon to give object-lessons in their future Cabeer., To meet the demand which has doubtless been created by the recent changes, is the object of the book under notice. It may be stated at once that the book covers the syllabus in the most complete and _ satisfactory manner, and we have no hesitation in saying that teachers will find it to adequately meet their require- ments as a class-book. The descriptions are clear and not too long, and great pains have evidently been taken to ensure accuracy in every section. One of the best features is the great prominence given, for the first time we believe, to experimental illustrations of the subject, all those suggested in the syllabus having been in- corporated, and others added to make a total of 216, all of which require but simple appliances. These, however, will absorb a certain amount of time ; and, to economise a little, there is a summary at the end of each chapter which may well take the place of the notes which are frequently dictated to classes. Sets of questions to test the progress of the students are also included. The book is very generously illustrated, and although some of the figures are not new, they all admirably serve their immediate purposes. A complete list of the apparatus and materials required for carrying out the experimental work would form a very useful appendix to the book. The Metric System of Weights and Measures compared with the Imperial System. By Prof. W. H. Wagstaff, M.A. Pp. vi+121. (London: Whittaker and Co., 1896.) ANYTHING that educates the public in the advantages of the metric system, and exhibits the cumbrous nature of the “weights and measures,” preserved by British insularity to the detriment of British commerce, claims the commendation of men of science. For this reason we think Prof. Wagstaff has acted wisely in reprinting the four lectures on the metric system delivered at Gresham College a yearago. The resulting little volume contains a good general account of the metric system, and one which will excite interest in the subject. The best way to the introduction of the system is to instruct people in it; for as soon as a wide knowledge of metric DECEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 173 measures is obtained, the British system will drop out of existence as a natural consequence of the elimination of the unfit. Prof. Wagstaff not only describes clearly the metric measures, but he also brings together a number of facts and expressions of opinion for and against their introduction into the British Isles. The Aurora Borealis. By Alfred Angot. Pp. xii + 264. (London: Kegan~Paul, Trench, Triibner, and Co., Ltd., 1896.) THIs is a translation of a book—“ Les Aurores Polaires” —reviewed in this column in March 1895 (vol. li. p. 484). It is the eighty-first volume of the International Scientific Series, in the list of which it is correctly entitled “The Polar Aurora,” instead of ‘‘The Aurora Borealis.” Only upon the title-page and cover does the latter designation appear, each of the pages with even numbers bearing the former title. This inconsistency will probably lead to some confusion. A comparison of the present volume with the original edition shows that the translation has been well done. We have, as the result, an interesting and lucid account of the present state of knowledge of the aurora in all its aspects, illustrated by pictures of the typical forms assumed. In an appendix, a list is given of the aurora seen in Europe below latitude 55° from 1700 to 1890. An index would be a valuable addition to the book. Ros Rosarum: Dew of the Ever-living Rose. + 292. (London: Elliot Stock, 1896.) A SECOND edition has been issued of this delightful little volume. It contains extracts from works of poets whose songs have come down to us from all ages. In the interesting introduction the author states that many of the translations are due to the kindness of Lord Tennyson, Lord Lytton, Mr. J. A. Symonds, and many friends. Much information is also given concerning the history of the rose, and it is shown how highly this flower has been regarded at various times and in various countries. In both Athens and Rome it was recognised as the queen of flowers; there seems, indeed, to have been scarcely a time when it was not valued and appre- ciated. The book will be found very interesting ; the quotations have been carefully collected and placed, as far as possible, in chronological order. It may also be added that one quotation from Lord Tennyson is not to be found in his collected works, a fact which adds interest to the little volume. Pp. xxix Knowledge. Vol. xix. January to December 1896. Pp. 288. (London: Anowledge Office.) WE offer our congratulations to the editor of Anow- Zedge upon the completion of this very attractive volume. The illustrations—many of them full-page collotypes— are most instructive pictures, and the figures in the text are just as good. The remarkably fine reproduc- tions of astronomical photographs are particularly inter- esting. A series of twelve well-illustrated articles by- Mr. Vaughan Cornish, under the comprehensive title of “Waves,” also calls for special mention. It is not pos- sible to keep up with the march of science in a monthly periodical ; but Avowledge gives a good general idea of progress, and the present volume is full of interesting articles on comparatively recent work, illustrated by some of the best pictures it is possible to obtain. Hygiene Diagramettes. By W. H. Knight. Chapman and Hall, 1896.) THIS is a colleetion of twenty-four photo-zincograph reductions from large diagrams designed for teaching hygiene. Upon the page facing each of the illustrations are given brief descriptions of the separate drawings and tables. These notes, together with the instruc- tive diagrams, should be very serviceable to teachers and students. It is a pity that the inscriptions attached to some of the illustrations are illegible, owing to the reduction of the originals having been carried too far. NO. 1417, VOL. 55 | (London : LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. [Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts tntended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. | Leonids of November 15, a.m., 1896. THE display of Leonids on the morning of the 15th ult. was observed here under very favourable conditions of the sky for noting the progress of the shower in numbers and in brightness, and in the position and distinctness of the meteors’ radiant-point or centre of divergence. As observations of this kind collected in the present early stages of the shower’s gradual increase to greatest brilliancy seem likely to be very useful to improve our knowledge of the past history and mode of advent of this meteor-stream into the solar system, I send the following leading particulars of the shower as it was here observed. The sky was cloudless during my watch from midnight until dawn appeared rapidly at six o’clock on Sunday morning, the 15th, excepting only in the hour from 44 to 54 a.m., when clouds spreading slowly hid nearly all the sky in the latter half of the hour, but dispersed quickly then in time for a perfectly clear half-hour from 54 a.m. till daybreak. At this latter time the radiant in Leo, then preceding the mean sun as it did, about six hours in R.A., had reached its highest southern altitude of a little over 60°, or nearly that of the sun at midday in midsummer, while in the hour from midnight to 1 a.m. it was, like the sun in June-July at 6-7 in the morning, 20° to 30° above the E. by N. horizon, having risen above the horizon in that quarter a few minutes after ten o’clock. The moon, however, a little past her first quarter, shone strongly still in the west, hiding 5th magni- tude stars till one o’clock, and only set, leaving the sky quite clear, at about 1.45 a.m. It may be owing to the obstacles of clouds in one, and of moonlight in another hour of the watch, that only one Leonid was recorded in each of the two hours from 44 to 54, and from 12 to I o’clock ; but observa- tions made elsewhere under better sky conditions, by Mr. W. H. Milligan in Belfast, and by Mr. H. Corder at Bridgwater, show that there were really lulls in the shower’s intensity before 2, and towards 4 o'clock, though it regained its brightness in the later hour from 5 to 6 o’clock; and neither the compara- tively low altitude of the radiant-point, nor the moderate strength of moonlight till 2 o’clock seem sufficient to account satisfactorily, considering the brightness of most of the meteors which showed themselves very little later, for the marked scarcity of Leonids noted in the first two hours of the watch. The following numbers of Leonids and of sporadic or non- Leonid meteors were recorded (and most of theirapparent paths were mapped) in the successive hours (or half-hours) ending at r (x4) (2) 3 4 (42) I I 2 7 5 Ir 5% (6) a.m. Numbers of Leonids x 6; Total, 34 Numbers of Sporadic AWeteorsitssl iss axecu ee Oar 2) SKS Ay ae Ratio of Leonids to Sporadic Meteors, nearly 3 :1. Hourly Numbers of Leonids ... I 2-4 mz 7 (10) [*2] (12); (*, cloudy}. Meteor-magnitudes. : Equal to ir Q@ % Sirius rst 2nd 3rd 4-sth. Numbers of Leonids mart 2 6 8 5; Lotal, 34 Numbers of Sporadic Meteors eS _- -— —_ — I 2 Ose asa, Le The second table shows how much the Leonids surpassed in brightness, as they also did in numbers, the ordinary appearances of shooting stars on a November night. The brightness of the display, and its rather sudden commencement, apparently at about 2 o’clock on the morning of the 15th inst., seem to point to that morning as having been at least a very conspicuous date of its return this year, although eager expectation of a shower on the morning of Saturday, November 14, was awakened in the 1 English Mechanic, November 27, 1896 :—‘‘ From 12} to 2” (? Irish time, = 1-2} English time) a.m., Mr. W. H. Milligan noted ‘‘g Leonids ; hourly number about 6.” This was a rather low rate of appearance in that period. Mr. Corder began watch at 2 o'clock, and saw eight Leonids and two sporadic meteors in the first half-hour, “after which the numbers fell off; but when the radiant had risen higher, about 5 to 60 clock, 16 meteors were seen in an hour, nearly all Leonids.” Descriptions of the shower's appearance on the preceding morning (of November 14), by Mr. Corder and Mr. E. R. Blakeley, in the same issue of the Engdish Mechanic, and descriptions of the apparent paths of several bright Leonids seen in a clear hour at daybreak on November 15, by Mr. W. E. Besley, at Waltham- stow, in the next preceding number of the same journal (November 20), are extremely interesting in this connection, and will presently be again referred to. 174 NATURE [| DECEMBER 24, 1896 preceding days by. ably written: atticles on the phenomenon in the leading daily journals, which could not be fulfilled and realised in England from the unfavourable state of the atmo- sphere for observations. The earth should indeed have crossed the main meteor-stream of the two great showers of 1866 and 1867, supposing the node of the meteor-current’s orbit to have been advancing at its accustomed pace on the ecliptic in the imtervening years, at about daybreak, or between 3 and 9 o'clock a.m. on Saturday morning, the 14th, as predicted; but certain attendant meteor- clouds or clusters also exist, accompanying the main stream, and on 1865, November 13 (a.m.), a grand display of the Leonids was widely observed in Europe and America from midnight until daybreak, which, it was shown by Mr. B. V. Marsh? of Philadelphia, U.S.A., constituted a branch-stream twelve or fifteen hours earlier in the times of its maximum recurrences than the principal meteor-stream of the two great November-exhibi- tions of the next two years. And again, near Pekin in China, on November 15 (a.m.), 1867, and in America on November 14 (a.m.), 1868 (agreeing also with showers observed in England on November 14 (a.m.), 1868, and November 15 (a.m.), 1871 *) bright showers of Leonids scarcely inferior to the maln stream’s apparitions were witnessed, which, as was pointed out at the same time by Mr. Marsh, belonged to a branch-stream following the main stream, instead of preceding it, by about the same time of between twelve and fifteen hours as the other one, in its appearances. The Leonids of the 15th ult. appear thus to have appertained to this following branch-stream which the earth was probably passing through with sensible sparse gaps and con- densations, for about 14 hours (according to its formerly observed durations) between dusk and daybreak on the night of the 14th-15th ult. ; and if the two following and preceding side-streams are equally long, evenly extended belts with the main stream of meteoric matter, it may perhaps be expected that on the mornings of November 14 and 15 next year, the earth will come to be immersed in the preceding and following meteor-belts, respectively, while the main current encountered like the fellow-streams, six hours later than their predicted times this year will be traversed in the daytime of November 14, 1897, producing a principal meteor-shower then which in the full daylight will not be visible in England. In the years 1899 and 1900, on the other hand (the latter year a non-leap year), it seems probable that the brief but imposlng scene of the earth’s passage through the main stream, if no disturbances in its path since 1866-7 have warped the current out of its expected course, will occur more opportunely and more favourably for English watchers about at midnight and at 6 o’clock a.m. respectively, and one or both of them perhaps in pretty full completeness, on the mornings of November 15. The general colour of the heads and streaks of the Leonids seen on the 15th ult. was dull yellowish white, or yellow, but some of the largest had bright white nuclei with white streaks. The head of one very fine one only, at 5.58, was slightly greenish, when brightest ; but the long and broad dense streak which it left visible for 6 seconds, was of the same golden yellow ‘colour as that which prevailed in the fainter streaks of ordinary durations (2-4 secs.), and of ordinary lengths (10°-20°), and which was now and then seen most distinct and vivid in the spindle-shaped foreshortened streaks left near the radiant point. This green and yellow-tinted meteor, brighter than Jupiter, and the last which I observed, shot through 40°, overhead across the dawn-lit sky, from the direction of « Zeonzs so exactly to 8 Aurige, and directed there towards Cafe//a, that that bright star-pair, prolonging the line of the streak’s golden wand, as it appeared, which just reached the former star, looked with the streak like a grand jewelled sceptre in the sky, whose long staff only slowly faded.* ; ‘1 British Association Reports, 1869, pp. 302-3. 2 [bid., 1872, pp. 96-7. See also 1866, pp. 64-5 and 137. 8 Had I provided myself with a hand-spectroscope for this eccasion, this meteor’s streak and a few of the most enduring ones left by the brightest meteors of the shower, would doubtless have presented very interesting features for spectroscopic study. By comparison with the sky-positions re- corded of this meteor’s apparent path at Walthamstow by Mr. Besley, a real path of the meteor is obtained by the base line of 28 miles W.S.W.-E.N.E. between the stations, from 90 miles over a point on the border of Sussex and Hampshire, halfway from Midford to Alton, to 27 miles over a point 5 miles east from Didcot, directed from a radiant point at 150° + 22°, then 60° above the S. by E. horizon; the length of the sloping path being 74 miles, which the meteor described, as was noted here, in 14 second. The beginning and end heights, and the speed of flight thus indicated by the calculation of nearly so miles per second, not surpassing much the real meteor-speed—43 miles per second—of the Leonids, lend much probability of correctness to NO. I417, VOL. 55] Fine meteors leaving streaks along their whole path-lengths for four or five seconds appeared at | <= Apparent path = § We * | os Streak ; Appearance ; pion Mag: = 5 - sg a £ | and Rematee | 3 nue From Tore = oo | a.m. ; 4 “ £54. |' > 1 152 + 52 | 200:-+ 89 | 40 | 1 2.2 XY 45 +°67 | 352 +.36 | 4o | 1} r 2.29 | .>1 79 - 31) 54:= 10 |\z0 |. 4 | Low in S.W.: 2.33,\|,, 2 134 — 10 | 132 — 16 | 6| }| Low in E. 3.6 Sirius | 100 + 8 82 — 1 | 20 4 | In S. ; white streak. 31r | 9 22 +14 | 17+ g] 6 1} | In W.; (approx. path.). 3-12 | Sirius| 26 +145 6 + 25 | 25 | 10) In W.; white streak. 4-14 4% | 165 +10} 176 + 44 | 35 | 13 | Fromp Hydra (?); white 5 | with broad. white streak | for 6 secs. 4.45@)) >t | 173 +9 179 #: 4) 8 | 10 558 | yf | 135 + 30 7 + 45 |.40 | 14 | Long yellow streak for 6 | | secs. Seen also apparently, at Walthamstow, by Mr. W. E. Besley, with the following description, and positions :— 5:59 2 141k + 23 | 95 +:22 | 43| — | (The Zxglish Mechanic, | | November 20, 1806.) The meteors nearly all moved very swiftly, and described their paths, in general, at rates of about 10~-15° in half a second. Much careful selection was needed from the mapped paths of the Leonids to obtain a satisfactory position of the radiant-point, as quite a volley of fine long-pathed streak-leaving meteors from a radiant, apparently in Crater or Hydra, far south of Leo, streamed in direction across Zeo and Cancer, surpassing the Leonids in speed, brightness of the heads and streaks, and lengths of path, and frequently confusing themselves with the cometary shower as if they were exceedingly erratic members of it. One very resplendent one, whiter and brighter than Jupiter, set out, at 4.14 a.m., exactly from Jupiter in the middle part of Zeo, and shot swiftly up across 6, 6 Leonzs, 35° to near the hindermost foot of Ursa Major, leaving a dense white streak 5’ broad for about six seconds all the way—a path which it would be difficult to reconcile with a radiant point near gamma Leonzs, although the meteor in all respects, except in its globular white head, exactly resembled a Leonid. A position is given for December in Prof. Heis’ and Dr. Neumayer’s ‘‘ List of Southern Radiants,” of 1867,! at 148°, — 34°, which although much further south than one near A Hydre at about 150°, — 12°, which seemed to be active on the 15th ult., yet shows that there are showers with southern declinations at this time of the year near the meridian of the shower from Zee, almost as oppositely directed (and consequently as swift) in their motions as the Leonids are, to the motion of the earth. The meteors. of the 15th ult. and of a few neighbouring nights, also showed signs of radiation from near 6, or a and « Cancrz, at about 137, + 17°; and ona chart of meteor-paths recorded last year on the mornings of November 13-15, I find four long-pathed tracks traced back toa common radiant-point at 132°, +17, near 8 Cancrz, which they fitted well, and which perhaps confirms this place. Omitting then as doubtful Leonids for this reascn (or else for their distances from the chief focus of the radiation), out of the thirty real or possible Leonids mapped, all but those whose courses’ prolongations backwards would cross the small area of the sky formed by completing the circle half traced by stars in Leo's sickle, the twenty-two paths remaining, all diverged from a circular tract 10° in diameter, having a point at 148°, + 23°, near the small star x Zeonds, at its centre. But a circle only 6° in diameter, round a centre at 149° + 24°, also includes nineteen of these tracks very evenly distributed, if three at the south-west border of the larger circle are omitted ; and accord- the view adopted here, that though differing in the apparent magnitudes, and somewhat in the estimates, as described, of the path’s apparent lengths at the beginning and end points, the two accounts at Walthamstow and Slough really referred both to the same bright long-pathed shooting-star seen to begin its course at both the stations in remarkably close proximity to a radiant-point almost identical in position with the principal one on that night in Leo. Seven meteor paths of Leonids were mapped in the hour from 5.38 to 6.42 a,m. on November 15, by Mr. Besley, of 1st-3rd magnitudes, and the last of them in strong-growing daylight, as bright as Jupiter. This bright white one, and three others, all beginning in and near Leo's sickle, diverged almost accurately from a common point at 149° + 22°, the remaining three only deviating, in respect to radiation, from 4° to 8° from that position. 1 British Association Reports, 1868, pp. 405-6. i DECEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 175 ingly this latter point, still very near to « Zeonzs in the middle of the sickle, was a very well defined and exactly marked centre of the shower’s radiation, since nineteen out of thirty, or 63 per cent. of all the tracks of possible Leonids recorded, pro- ceeded from within 3° or 34 from it, outwards towards all directions. The chief apparent wandering from this centre shown by the eleven erratic-flighted Leonids was south-westwards, towards a, k Cazcr?, where seven of those outlying tracks (including the three wide-circle-grazing path-lines) are loosely collected ; but of these seven, some may have belonged, as was surmised above, to contemporaneous sparse showers at about 135°, + 17°, and 150°, — 12°; andasthe four paths which strayed north-eastwards from the sickle, though forming a fan-like group roughly focused at about 155°, + 35, near f/, ¢ Leones Menorzs, were no doubt | Leonid stragglers, shooting in proper numbers for their own half of a field supposed to be about evenly strewn with them, from no really existing radiant centre there, there would thus seem to have been among the strayed Leonids themselves no tendency that could be noticed to move in side-flows and tangent-streams presenting laterally drawn-out and branching radiations strong or distinct enough to be discernible. No such lateral disper- | sions or divisions, therefore, seemed, from all the tracks’ pro- | jections, to have affected the shower’s radiation with any per- | ceptible apparent changes from the very exactly defined centre, | with even, and not very great dispersion round it, which has | been usually observed asa strikingly conspicuous feature of this star shower’s radiation at its principal returns. Positions of this after-shower’s radiant-point, obtained formerly and in the present year, are not in very perfect, although in fair | general accordance; as even inits bright display of November 14 a.m., 1868,! the flight was seen breadthwise, though more distant there than from Bristol, it subtended an arc in the sky of fully 12°. The computed speed of flight, 48 miles per second, although cer- tainly terrific, does not exceed the known meteor speed of the Leonids, 43 miles per second, very greatly. One of the sporadic meteor-paths observed by Mr. Denning was directed from the | vicinity of A Hydre, and the other four apparently from Gemznz or Zaurus, and from Ursa Major. A fairly satisfactory comparison of this year’s observations of the Leonids with the views obtained of them last year, although much frustrated by the cloudy weather which prevailed in England on those nights, in both years, when the earth’s passage through the densest part of the meteor-system was expected, may be made rather scantily, but perhaps not insufficiently to show the increased intensity of the display this year in its gradual progress onwards towards its maximum The subjoined figure was prepared to assist the recognition of the separate streams | of which returning signs have no doubt been visible in some of the present year’s and of the last two years’ watches. The relations of the leading and following side-showers, a and 6 in the figures, to the central one A, in duration and separation- distance, are supposed to be as shown by Mr. Marsh’s similar projection in a figure! of the chief showers in 1865-68 ; for the leading showers, 12 hours, ending 64 hours before, and for the following shower, 133 hours, beginning 6 hours after the limits of the middle-shower’s duration, whose entire range, in time, on the ecliptic also only reached 44 hours for the two tracts together in which the earth there met with and passed through the middle stream in 1866-7. The central stream’s node on the ecliptic is also supposed tu places were assigned to it, at Rome, ‘‘at the centre of the five stars of Leo’s sickle” (1493°, + 224°) at Moncalieri, Piedmont, ‘*exactly between vy and 5, ¢ Leonzs” (153°, + 22°), and at Madrid, “close to » Leonzs” (150°, + 17° mean of these places, 151°, + 204°). In Nature, November 30, 1871, a description of the shower’s appearance in England on the morning of No- vember 15, 1871, assigns the radiant- point’s position from twenty-six Leonid paths as ‘‘not very well defined, but approximately close to ¢ Leonzs” (152°, + 24°). On the morning of November I5 in the present year, Mr. Corder obtained a position of 150°, + 24°, from forty-three Leonids ; and four of the seven paths mapped at Walthamstow at day- break on that morning by Mr. Besley (see note on p,. 174) diverged accurately from 149°, + 22°—all slightly onward in R.A. from the principal radiant-point in Leo at 148°, + 23° ; but the positions are too slenderly consistent to make this small difference appear to be of very much importance. In a watch for the Leonids, from 4 to 6 a.m. on the 15th ult. at Bristol, Mr. Denning mapped the apparent paths of ten Leonids and five sporadic meteors. Three of the Leonids (one of them a foreshortened flash as bright as Jupiter) diverged accurately from 150°, + 23°, the other seven (also including one as bright as Jupiter) being directed eastwards from the lower part of Zeo’s sickle-circle. Of the three true-pathed Leonids, a small, very foreshortened one, of 3rd mag., leaving a streak, which fell at 5.45 a.m., about 2° from 7 down the sickle- handle, was also seen and mapped at Slough, at 5.444, of 2nd mag,. leaving a streak for two seconds, but shooting through 12° in half a second to near a Orzonzs from the stars in the head of Monoceros, this path among the stars being from 50° to 60° re- moved by parallax (owing to the long base line of 84 miles, nearly due east and west, between Slough and Bristol) from the short course in Zeo which it seemed to have from Mr. Denning’s place of observation. The meteor’s real path was found to be from the mean radiant-point of the shower at 150°, + 23° (then about 60° high above the S. by E. horizon), shooting steeply down through 24 miles, from 70 miles over a point 8 miles south, to 50 miles above a point 7 miles W.N.W. from Blandford, in Dorsetshire, the earth-point of this course being near enough to Bristol (about 20 miles south) to give a nearly end-on view there of the swift flight, subtending only 2°, while at Slough, where 1 Reports of the British Association, 1869, pp. 293-4. 7 | NO. 1417, VOL. 55] Fic. 1.—Probable times, of recurrences of the Leonid meteor-shower and of its lateral branches, in the recent and coming years, 1894-1901; assuming the node of the meteor-orbit to have moved since 1866-7 with its observed and calculated mean motion. have been constantly, and to be still advancing at the mean rate, found for it by Prof. Newton and Prof. Adams, of 28’ or 297 from a fixed, or of 57’ fromthe mean movable equinox, in each complete period (33+ years) of the stream’s revolutions ; so that the earth returns to the meteor-node in 414 minutes more than a true tropical year (amounting to 23 hours in a meteoric cycle), and in 30} minutes more than a mean Julian year. The Leonid showers thus recur in successive years, as the figure shows, 63 hours later in each year than in the previous year; but the 6 hours in this amount are corrected every fourth year, as in the present leap-year, by the supernumerary day, and only the half- hours accumulate in long times, and made the return of the after- stream 4 this year fall 14} hours later, on November 14, than its appearance 28 years ago, in 1868? (for 13 or 14 hours, from near midnight in Europe until after daybreak in America) on the morning of the 14th then ; and even shift its time of appearance into lasting on now, apparently through all the morning hours of November 15. No striking exhibitions this year of either the middle or the preceding showers A and @ appear to have been noted. At Slough, on the morning of November 13, only one true-pathed Leonid, with two from Cancer and Hydra, and three sporadic meteors were recorded in a sky half-clear, from 2 to 4 o'clock. In a watch of two or three hours on the same morning at Bridgwater, Mr. Corder noted twenty meteors, at a rate of eight per hour, and only five of these, or about two per hour, were Leonids. On the morning of the 14th, when the sky in England was generally overcast, similar numbers were observed ; by Mr. Corder, ina sky often foggy, thirty-three meteors being seen at 1 Given in the discussion of those showers by Mr. B. V. Marsh, already cited above, in the Reports of the British Association, 1869. 2 [bid, 1869, pp. 289-94. 176 NAGORE | DECEMBER 24, 1896 the rate of 8-13 per hour, of which only a small proportion still were Leonids, and by Mr. Blakeley at Dewsbury, who noted, from 12 to 44 a.m., with two hours of quite clear sky at last, forty meteors, never appearing faster than fourteen per hour, among which were twelve Leonids with an hourly rate never exceeding six. Four or five of the Leonids were very bright, and their radiant-point was well defined at 150°, + 24°; but the whole display fell considerably short in brightness of that observed in 1895. ! Perhaps the three close-following meteor-showers may all have fallen a little later this year than the figure represents them ; but the first few hours of watches on the mornings of November 13 and 14 should at least, as the diagram shows, have been (as they were) both slenderly productive times, while a bright meteor-shower should have prevailed (as it did, rather vividly) on the morning of November 15. On last year’s November dates the case was different, a rather bright array of Leonids being seen on the morning of November 14, followed by a smaller one on November 15, while after the latter date a generally clouded state of the sky in England prevented further observations, At Bridgwater, on November 14, Mr. Corder mapped eleven Leonids between 2 and 4} a.m., and found their radiant point at 152°, + 23°. Five or six Leonids were recorded here between 12 and 3 a.m. on that morning, with a radiant- point at 151°, + 23°, to which were also traced the paths of two Leonids mapped between 1 and 24 a,m. on the next morning of November 15, when the shower seemed to be -passing off, and when clouds on that and in the next night’s watch prevented a complete view of the shower from being obtained at Bridgwater, . and generally in England. The spectacle was thus most promin- ently seen last year on the mornings of November 14 and 15, while it was this year most conspicuous on the morning of November 15; and this agrees with this trial-figure’s indication that the early and middle branches of the shower should have occurred at favourable morning hours on November 14 and 15 last year for English observations ; but at such late hours this year, as to be only weakly visible in a few slight foretokenings on November 13 and 14, compared with the full brightness of the after-shower brought into view on the morning of the 15th by the same advance in hour together of all the three members of the triple concourse. If the present positions and durations, then, of these component showers may be assumed to have been de- picted in the figure with approximate correctness, a full view of the end and middle portions of ¢he first shower beginning to appear in the next two years, 1897 and 1898 after midnight {a.m.) on November 14, will afford means of comparing in strength and brightness those phases of the leading shower with the middle and early parts respectively of the a/ter-coursing one, then still well visible on November 15, to gauge their relative extents in length and width, and the relative looseness or com- pactness of their structures, which may perhaps not offer them- selves again so favourably for some years. It will also be very useful in coming years’ watches for these detached clouds of fragments from the meteor-comet, to note exactly the hours of the watches kept, the states of sky and moonlight, with the numbers and brightnesses of the Leonids and sporadic meteors seen, to enable a true distinction to be drawn between bordering diffuseness of the streams, and really distinct branch-currents or offshoots from the meteor- cloud ; for between 4 and 6 a.m. on November 17, and from 2 to 5 a.m. on November 18, last year, Mr. Corder found true- pathed Leonids almost as numerous (11 out of 22 meteors, and $ out of 30 meteors) compared with the sporadic shooting-stars, as on November 14 (11 out of 26 meteors), from 2 to 4 a.m.; while on the previous morning of November 13, from 2 to 44 a.m. only 3 or 4 Leonids were seen among 18 meteors ; show- ing that both gaps and condensations reaching to considerable but as yet not fully determined distances from the main streams exist to either side of them, of which the extents and the changes, or the fixity of distribution would be very interesting particulars of their modes of assemblage to endeavour to trace out by observations. On the morning of the 27th ult., in clear sky, between 14 and 3 a.m., seven small meteors were recorded here, two of which, of 1 The English Mechanic, November 27, 1896. At Funchal, in Madeira (th. 8m. W. long. from Greenwich), Leonids were seen falling at the half- hourly rates of 6, 9, 6 in half the sky, from 4} to 6 a.m. (about 5.40 to 7.10 a.m., Greenwich time), on November 14; the similar rates between 2 and 4% a.m., in equally clear sky, having been only 3, 1, 1, 2 and ‘1 in half an hour.—Letter from Mr. W. Anderson, in the English Mechanic, December rx, 1896. Note, December 15.—A. S. H. NO. 1417, VOL. 55] Ist and 2nd mags., and orange colour, at 2, and 2.42 a.m., be- tween cand o Honorum, radiated with short slow courses from between 8 and 6, and from near y Andromede, and were evi- dently fore-shortened Andromedes; but the first of them, at least, was quite as erratic from the true centre, near y Azudro- mede of the Bielan shower, as the tracks through Cancer, Hydra, and Leo Minor of the recent showers of Leonids have been from their native shower’s true radiant-point. The horary scarcity of these small Andromedes on their annual date this year, showed that no brisk Biela meteor-shower was then in active progress. On the two evenings immediately preceding and following this short morning watch, the sky here was quite overcast. A. S. HERSCHEL, Observatory House, Slough, December 9. The Force of One Pound. Dr. LopGcE has some right to complain of the friendly post- card. I wanted the Powndal difficulty to be threshed out in public, and we had just been writing to each other about it, but I quite forgot that my post-card might give him the wrong notion that my general remarks referred to him. Dr. Lodge knows that the real question before us concerns the Poundal ; he knows that his advocacy of it has helped to maintain that unit in its academic position, and yet he now leaves its defence to others. He professes his love for all units, and attacks the poundalists and the poundists impartially, for suggesting ad- herence to any system in particular. This is better than his own maintenance of the Poundal, and I hope that it presages a com- plete change of front. His maxims are of the best: ‘* Urge clearness of idea and accuracy of speech on all who deal with the junior student. These should not call different things by the same name...” But what if they continue to do so? He himself often uses ve/oczty when he only means sfeed. A pound of force, a pound of stuff, the inertia of a pound ; here are three very different things all with the same name. When the chemist tells us that there is the same quantity of matter after as before chemical combination, what does he mean? He means that the wezght of it is the same; the force of attrac- tion by the earth. A certain amount of oxygen is equivalent in a certain property (its weight), to a quantity of hydrogen, and he says that he will call the quantities equal. Certain quite different amounts of them are egz¢va/ent in another property ; he has exactly the same reason for calling these other amounts equal. A ton of iron is equivalent in a certain property to two ounces of gold. Why not call these amounts equal ? A pound of gold is no more the same as a pound of iron, because their weights and inertias are the same, than two chairs are the same as one table because they may be equal in value. I hope that Prof. Fitzgerald may be induced to say something on this head, the ‘‘huggermugger” of confounding quantity of matter with inertia; for I think with him that this is what produces far more confusion in the minds of students than the use of many different units for things of the same kind. The practical engineer has uncommon good sense, he hates the Poundal, and I think that Prof. Fitzgerald is right when he says that it is not merely because it is a new unit, but because it is founded on ‘‘huggermugger.” Let Dr. Lodge read Mr. Jackson’s letter which followed his own. He will see that Mr. Jackson cannot comprehend how anybody can avoid using the pound of stuff as a fundamental unit, and how it must be innate perversity which causes engineers to adopt as their unit of inertia (or mass, as they have unfortunately to call it), the inertia of a body to which the unit force gives unit acceleration. This is the fruit of the Poundal ; no doubt its inventor thought of inertia. Mr. Jackson thinks of quantity of stuff, which is a conventional or metaphysical idea. The standard units of time, of force, of inertia ; we can only keep them in indirect ways. Assuming that waste is prevented and that the weight and inertia of a certain body measured under the same circumstances at the same place are always the same, any standard body with proper comparing instruments gives us our standards of force and inertia. The instru- ment for comparing forces is ready to hand, a good weighing balance. There is no instrument which can be relied upon for comparing inertias, so we fall back upon an indirect method, assuming that inertia at any place is proportional to weight. But it is to be noticed that all our practical acquaintance with inertia and with what we call quantity of matter is based upon our measurement of wezght, of DECEMBER 24, 1896| force. A piece of metal is kept in London; it is defined as having there the weight of 1 pound, but only if weighed in a vacuum. Because it has this weight it is called 1 pound of stuff. Because it has this weight its inertia is said to be that possessed by a body whose weight is 1 pound. Now there are your standards in one piece of metal and in its environment, and in your instru- ments. You cankeep the name 1 pound as the wezg/t according to law, or you can call t pound the zzer¢7a of the body, but you cannot call it 1 pound of quantity of any material except of that particular kind of P#? Whichis more convenient? To call it the unit of a kind of P¢ is too restrictive. Tosay that it has 1 pound of inertia is not more scientific than saying that its inertia is 1/3219. As to convenience, note that we almost never need to speak of the zzertéa of a body except on our way to a dynamical calculation. The claim of wezgh¢ of 1 pound as a unit of force is ever so much greater ; for (1) there is the legal unit in exist- ence. It might have been defined as the force required to elongate a certain spring, but this also would have been indirect. (2) All practical men use the unit already, and it is hopeless to try to alter their systems of working. All applied mechanics and engineeering books written in the English language, from Rankine’s superb treatises to the commonest pocket-book, use this unit ; not one such book of repute can be mentioned in which the Poundal is used and in which this unit is not used ; Joule used it, and many others of our best experimenters ; even physicists never compare their forces in any other way than with the weights of bodies, and the pound is legally the English unit of weight. (3) Theunit is so exceedingly easy to understand that years have now to be spent in driving it out of a pupil’s mind; there is no part of our universe which we can reach where we might make experiments, where the unit is not easily derivable by a small and often negligible correction from the weight of a body whose weight in London is equal to that of the standard piece of platinum, and such bodies are to be found wherever men buy and sell by weight. I think that Mr. Jackson is well answered in a quotation, slightly altered, from Dr. Lodge :— “To identify quantity of stuff and inertia is barbarous, to denote their units by the same name is unwise.” By the bye, I should like Dr. Lodge to point out where I have lost sight of the dimensions of g and treated it as a mere equivalent for 32°18. One might say that it was stupid, or thoughtless, or academic, but I hardly think that Dr. Lodge is happy in his use of the term ‘‘ illiterate.” Anyhow, I did not do it. -Engineers do not do things of that kind. Mr. Cumming thinks that a system of theoretical dynamics can be built upon our basis ; he does not seem to be aware that the system is already built ; the ordinary dynamical expressions have no more to be altered when our units are employed than -when the C.G.S. units are employed, and we do not need even to introduce Dr. Lodge’s method of writing, which gives so much trouble in all but the very simplest algebraic expressions, but which certainly enables him to use any units whatever. I am afraid that it is known only to a few people as yet, but it is well worth knowing, being almost a necessity if one uses the Poundal or the Hogshead. It is simply this: every quantity goes about with a label as of a sandwich-board round its neck. Parenthetically I may say that Mr. Cumming is mistaken in thinking that engineers use the C.G.S. units in working with such fundamental equations as + VES ad V=(R+LE They use volts, amperes, ohms, secohms, farads, and seconds. Why else were the practical units invented? They were invented by practical engineers who at the same time invented the C.G S. system, because they found that for the working of engineering problems, accurate answers and not merely academic logic was wanted. Unfortunately the academic 4m trouble was introduced, and till it is removed the practical man feels that life isa burden. These engineers were, as so many of our best engineers have been, trained at Cambridge, and this is one reason why I do not like to hear Dr. Lodge throw so much blame on Cambridge text-books. My opponents are not in agreement among themselves. I wish they were all as catholic in their sympathies as he. He wonders why people object, and who they are who object to the term centrifugal force. 1 think he must know many; anyhow there are certainly some, for they have told me so themselves during the last few weeks. And even he is now disposed to prohibit the use of a word, NO. 1417, VOL. 55] a) (k= 1 he NARORE ‘between engineers and teachers of mechanics ? 177 never used wrongly by engineers, because the present generation of academic persons have found out that their predecessors had very wrong notions. I do not see why he should speak so disrespectfully about that most wonderful property of a body, its attraction by and for the earth, which I will call its we¢ght. He calls it ‘‘a curious and ill-understood deportment,” and his dislike for it is due to its having ‘‘ laid such hold of the engineer's imagina- tion that he has begun to think it the most fundamental property of matter.” I am glad that he concedes the engineer an imagination in spite of his not understanding the so easily understood ‘‘ etherial stress.” For my part, I acknowledge great ignorance about it, and I think it the most fundamental property of matter. His students are very happy; they know all about etherial stress ; they know how to use all units, any units, to get along with no units, and, in fact, Dr. Lodge seems to think that what he himself knows, after all his years of study, must also be known to his students because he has told them. I may say that I also delight in using all sorts of units. I perhaps go further than Dr. Lodge, for I regard algebra as the best of all mediums for translating phenomena into mental processes, and I should not object to the multiplication of a cows + 6 bridges with c cows + 5 tons of sugar, if I could see any use in giving a meaning to such things as cow x cow or cow® (curiously enough, Dr. Lodge would object to cow squared as a colloquial reading of cow x cow), or cow x bridge. But surely the student described by Dr. Lodge is a very ex- ceptional philosopher, a boy of eighteen, with all Dr. Lodge’s knowledge. Is he not assuming that because a student gets marks on an examination paper, he really knows his subject ? How easy it is for a student to get full marks for ‘* What is Ohm’s law”? But how many years of his life must elapse before he really knows Ohm’s law? Or ‘ What are Newton’s laws of motion”? How very easy, and yet how exceedingly difficult. Take force = mass x acceleration. A student thinks he understands perfectly what you tell him, and can work all sorts of exercises on this statement. But let the thing come before him in a new form, and where is his knowledge ? Dr. Lodge ¢hzzks in all his units, and in my opinion the students of whom he speaks cannot think in them. I want to put students in the way to the mental position which Dr. Lodge postulates as the best. I want them to get into a higher position still, that of the engineer who is able even to think of the same sorts of terms in one equation being in quite different units. Dr. Lodge would dilate on the ignorance shown by this engineer. Mr. Barrie, in describing two boys in one of his books, says, ‘* Shovel knew everything, but Tommy knew other things.” In my article I refer to the persistent scorn of the academic philosopher for the engineer and the harm that it has done. Surely Dr. Lodge might restrain it a little in a public discussion. All English-speaking engineers use the force of one pound as their unit, and Dr. Lodge sneers at it as the colloquial unit of the shire in which an engineer happens to live. The shire is a very extensive one. It needs a globe to show it all. Hesneers at the Heaven-born engineer of whom I spoke, and of his wish to advance in his profession, and the mutilated fragment of science and pocket-book information which serves for commercial pur- poses. He seems to be very proud of his ignorance of these commercial purposes to which so many students of higher physics mean to devote themselves, and yet he is not backward in expressing his opinions concerning them. He says: ‘* May I tell Prof. Perry what is at the root of the perennial debate It is the subject of acceleration. An engineer’s bodies are nearly always either at rest or in uniform motion, their accelerative stages he is usually able to ignore.” If anybody can speak on this subject, surely it is I. Iwas trained in the shops and at college as an engineer, and I have done a good deal of engineering work, and I teach mechanics. I beg to say that Dr. Lodge is quite wrong in this. When I wrote about professors and engineering students I did not once think of him I think now that he has written in haste, and that he cannot seriously put forward the view that the very most elementary idea of kinetics is unneces- sary to the actual professional work of the engineer! Is it, then, of no use in any practical work of anybody? Has Dr. Lodge no students who think of the forces acting between the parts of reciprocating machinery, of the balancing of engines, of the action of governors, of the effects of centrifugal force? It 178 NATURE [ DECEMBER 24, 1896 is a very grim joke, but we must bear with it and many others of the same kind, and in the meantime we do say that we agree with Dr. Lodge in his notion that our true and only natural foes are ignorance and prejudice. This ignorance of the needs of mere mechanical persons and prejudice against attempts to teach them, are fashionable now among scientific men. At the recent dinner of the Royal Society quite a genteel titter greeted a casual reference to technical education in one of the speeches. I like algebra myself, but I do not think that it is the only possible conventional way of making an exact statement. How- ever, taking Dr. Lodge’s student with his “‘true from the bottom upwards and entirely true,” mariner’s formula to find a certain academic distance ; is it quite certain that he will think of using it in a practical case? In my experience it is the very last thing that will enter his mind. I should not call him an ass, as Dr. Lodge does ; he only follows Plato’s maxim, not altogether neglected in English education, that philosophy ought to serve no useful purpose. The Wrangler’s naive faith, when he does condescend toa practical problem, is generally shocked in finding that such problems require the addition of a little common sense to the formula. Now I do not object to a man’s finding out the usefulness of a rule (call ita mere numerical rule if you like, but it is evidently a very different thing), in actual practical examples before he understands how it is derived, for lam confident that he will then be easily induced to inquire how the rule is arrived at; he will go further and think of the evidence for the roundness of the earth, and indeed it may prove to be the starting-point in his scientific education. I grant you that he will not go far if his instructor makes him begin his studies with the six books of Euclid. Why does the mariner remain so ignorant of mathematics although he uses the results every day? Surely he wants to know the why? Yes, indeed he does, but you have taught him that he cannot know the why unless after years of quasi-philosophic worry. When I spoke of the practical knowledge needed by the engineer, I meant to include such knowledge of physics as is possessed by Dr. Lodge himself ; I mean no mere pocket-book knowledge. Before a student can get to this higher region he needs to be taught to think, and it is in our notions of this pre- liminary training that I differ from Dr. Lodge. I do not care much what a man’s system of teaching may be ; if it is his own, however faddy, he will teach his students better than on a better system, not hisown. But we must acknow- ledge that the average teacher needs a system to be given to him, and this ought to be the best system. Well, I think that the existing system is about the very worst possible. We compel a student to boggle at imaginary difficulties. We worry him for years over four books of Euclid ; we have given up the fifth book, and even the supplement to the fifth, but we still worry him with the sixth, and then go on to geometrical conics. Now even the sixth book merely involves ideas which every boy takes in without much difficulty ; it is so natural to think of using any unit of length, that Dr. Lodge forgets how the ideas of the sixth book are needed in his simple mariner’s rule. But as soon asa student begins his work in physics, he is rushed over difficulties to which the difficulty of thinking about the mere ratio of lines is nothing. I do not say that he ought not to be suddenly surrounded with ideas of the sums and differences and ratios of all sorts of scalar and vector conventions for quantities, and told to sink or swim among them. I think this the very best thing for him ; but what of your consistency in mind-training, of the philcsophy of your methods? Dr. Lodge compels me to describe my non- academic way of teaching. I thought that everybody knew it, but evidently he does not. I believe in using the experimental method from the begin- ning ; of squares and ratios of sides of all sorts of right-angled triangles being figured out by the boy of eight years of age, to see how near he gets to tabulated sines and cosines. I believe in his measuring time and lines and forces with the watches and scales and balances which are in common use ; in testing the rules of mensuration of areas and volumes, and the finding of weights of bodies by calculation ; and it is only when a boy has a good quantitative knowledge from his own experience that I trouble him with the philosophy of mathematics and physics, and then I do it cautiously. I make beginners plot curves on squared paper—curves showing the rate of increase in the price of silk or cotton or the height of the barometer, or the National Debt or other things given in Whitaker’s Almanac—in telling them about the slope of a curve and its analogy with velocity and acceleration and dy/dx and ds/d¢ and d°s/dt*. They ‘‘ graph” all NO. 1417, VOL. 55] sorts of curves; they add and subtract vectors by actual draw- ing, and their lectures and laboratory work and graphical and numerical exercise work go on simultaneously. Some of my academic friends not only refuse to let a student use a formula, but they refuse to let him use a table of logarithms until he can calculate logarithms. To be consistent they ought to refuse the use of a watch or of clothes until a student has shown aptitude in the watchmaking and tailoring trades. I let my students use any appliance whatsoever if I think that it will give them a better acquaintance with natural phenomena ; any- thing that will cause them to think. As a student gets on I let him take all sorts of liberties in regard to units ; he uses w/e for m ; he speaks of centre of gravity instead of centre of mass or centre of area. Also, I venture to tell Dr. Lodge that the very best of my students, who know something of Bessel functions and spherical harmonics and elementary St. Venant work on the torsion and bending of prisms, and something about generalised coordi- nates, are taught to have the very highest respect for the rule- of-thumb practical methods of calculation in use among engineers. They are taught that the engineer has to deal with things that are by no means so simple as the ordinary laboratory phenomena, and that rules arrived at through the trials and errors of generations of practical men are worthy of some respect. Lastly, I may say that we are tired of the whole academic system which recognises no philosophy or literature or art which is not studied as)a dull grind for examination purposes, and I am thankful to say that we have indeed ‘‘a sympathetic faith in a much larger training.” JOHN PERRY. December 17. The Earthquake of December 17. Ir may interest your readers to know that the recent earth- quake of December 17 was shown slightly on the declination curve, and more distinctly on the horizontal force curve, at Kew Observatory. The time of commencement was 5h. 35m. a.m. (+1 minute) G.M.T. The disturbance on the horizontal force trace approximately equalled what would have been produced by a change of 0°00004 C.G.S, units in that force. CHARLES CHREE. Kew Observatory, Richmond, Surrey, December 19. EARTHQUAKE shocks occurred in Worcester at 3.35 and at 5.31 a.m. on Thursday. The 3.35 shock was feeble, of short duration, and was noticed but by few persons. But the visita- tion of 5.31 exceeded in violence any previous instance of seismic energy here within the present century. There were in the 5.31 instance two shocks following each other with a bare interval. The shocks consisted of a series of rapid vibrations, too rapid to admit of count. These shocks were preceded by a roar as of thunder. Some describe the roar as that of the noise of a ‘“‘rushing mighty wind.” My house was shaken with appalling violence, displacing roof tiles, and forcing open a closed chamber door. To me the shocks seemed to proceed from north to south, The duration of the shocks lasted between four and five seconds. Some say the shocks lasted fifteen seconds ; but if the earthquake had lasted so long, my house would have been down. As it was the house was rocked to its foundation, and the sensation was appalling. Persons whose bedrooms. faced the north, saw a great light accompanying the earthquake. This peculiarity is by some attributed to lightning, by others to the effect of a large meteor. Mr. Russell Dirrell, of North Piddle, a place seven miles east of Worcester, saw at the time of the earthquake a great blaze of light low in the northern horizon, continuing for two or three seconds. He was unable to attribute the blaze to a lightning effect. At the homestead of Mr. Walters, of Hallow, three miles north of Worcester, the in- mates were thrown out of bed, as was the case in several other instances in the same village. Here the shocks were most severely felt at places on the west of the Severn. In Worcester the shocks created general alarm. Bells were set ringing, shut doors forced open, windows rattled, heavy wardrobes displaced, earthenware scattered about, in some instances broken, but no one was injured. A strong fixed wash-hand basin in a lavatory was split to pieces. The church clock of All Saints, on the east of the Severn, was stopped at 5.15 a.m. Asseems to be usual in such cases, poultry and pheasants flew down from their perches and showed signs of distress, birds flew aimlessly about and DEcEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 179 clamoured. Graziers noticed that their milch cows were greatly trembling and seemed dazed, and horses ran about the pastures. During the shocks the river Severn here suddenly surged and angrily foamed up to the level of its banks, subsiding to its former level on the cessation of the 5.31 shocks. At Hallow, a labourer stooping to lace his boots was pitched headlong into the fire. The season here has been marked throughout by exceptionally low readings of the barometer, such as 28, 50, 28, 70, and 29. The thermometer in my bedroom at 5.31 on the 17th was 38. The direction of the wind was northerly. Worcester, December 19. J. Liroyp Bozwarp. (1) THE only record that I have seen here, undisturbed as yet, of the measurable displacement of any object by the shock, is that of a large iron ornamental vase on pedestal, weighing at least 100 kilos., standing in the middle of a lawn ona stone foundation sunk in the ground. This has been moved sideways on its foundation through a space of 3 cm. I laid a long straight lath close to it in the approximate direction of displace- ment, and took compass readings near each end of the lath (to eliminate any deflexion due to the mass of iron). The mean of the readings gives magnetic N. 18° 30 E., as the direction of displacement of the mass. The true direction may, however, have been rather nearer to magnetic N., for the pedestal is square and slightly sunk below the surface; and as the sides were forced obliquely against the turf, the motion may have been deflected from the line which would have been taken if there had been no resistance. _ (2) One piece of evidence that the plane of the oscillation here was mainly, at any rate, horizontal, may be worth giving. I have a barograph (Richard Fréres pattern) screwed firmly to a bracket attached to one of the internal walls of the house. The long recording arm of this is so sensitive to changes of vertical pressure, that the mere employment of a housemaid’s brush near the instrument is enough to cause a vertical displace- ment of 1-2 mm. in the ink-trace ; and, contrary to instincts of tidiness, I have had to give a caution against dusting operations in the neighbourhood, so many ‘‘dust-storms” have been graphically registered. If, then, there was any vertical movement in the wall during the shock, there would undoubtedly be a straight vertical line on the ink-trace. If the movement was purely horizontal, the pen would simply be jerked away from the paper, and would fall back to its former position. I examined the register shortly after the shock, and could find no trace whatever of any vertical irregularity in the barometric trace. The air-pressure, I may also mention, was remarkably uniform during many hours preceding and following the shock. (3) Lastly I would note, as an evidence of weakness and prob- able strain in the strata of this district, the extensive line of fault (or rather two parallel adjacent faults) which runs nearly N.N.E. and S.S.W. through Newent, between the Malvern Range and Hereford, where the shock seems to have been most severe. ‘On the west side of these faults, we have on the surface the Old Red Sandstone; on the east side, the Keuper Marls, the Old Red having been thrown down at least 4000 feet. Gloucester, December 19. Bs, Be THE EARTHQUAKE. U NTIL last Thursday, the great Essex earthquake of 1884 held the premier place among British earth- quakes of the last few centuries. So far as structural damage is concerned it is not yet displaced from that position, for, though in many places chimneys were thrown down by Thursday’s disturbance (at Hereford at least one of the pinnacles of the Cathedral was damaged), yet there does not appear to have been that wholesale destruction which marked the Essex earthquake at Colchester and the surrounding villages. With regard to disturbed area, however, the inequality is reversed. 1 The disturbed area of the Essex earthquake is estimated by Messrs. Meldola and White at about 50,000 square miles. This has been exceeded -on two later occasions by the Pembroke earthquakes of August 18, 1892, and November 2, 1893, a paper on which will be read before the Geological Society on January 6 next. No. 1417, VOL. 55 | Though the recent shock occurred at a time (5.32 a.m.) when many observers were asleep, there can be little doubt that it was practically felt over the whole of England and Wales. At present we have only to exclude the terminal counties of Northumberland, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent and Cornwall ; and possibly these exceptions will disappear when fuller details are obtained. So far, no record has come from Ireland, but there can be little doubt that it must have been felt along the east coast, if not for some distance inland. With regard to my own observations, I was roused at 5h. 324m. from a dream of earthquakes, by a series of fairly strong regular vibrations of approximately equal intensity. Those I felt obviously belonged to the second half of the shock ; they were eight in number, occupied exactly three seconds, and were of equal period, except that between the fourth and fifth the interval was half as long again as between the others. The motion was distinctly lateral, from a nearly westerly direction, the return movement being less perceptible than the forward, so that the shock appeared to consist of a series of firm powerful shoves. No sound was heard during these last three seconds, though I awoke with a feeling that the noise had just ceased; and this fact led me at once to assign a somewhat distant origin to the shock, possibly somewhere in Wales. As telegrams gradually arrived from various parts, it became evident that the epicentre must lie to the south-west, at some fifty miles from Birmingham. The area within which buildings were damaged, includes Hereford, Ross, Worcester, Gloucester, Dursley, Cinderford and other places, and is not less than thirty miles in length. It would be premature to make any de- finite statement as to the exact position of the epicentre, or to suggest any fault with which the earthquake may be connected. But when these places are plotted on a map, one cannot but be struck by the fact that the district within which they lie agrees very closely with the epicentral areas of two previous earthquakes, those of October 6, 1863,! and October 30, 1868.2. The former of these was a distinctly strong shock; and even now, in making earthquake inquiries in the district, I frequently receive references to it. As I am collecting materials for a memoir on the earthquake of Thursday, I should be glad if I might take this opportunity of appealing to all readers of NATURE who can in any way help me, either by describing their own observations, or inducing others to do so. A brief list of questions having recently appeared in NATURE (vol. xlvi., p. 401), it is unnecessary to reprint them here.* They will also, I hope, be found in many local news- papers. If those who have the opportunity would examine the records of self-registering instruments, some useful information might be obtained with regard to time of occurrence at different places. I need hardly say how interesting it would be to have photographs of buildings which have been in any way damaged by the earthquake. I should also be very grateful for any notes, however scanty, on the earthquakes of 1863 and 1868 ; for, if the suggested connection between them and the recent shock should prove a true one, they will in all probability furnish important evidence as to the later stages in the growth of the originating fault. C. DAVISON. 373 Gillott Road, Birmingham, December 19. P.S.—-Since the above was written, I have received records from places in each of the counties mentioned above as apparently undisturbed, and from one place in Ireland (co. Wicklow). (Om 1D} December 22. 1 E. J. Lowe, F.R.S. ‘ History of the Earthquake of 1863, October 6.” Brit. Meteor. Soc. Proc., il., 1865, pp- 55-99- 2 Symons’s Meteor. Mag., iii., 1868, pp. 153-154. 3 See also Knowledge for August 1896, pp. 190-191- ’ NATURE [ DECEMBER 24, 1896 NOTES. THOsE who take a great interest in the welfare of our Colonies will be glad to hear that the Queen has been pleased to appoint General Sir Henry Wylie Norman (Chairman), Sir Edward Grey, Bart., and Sir David Barbour, to be Commissioners to inquire into the conditions and prospects of the West India Sugar-Growing Colonies; and Mr. Sydney Olivier to be their Secretary. Mr. Daniel Morris, Assistant Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, will accompany the Commission as_ expert adviser in botanical and agricultural questions. The appoint- ment of Mr. Daniel Morris as scientific adviser is a proof that Kew has been working for the last quarter of a century on the right lines, and that its policy is a sound one. Of all the Colonies in the West Indies, Jamaica is the only one in a fairly pros- perous condition. This has been brought about mainly by the work of the Botanical Department, and the encouragement given by it to improve agricultural methods and introduce new industries. The Commission starts early in January, and will be away altogether about four months. It is regarded as one of the strongest that has ever been sent from this country. Ar the annual meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, on Monday, an Arago medal was awarded to Lord Kelvin in honour of the jubilee of his professorship in Glasgow University. M. Cornu (the President) is reported by the Zzzes corre- spondent to have referred in glowing terms to the celebration at Glasgow. ‘‘ Nothing,” he said, ‘‘ was more touching than the number and unanimity of the testimonies offered from all parts of the world to this descendant of a family of Irish farmers, who by his intellectual power has gained universal renown, and has earned from the suffrages of his admirers the highest scientific dignities, and from the Government of his country the highest social rank. Nothing is more consoling for the future than the spectacle of these honours rendered by delegates of all nations to great men of science like Lord Kelvin and Pasteur, who so worthily represent science in its loftiest and, at the same time, most beneficent aspect. Modern nations, though crushed by the yoke of material interest and by the barbarous law of blood and iron, know how on great occasions to raise their eyes towards the serene regions above animosities and covetous- ness, and to honour in unison the great men whose labours in- crease the common patrimony of intelligence and their country’s prestige, as well as the welfare of mankind.” Pror. ARTHUR SCHUSTER announces to us the discovery of a somewhat important new law, connecting the wave-lengths of different lines of the same element. If the lines of an element be divided into series according to Kayser and Runge, the law may be enunciated as follows: ‘‘ The difference between the frequency of the fundamental vibration and the frequency towards which the lines of the principal series converge, gives the convergence frequency of the two subordinate series.” Prof. Schuster finds that the law holds in all the cases for which Kayser and Runge have established the existence of a principal and subordinate series, z.c. for the alkalis and the two con- stituents of cleveite gas. SEVERAL communications on the recent earthquake will be found in other columns of this issue of NATURE. As observations of the times at which the disturbances were felt are of im- portance, we add that Mr, Alderman Andrews, of Coventry, informs us that he was awakened by a loud rumbling noise at 5h. 354m. Mr. George J. Burch, of Oxford, did not note the exact time, but he carefully observed the phenomena. He says: ‘I was awakened by the hooter at 5.30, and had not gone to sleep again. About ten minutes later I was aroused by amovement of the door, as if some one was about to come in, but became instantly aware that the sounds proceeded from the NO. 1417, VOL. 55] whole of that side of the room. Immediately after, there was a heaving motion of the bed, as if powerful hands had gently raised the mattress slightly on that side, and let it drop. By this time I was sitting up, and distinctly felt the room rock two or three times like a small boat when a steam-launch has passed at some little distance. This was followed by a sudden strong lateral vibration lasting several seconds. There wasa good deal of rumbling noise at this time, undoubtedly due, to a great extent, to the creaking of the house and rattling of the furniture, but whether entirely so or not, I am not able to say. Taking all things into consideration, I conclude that the line of the shock was north-east and south-west, and, judging from the sensation, it appeared to come from the north-east.” THE tercentenary of the birth of Descartes was celebrated at Tours, on Monday last, by the local Archeological Society. M. Liarp, the Chief of the University Department of the French Ministry of Education, has been elected a member of the Academy of Moral Sciences, in succession to the late M. Jules Simon. WE learn from the British Medical Journal that the Czar of Russia has conferred on M. Gérard, Director of the Paris Muni- cipal Laboratory, the’Cross of the Commander cf the Order of St. Anne. The Cross of St. Stanislas has been conferred upon Dr. Bordas, sub-Director of the Laboratory, and Dr. Bertillon, Director of the Anthropometric service. REFERRING to the decoration which Dr. Roux has just received from the Emperor of Germany, the Paris correspondent of the Zvmey recalls the fact that ‘‘two years ago Pasteur was offered the highest German decoration which the Emperor could confer, but the great investigator refused the honour. The Emperor was apparently touched and certainly was not offended, for he has now decorated the famous Dr. Roux, the discoverer with Dr. Behring (who, moreover, be it said to the honour of the French Government, received at its hands a decoration which was approved on both sides the Rhine) of the vaccine against. diphtheria, and the intimate friend and successor of Pasteur. Dr. Roux has accepted the honour, although hasty scruples of loyalty to his master might for a moment have caused him to hesitate. Toa reporter of the J/atix Dr. Roux has explained—as if explanation were necessary—his decision to accept this decoration. ‘Pasteur,’ he said, ‘was Pasteur. His decoration had an importance and significance quite other than that which mine has or possibly can have. And then, no doubt, Pasteur, had his reasons, which I have not—special memories, for instance, of 1870. In a word, he could permit himself to assume towards the German Emperor an attitude that for me is out of the question, for I repeat he had that reason which excuses him—he was Pasteur. What was extremely fine on his part, and was everywhere approved, would be incomprehensible on the part of another, and would be blamed as coming from'me.’ Nothing could be more proper, and the whole incident does as much honour to the modest but dis- tinguished investigator as to the Emperor who recognises his pre-eminence.” Tue Zaxcet publishes the following interesting information received from its correspondent at Rome :—‘‘The week has witnessed one of those pleasant demonstrations of the truly fraternal spirit which scientific investigation evokes and en- courages among its accredited votaries. Prof. Grassi, on whom the Royal Society of London conferred the Darwin medal for original work in illustration of the theory of evolution, was entertained at dinner by his colleagues of the Faculty of Sciences of the School of San Pietro in Vincoli and of the Faculty of Medicine. Representatives of all the fields of DEcEMBER 24, 1896] research bearing directly or remotely on nature-study and biology took part in congratulating the guest of the evening on his having obtained one of the blue ribbons of scientific merit— among the said representatives being Signor Francesco Brioschi, the eminent mathematician, who presides over the Accademia dei Lincei, and Prof. Semeraro, rector of the University. The first to speak was the veteran professor of chemistry, Signor Stanislao Cannizzaro (himself a former recipient of Royal Society honours), who, in the name of the University of Catania, dwelt on the gratification felt by that seat of learning and shared by all others in Italy at the English recognition of their compatriot. After him came Signor Francesco Todaro, professor of anatomy at the Sapienza, whose speech was dedi- cated to an exposition of the motives that guide the Royal Society in awarding the Darwinian medal. A third speaker was Prof. Semeraro, rector of the University, who, in the name of the Senatus Academicus, thanked Prof. Grassi for the honour he had conferred on their common alma mater, Prof. Grassi’s reply was exemplary for its modesty, its recognition of the brotherhood of science, its lofty view of the motivesand methods of scientific investigation, and its bright forecast of the future. Referring to the aid, encouragement, and inspiration he had received from his academic colleagues and brethren of the bio- logical laboratory, he dwelt with grateful insistence on the helping hand extended to him by Dr. Baccelli, who was present. The banquet closed in animated conversation, among the topics of which was the rapprochement, just signalised in Prof. Grassi’s case, between British and Italian research.” THE announcement made last week to the effect that Dr. Thorne Thorne is inspecting the vaccination systems abroad is confirmed by a statement in the 7%mes that the Govern- ment has a full intention of introducing next Session a Bill to promote free vaccination throughout England on some such plan as obtains on the continent. In order that the Local Government Board should have details of the mode of dealing with this question abroad, a small committee, presided over by Dr. Thorne Thorne, principal medical officer of the Board, has been for the last fortnight in France and Belgium. The committee first visited Paris, where the members were shown over the Institut Vaccinal, affiliated to the municipality of Paris, and afterwards saw the mode of treatment at the Académie de Medecine, where vaccine lymph is distributed gratuitously, afte, admixture with glycerine, throughout France at the expense of the State. From Paris Dr. Thorne Thorne and his assistant travelled to Brussels, and were there shown over the Ecole de Médecine Vétérinaire, the State Department for Belgium, and afterwards the whole work of vaccination was explained at Dr, Janssen’s Vaccination Department under the municipality of - Brussels. It was intended to extend the inquiry, but, other medical foreign departments not being quite ready to receive the expert committee, Dr. Thorne Thorne has returned to London. The committee will start again in a couple of weeks for Germany, to examine the question there, and this will be of a more extended nature, as German vaccination depots are more widespread. THE trial trip of the torpedo boat 7zrdézéa, which has been built by the Marine Steam Turbine Co., Limited, for the pur- pose of testing the application to marine propulsion of the Hon. Charles Parsons’ steam turbine engine, was a really re- markable performance. An account of this trip, which took place on the 15th inst., is given in the Mewcastle Daily Chronicle for the 17th, from which we make the following extract :—‘‘Several most successful runs were made, and the very high speed of 29°6 knots was attained over the measured mile, It is believed that this is a speed greatly in excess of anything that has ever been previously accomplished by a vessel of the small dimensions of the 7urbinéa, which is only 100 feet NO. 1417, VOL. 55] NATURE 181 in length, 9 feet in beam, and has but 42 tons displacement when fully loaded. Indeed, the speed already attained upon this preliminary trial trip by this small boat nearly approaches the maximum limit of speed so far attained by the largest torpedo boat destroyers, which have more than twice her length and about six times her displacement. Having regard to the fact that this was only a preliminary trial, and that it was shown that there was a considerable reserve of power still to be called upon, it is anticipated that a still higher speed materially in excess of the remarkable result already obtained will eventually be realised. In any case, the obtained results as recorded above, are such as cannot fail to be of extreme interest to all naval architects and marine engineers.” A correspondent writes :—‘‘ The circumstance that the time-honoured piston engine seems to be beaten for marine propulsion at high speeds by what may be looked on as a more primitive machine, is striking. The wnexfected speed of all modern torpedo boats is indeed a matter of much interest to the students of even theoretical hydrodynamics.” THE Congrés des Sociétés Savantes will be opened at the Sorbonne, Paris, on April 20, 1897, and will continue in session for three days. Two of the three Royal Institution’s Christmas lectures, on “Visible and Invisible Light,” will be given by Prof. S. P. Thompson, F.R.S., on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons next week. THE following are among the papers to be read at the meet- ings of the Society of Arts after Christmas :—The roller boat of M. Bazin, by Emile Gautier ; English orchards, by George Gordon ; the prevention of fires due to leakage of electricity, by Frederick Bathurst ; dairy produce and milk supply, by M. J. R. Dunstan ; the transmission of power by alternating electric currents, by W. B. Esson; London water supply, by Prof. Percy F. Frankland, ¥.R.S.; the chemistry of tea, by David Crole ; children’s sight, by R. Brudenell Carter ; light railways by Everard C. Calthrop ; cycling—historical and practical, by George Lacy Hillier. WE regret to announce the death of Mr. Sidney Waters, a familiar figure at the Royal Astronomical Society, and the author of several interesting papers and charts. He was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1873, in which year he read two papers on the distribution of resolvable and irresolvable nebulz, and the distribution of the clusters and nebule. A paper on the distribution of the stars in the southern hemisphere appeared in the Monthly Notices for 1878, and his last work consisted of two very fine maps showing the distribution of the nebulz and clusters in Dr. Dreyer’s Catalogue. Mr. Waters will be sorely missed and deeply regretted by every one who knew him. A LARGE meteor was seen to pass over New York City from west to east at twenty minutes past five on December 4, while it was still daylight. It was noticed by observers over a wide range of locality, from points nearly twenty miles north, to Staten Island on the south. Tue New York Aquarium at Castle Garden was opened on December 10, with about one hundred species of fish already collected. The galleries will not be entirely finished for a month ortwo. The stock will be increased in the spring by importations from Florida, Bermuda, California, and elsewhere. Over 11,000 people visited the Aquarium on the opening day. AFTER conducting the Zoo/ogzs¢ for exactly twenty years, Mr. J. E. Harting has resigned the editorship owing to increased demands upon his time, and in order to be able to devote him- self to the preparation of new editions of some of his books on birds, and to complete an original work on ‘‘ British Quadru- peds,” for which he has been collecting material since 1874. The Zoolog?st was founded in 1843 by the late Edward Newman, 182: NATURE [ DECEMBER 24, 1896 who conducted it until his death in 1876, when Mr. Harting undertook to carry iton. There has thus been but one change in the editorship from its foundation until the present time. Some difficulty has been experienced in finding a competent successor, but it is now announced that the new editor is to be Mr. W. L. Distant. THE establishment of a big game preserve in British Central Africa has been noted by us upon several occasions. It is now stated that Mr. Alfred Sharpe, the Acting Commissioner, has just issued a series of regulations providing that on and after September 15 last a certain portion of the pro- tectorate shall be ‘‘ considered and treated as a preserve.”’ In this district ‘‘it shall be illegal for any person or persons to shoot, trap, net, or in any way molest any description of wild game within such limits without a written permission from Her Majesty's Commissioner and Consul-General.” The regulations further provide for the inspection and, if necessary, withdrawal of any licences granted by the Commissioner, and for the punish- ment of any breach of the regulations. The tract of country thus reserved is known locally as the Elephant Marsh, and lies on the Shire River above Chiromo. It abounds in buffalo, water buck, and zebra, but unless some such regulations as those just issued were passed it is believed that at the rate at which they were being shot all these animals would have prac- tically disappeared in a few years. THE Audletins of the Constantinople Meteorological Observa- tory for March and April contain a study, by Dr. G. Agamen- none, of an earthquake felt in the north-west of Asia Minor on April 16. The observations forwarded to the central office are neither numerous nor detailed, and it has not been found possible to determine the origin even approximately. Consider- able damage was, however, produced in the village of Amed (lat. 39° 17 N., long. 29° 15’E.), and it is probable that the epicentre was not very distant from this place. The shock was felt over a district about 325 km. in diameter, and nearly 80,000 square km. in area. A good time-record was obtained at Con- stantinople, but the pulsations do not appear to have affected distant pendulums, unless a small movement recorded by the Vicentini microseismograph at Padua can be referred to this earthquake. THE Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for the month of December, issued by the Washington Hydrographic Office, shows that between the Azores and Newfoundland much bad weather was experienced during November, and that fresh to strong gales, principally from the west, followed each other in quick succession over the area between the Grand Banks and the British Isles. The subject of floating derelicts as a danger to navigation is again being brought prominently forward, and the chart plainly shows that the advent of the stormy season has considerably increased the number of the derelicts. Between the south-east coast of the United States and Bermuda the number of abandoned ships, mostly of the schooner build, is particularly noticeable. The ocean was free from ice east of Newfoundland, and the month was remarkable for the small amount of fog reported. THE last number of the AZe/thezlungen von Forschungs- retsenden und Gelehrten aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten, besides a map of the southern part of Togoland with valuable geographical notes appended, contains some important con- tributions to our knowledge of the meteorology of German possessions in Africa. Observations made at five stations in the Kamerun district during 1894 and 1895 are discussed, one important result being to bring out Debundja (lat. 4° 8’ N., long. 9° o' E_) as the wettest station in all Africa, and to place it only second to Cherrapunji in the world, with a mean rainfall of somewhere about 350 inches. As Debundja stands almost at NO. 1417, VOL. 55] sea-level, the rainfall on the hills above it, exposed as they are to the full effect of the sea-breeze, is probably considerably greater. In September 1895 alone, 74 inches were measured at Debundja, including one record of 7’40 inches in 24 hours. Another paper gives an excellent summary of existing ob- servations of rainfall in German East Africa. In connection with the recent important investigations on the artesian waters of Queensland, Mr. Gibb Maitland, of the Geological Survey of that colony, has contributed to its Roya Society a review of the structure of artesian “‘ basins” in North America. Nowhere in this area, with one possible exception, are the water-bearing rocks disposed in those ideal basins that do duty in the common text-book diagram. On the contrary, they have a uniform dip, so as to form only the half of a syncline, and the water, as in Queensland itself, is discharged either into the Sea or into important inland springs. A RECENT, number of the Ceztralblatt fiir znnere Medicen contains a notice of some further investigations by A. Pfuhl and K. Walter on the presence of influenza bacilli in the central nervous system. Pfuhl’s previous identification of these pacilli in the central nervous system, and his contention that they are always to be found there in cases of influenza which have ended fatally, have received confirmation from these researches. It is, ‘however, pointed out that along with the influenza bacillus large and small streptococci, as well as bacteria, associated with putrefaction, are found, As the colonies of influenza bacteria isolated from the nervous system only develop very sparsely on artificial culture media, and might easily escape recognition in the presence of other bacteria, Messrs. Pfuhl and Walter recom- mend that their cultivation should be carried out on perfectly clear agar-agar, the condensed water from which has been got rid of by keeping it in a slanting position for two or three days in the incubator, after which human or pigeon’s blood is spread over the surface. It is best to discard tubes and employ instead dishes or plates, so as to increase the surface area of the culture material, and the latter should be inoculated by making several streaks with a very fine platinum needle containing the substance to be examined. In this manner all the colonies which subse- quently develop can be closely watched under the microscope, and the identification and isolation of the influenza bacillus is materially assisted. That the influenza bacillus, and not the other bacteria found with it, is the actual cause of the disease, has been shown by Nauwerk, who described a case which ended fatally where influenza bacteria and no other varieties were present in the nervous system. SEEKERS after rare and valuable scientific books should obtain a copy of the Catalogue (No. 165) just issued by Mr. Bernard Quaritch, Piccadilly, London, W. In his address as retiring President of the Botanical Society of America, delivered at the last annual meeting, Prof. W. Trelease considered the subject of ‘‘ botanical opportunity,” and pointed out the difference between the conditions which controlled and made possible scientific work, even a few years ago, and those which prevail to-day. The address is printed in full in the 4otanzcal Gazette. In it, what is referred to as “botanical opportunity” is considered under the two-fold head of the opportunity of endowed institutions and the opportunity of individual workers. Under the first head the equipment of colleges and research labora- tories is passed in critical review, and suggestions are made as to the necessary limitations of such equipment and the provision which may be made for securing its fullest use, both for instruction and investigation. As to the opportunity of the individual, it is shown that breadth of foundation and a well- conceived and studiously followed plan of work, with system in Tr DECEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 182 all of the steps taken, can hardly fail to lead to success in the long run. A considerable portion of the address is given to a consideration of the subject of publication, as viewed from the standpoint of the administrator of a research institution and the student seeking a medium for the publication of the results of his work. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Rufous Rat Kangaroo (pyprymnus rufescens) from New South Wales, presented by Captain N. Allen ; a Squirrel (Sczwrws, sp. inc.) from Java, pre- sented by Captain G. C. Candy, ; a Levaillant’s Cynictis (Cynictés levaillanti) from South Africa, presented by Mr. Joseph Francis; eleven Harvest Mice (J/us minutus) from Surrey, presented by Captain Salvin; three Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus), British, presented by Mr. J. W. Wilkes ; two Black-bellied Sand Grouse (Ptevocles arenarius) from Spain, presented by Mr. Gerard S. Torrens; two Nicobar Pigeons (Calenas nicobaréca) from the Indian Archipelago, a Canarian Pigeon (Columba laurivora) from the Canary Islands, deposited ; three Varied Field Rats (/somys vartegatus), three Larger Egyptian Gerbilles (Gerbil/us pyramidum), nine Lesser Egyptian Gerbilles (Gerbzllus @gyptius), three Long-eared Hedgehogs (Zrinaceus auritus), forty-six Egyptian Geckos (Tarentola annularis), five Fan-footed Geckos (Ptyodactylus lobatus), a Grey Monitor (Varanus griseus), five Horned Cerastes (Cerastes cornutus), six Square-marked Toads (Bufo regularis) from Egypt, received in exchange. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. MOUNTAIN OBSERVATORIES,—The great increase in size of the apertures of instruments for use in astronomical research, has led astronomers to look further afield for spots on the earth’s surface where the atmospheric conditions are most favourable for the work to be satisfactorily accomplished. The neighbourhood of large towns is now generally conceded to be no place for a big refractor or reflector, although occasionally a very fine night may be luckily secured. For the study of planetary details, and the taking of long-exposure photographs, and other kinds of work, a steady atmosphere is a necessary essential. In order that the stellar images may be still and devoid of that flickering and movement which is only of too common an occurrence, the atmosphere itself must be to a certain extent in stable equilibrium, and the layers at rest one above the other. There are nof, however, many places where these conditions are fulfilled. In fact there are no such spots where perfect stillness reigns supreme, but some are better than others in this respect. The question then is, where are such localities for which the astronomer, armed with a powerful instrument, may make his stand? We may answer this question by saying that up to the present time very few have been found, although search is more or less continuously being made. In America we know that some observers are at work with their, instruments of large power, in anatmosphere which is at times almost perfect. Not only is the air in that quiet state of equilibrium that is so necessary, but they are blessed with long spells of continuous fine weather. Any one who wishes to find out for himself what are the essentials to ‘* good seeing,” how far we have progressed in the construction of mountain observatories, and, further, where those already set up are situated, cannot do better than consult Prof. Holden’s contribution to the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection. The writer there has massed together a great amount of material concerning those situated in America and Europe, and has also added greatly to the description of them by the insertion of numerous illustrations. We may, however, mention that meteorological stations at high or moderately high altitudes are also included; but these must, as we all know, be forerunners of those equipped for. the special study of astronomy. OBSERVATIONS OF SATURN.—In the study of planetary detail our atmosphere plays a most important 7é/e, and, as we have said in the preceding note, some places are more suitable for such observations than others. Some very interesting observa- NO. 1417, VOL. 55] tions given in the Astronomeschen Nachrichten (No. 3390) serve to show that the same observer, making similar observations at two different stations, not of course simultaneously, finds really marked differences in powers of seeing. Herr A. Anton Wonaszek records his visit to the Manora Observatory, where Herr L. Brunner is at work. The objects looked at were the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn, and Herr Wonaszek expresses astonishment at the great amount of detail that can be observed in the pure air of Lussin. As regards Saturn, the markings looked at by both these observers were the dark and light spots situated on the disc. Both made independent draw- ings of these (illustrations of which are given in the Asfroz0- mischen Nachrichten referred to), with the result that in most respects they are very similar. Herr Wonaszek, however, finds out that Herr Brunner’s eyes are capable of detecting more quickly the bright spots, while his own are more sensitive to those of a darker shade. With a 7-inch refractor situated at Kis-Kartal, he says that his numerous observations of Saturn do not show the great amount of detail that he recorded at Lussin- piccolo, although, by good atmospheric conditions, he is able to see a great deal. From the drawings which he gives, it is seen at a glance that the spots referred to above are seen at his observ- atory somewhat with difficulty, and are not so clearly defined as was the case at Lussinpiccolo. Both sets of observations, however, give one a good idea of these curious spots, which are not restricted alone to the equatorial regions, but occur towards the poles. From these drawings, however, no dark spot attains any great distance from the equator. The observations referred to above were made during the month of August last. KARLSRUHE MERIDIAN OBSERVATIONS.—The fifth volume of the ‘‘ Publication of the Grossherzoglichen Observatory of Karlsruhe” contains the observations made with the meridian circle, and includes the positions of all these stars down to the 8th magnitude in the zone — 0° to —7°, which were not observed in the preceding volume. The observations were made by Prof. Valentiner and Dr. Ristenpart, and number 8300. Volume iv. of the same publication contained 13,800 observations, so that the total number amounts now to 22,100, thus concluding the work in this zone. The programme was to observe each star six times, and this has been carried out with only a very few exceptions, the number of stars on the working list being 2700. The re- duction of the observations was done throughout by Prof. Valentiner and Dr. Ristenpart. At the completion of the work a thorough investigation of the division errors of the circle was made. This undertaking could not, as we are informed, be done earlier, as the fevsonne/ of the observatory was too limited in numbers. The three sections into which the volume is divided are (1) observations with the meridian circle; (2) elements for the reduction of these observations; and (3) mean places of the southern stars observed in the years 1892-94, reduced to the epoch 1885°0. In the preface Prof. Valentiner refers at some length to the late Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz, who was connected with the observatory from July 1884. Allusion is also made to the fact that this ‘‘ Publication” is the last that will proceed from the Karlsruhe Observatory. The new building that is being erected on the Konigstuhl at Heidelberg will, no doubt, be soon ready for work ; and being under better conditions in many respects, Prof. Valentiner will be able to continue his work with renewed zeal. THE WESTERN AUSTRALIA GOVERNMENT OBSERVATORY. —The decision of the Government of Western Australia to erect an observatory at Perth, at a cost of about 5000/4, was announced in these columns nearly a year ago (vol. lili. p. 280). The Dazly Chronicle now notes thatthe Government Astronomer, Mr. W. Ernest Cooke, during his recent stay in England, was engaged in the purchase and inspection of the necessary instru- ments. The two principal instruments will be an astrographic equatorial and transit circle, in addition to which the observatory will also probably be furnished with a ccelostat. Mr. Cooke proposes to devote his energies mainly to the observation of fundamental southern stars. He will, in addition, take charge of the meteorology of the colony. From each of the meteoro- logical stations a report will be telegraphed daily to the obserya- tory, and with the help of this and other information supplied by the Eastern Colonies, a daily weather map of the entire con- tinent will be issued, together with forecasts of the coming weather. a 184 NATURE [DecEeMBER 24, 1896 OPENING OF NEW LABORATORIES AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL. ‘THE great interest which the manufacturers of Liverpool take in the University College of that city was again ex- emplified by the opening of the new William Gossage labora- tories a few days ago, briefly referred to in our Educational Intelligence last week. Since the college was founded, it has had the ready and full support of the manufacturers and traders of Liverpool and the district around, the result being that to- day it is in the front rank of institutions for higher education. With well-equipped laboratories, and a strong professoriate, the college possesses exceptional opportunities for study and re- search; and the work accomplished in it has done much to advance the arts as well as the sciences. The teaching course, which extends over four years, not only aimsat training students for manufacturing pursuits, but also to carry out independent investigations. The first section of the chemical department of the college was opened in May 1886. But the main laboratories, the most important of all, were not at that time proceeded with, partly owing to lack of funds, and partly because a portion of the site, the whole of which was given by the Corporation of Liverpool. was not then vacant, and could not be transferred to the college until later. In the early years the advanced students were necessarily few in number, and there was sufficient accommoda- tion for them as well as for much larger junior classes ; but by the year 1893 the want of a complete laboratory for the whole of the special laboratory students was seriously felt. In these circumstances Mr. F. H. Gossage and Mr. T. Sutton Timmis generously undertook jointly to build and fit up a further section of the building, including the largest of the main laboratories and rooms below, at a cost of 7000/,, and to pre- sent them to the college as a memorial of the late Mr. William Gossage. Other portions of the buildings are being erected by public subscription, the list being headed by donations of 1000/7. each from Sir John T. Brunner, M.P., Mr. E. K. Muspratt, and Messrs. Lever Brothers. Mr. William Gossage, whose name is enshrined in the new laboratories, was one of the most fertile inventors of this century. His work was mainly chemical, and before his death in 1877 he possessed no less than sixty-three patented processes. In the early days of the soda industry, the hydrochloric acid gas, which is evolved from common salt for the production of sulphate of soda, was poured into the air in enormous volumes, to the destruction of vegetable and injury of animal life. In 1863 the Earl of Derby was instrumental in passing into law the Alkali Act which compels manufacturers to condense all except a very small fraction of the hydrochloric acid gas which they produce. It was William Gossage who rendered this legislation practicable by inventing the tall stone condensing towers which are so pro- minent a feature of the landscape in every Leblanc alkali works’ district, and by means of which what was before worse than wasted is turned into a source of considerable profit to the manufacturers. In 1838 he was engaged in experiments for the recovery of sulphur lost in the alkali waste of the Leblanc process, and also for the manufacture of soda from sodium sulphide. It was at this time that he demonstrated that calcium sulphide, and also sodium sulphide in solution, are decomposed by the action of dilute carbonic acid produced in lime kilns. In 1854 he pro- duced silicate of soda or soluble glass by fusing sand with soda. He also utilised the red liquors from carbonate of soda manu- facture, which were at that time an almost waste product, producing from them caustic soda, which was for years the only -caustic soda made, and was employed to facilitate the manu- facture of soap. He thus introduced what has now become a large and important industry in caustic alkali. In many other directions his inventive mind found occasional diversion, and of him it may be truly said that, although he was a successful manufacturer, he spent his mental energy and his means seeking out many inventions which benefited others rather than himself. The new buildings, opened on December 12, include a large laboratory 60 feet by 32 feet, with benches fitted up for forty-four advanced students, an adjacent room provided with a new form of heated sand bath and other appliances for the service of the main laboratory, and, in the basement, an additional lecture room to seat seventy or eighty, a preparation room, and a gas analysis room. These five rooms, which are lined with ivory glazed bricks, constitute the ‘‘ William Gossage” laboratories. NO. 1417, VOL. 55] . The other new buildings are a metallurgical laboratory, with furnaces and other equipment, an important addition to the research laboratory, a store for apparatus and chemicals, a dynamo room, electric-accumulator room anda heating chamber. Beyond a number of minor improvements in the main labora- tory, the benches do not essentially differ from those in some other similar laboratories except in one important respect, that the half-closed chambers placed in the middle of each bench have a really efficient draught which carries away all fumes from small operations without allowing any to escape into the room. This result is attained by carrying the whole ventilation of the room, which normally amounts to 125,000 cubic feet per hour, through these students’ fume chambers and the larger chambers on either wall; the foul air passes from these hoods down toa wide subterranean channel ending at the base of a tall up-cast shaft, where acoke fire maintains a strong draught ; by no other way can air escape from the laboratory, while a fan forces washed and warmed fresh air through flues and gratings in the walls into the room, So as to maintain a constant pressure during the working day. The laboratories will be opened to students on January 7, 1897, and the committee will be glad to receive further dona- tions to enable them to finish the buildings, and furnish the necessary equipment. THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL HISTORY OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA. [NX continuing his ethnographic history of the region between the Dniester and the Caspian in the Bzdletins de la Socdété @ Anthropologze, vii. (4 sér.), 1896, M. Zaborowski commences by criticising Sergi’s assertion that ‘the first colonists of Southern Russia came from the Mediterranean.” The enthusiastic Italian anthropologist recognised skulls of the type of his Mediterranean race from ancient graves in several parts of Russia, but Zaborowski contends that he has not paid sufficient attention to the dates of the finds, and that he has neglected the culture evidence. The author reserves the term Aryan to the tall blond dolichocephalic race, that is solely of European origin, which is not the case for the brown dolichocephalic Mediterranean race or the Celto-slavic type. Aryan languages are spoken in Europe where the brown brachycephals and dolichocephals have never penetrated, at least until our epoch; but there are no people with an Aryan language who have not come into con- tact with the fair race. In the most ancient graves of the bronze age, Neolithic dolichocephals are still generally to be found, but before the Scythian epoch there was a mingling of brachycephals, perhaps partly through commercial relations and partly from women captured in war. The original home of the Scythians was to the east of the Caspian. The finds in the Scythian tombs exactly correspond to the description given by Herodotus of their neigh- bours, the allied Massagetes, except that iron is not quite un- known. The Thyssagetes, Tyregetes, Getes and Dacians, arose from the Scythians and Massagetes, descendants from the Getes and Dacians, still exist among the Roumanians, having harsh black hair and a yellow-brown complexion. In Scythia, Herodotus mentions the large nation of the indigenous, nomadic Budins, who ‘‘have remarkably blue eyes and red hair.” These may be the ancestors of the Finns, at all events they formed a contrast to the Scythians, to whom Hippocrates attributed a short stature and a brown skin. The Scythian period was terminated by the arrival of .the Goths in the second century A.D. Strabo does not know of them, Tacitus mentions their occupying the shores of the Baltic between the Elbe and the Vistula. Later they came down the latter river to the Black Sea, and reached the lower Danube ; at the commencement of the third century this enterprising and warlike nation touched the eastern borders of the Roman empire. The Goths were described as very large, of fine appearance, fair hair, milk-white skin, with great moral energy, modest, and very strong. They spoke a German dialect, and Were even in possession of the primitive runic alphabet. The arrival of the Goths at the Black Sea is a return of the European blonds to a region where the brown Asiatic Scythians had reigned as masters for centuries. M. Zaborowski evidently believes that the Aryan language arose about the Black Sea. He, with Broca and others, accepts the tradition that the Cymbri of Jutland were the descendants of ‘DECEMBER 24, 1896] the Cimbrians of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, driven to the west of Europe by the Scythian invasion in the seventh century B.C. These Cymbrians had already had relations with the Greek world, for the Greeks had established colonies and introduced metals and the cultivation of the soil in Southern Russia before the arrival of the Scythians, and they may be regarded as the importers of the dialect from which the German languages arose. They were of the same race as the Neolithic blonds. The Goths were driven away from the northern borders of the Black Sea by the Huns before the end of the fourth century ; but though they remained during only two centuries, traces of their stay have been discovered. The Alains, mentioned by authors in the first century A.D., were a blond people mixed with Medes, and possibly with the Scythian Massagetes. The Ossethes sprang from these Scythian Alains, who were driven into the Caucasus after the Gothic period by the pressure of the Huns. Thus the Ossethes are essentially Aryans and Europeans, despite the Iranian and Asiatic origin of their language, these originally blond Euro- peans, have been intimately mingled with Scythians, and later with other Caucasians, mostly browns and brachycephals. M. Kovalewsky states that among the Ossethes, when a bride enters for the first time her husband’s house, she is greeted with ‘* Prosperity ! prosperity ! nine boys and a girl with blue eyes.” The latter wish could never arise amongst a brown population. In his work ‘* Droit Coutumier Osséthien”’ (1893), Kovalewsky details numerous customs which, as Zaborowski points out, abundantly confirm the essentially European and Aryan origin of this nation ; and the former author compares them with those of the Greeks of Homer, the Germans of Tacitus, and with the Romans, such, for example, as the cult of the hearth-fire, house- hold arrangements, marriage ceremonies, and burial customs. The Armenians, like the Ossethes, are a people with their original characters modified. They were also blond, at least in great part, and even now II per cent. are blonds according to Chantre. In the Hindu Kush there are many traces of a fair race, and Zaborowski enters into a comparison of the Kafirs with the Ossethes, which tends to show that they are closely related. THE HORN EXPEDITION TO CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. “THE Report on the work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Australia has now been completed. It is published in four parts, the first of which is devoted to. the narrative and summary of scientific results, while the three remaining parts deal respectively with zoology, geology and botany, and anthropology. The zoological results were reviewed in NATURE a short time ago (vol. liv. p. 241), and we propose to deal with the part on anthropology in a future issue. For the present we confine ourselves to summarising the knowledge gained of the geology and botany of the region explored, prefacing the synopsis with a statement of the inception and objects of the expedition, and of the region traversed, this introductory matter being based upon the Narrative. : Objects of the Expedition. Mr. W. A. Horn, who defrayed the cost of the expedition to Central Australia, and through whose generosity the Report has been published, deserves the gratitude of men of science. The results which he has been the means of obtaining are most valuable contributions to the knowledge of the natural history of a little-known region; and by the accumulation of these facts, gained by direct observation, many perplexing questions will be elucidated. One of these questions is referred to by Mr. Horn in a brief introduction to the Narrative. For some time the opinion has been held that when the Australian continent was submerged the elevated portions of the McDonnell Range in Central Australia existed as an island, and that consequently older forms of life might be found in the more inaccessible parts. The scientific exploration of this belt of country. was, therefore, much desired by men of science, and when Mr. Horn expressed his intention to organise and equip an exploring party, the scheme was received with great favour. In order to secure the services of the best men in Australia, the Premiers of the principal colonies were asked to nominate scientific repre- sentatives. As -a result, Prof. Baldwin Spencer, Mr. J. Alexander Watt, Prof. Ralph Tate, and Dr. Edward Stirling NO. 1417, VOL. 55] NATURE 185 joined the expedition, and Mr. C. A. Winnecke was chosen as surveyor and meteorologist. The objects of the expedition as set down in the articles under which the members started were :—The scientific examination of the country from Oodnadatta to the McDonnell Range ; the col- lection of specimens illustrative of the fauna, flora, and geo- logical structure and mineralogical resources of that region, and the illustration by photography of any remarkable natural features of the country traversed ; the securing of photographs of the aborigines in their primitive state, the collection of informa- tion as to their manners, customs, and language, and the repro- duction of their mural paintings. The expedition started in May 18g4, and returned in August of the same year, burdened with the records and the photographic spoil of the region which the members went out to see. The McDonnell Ranges. The McDonnell Ranges are in the very centre of Australia, they are barren and rugged in the extreme, rise to an altitude of nearly 5000 feet above sea-level, while the copntry surrounding them has an altitude of about 2000 feet, sloping away on every side towards the coast, 1000 miles distant. The mountains are at the head of the river Finke, and for this region, including the valley of the Finke, the name of Larapintine has been adopted from the native name of the Finke, ‘‘ Larapinta.” It was over this area that most of the explorations were conducted. The general editor of the Report on the work of the expedition is Prof. Baldwin Spencer, who is also the author of the Narrative. Without entering into too many details, Prof. Spencer summarises, in a more or less popular form, in this part of the report, the work accomplished, and gives a good idea of the nature of the country through which the expedition passed. Nature of the Country traversed. It is usual to speak of the whole interior of Australia as a desert or Eremian country, but Prof. Spencer shows that this name as applied to the whole area is very misleading. It is true that over wide areas extending especially over the western half of the interior there spead out sandhills and flats covered with Mulga scrub or ‘* Porcupine”’ grass, which may justly be described as desert, but in addition to this there is a vast track of country watered by streams which at varying intervals of time are swollen with heavy floods which spread out over wide tracts, and for a time transform the whole country into a land covered with a luxuriant growth of vegetation. To this part of the continent the name of the Australian Steppes has been applied. The Lower Steppes extend over the area occupied by the great Cretaceous formation with its alternating stony or gibber plains, loamy flats, and low-lying terraced hills capped with Desert Limestone. At Lake Eyre the land is 39 feet below sea-level, and gradually rises to a height of tooo feet at its northern limit. What are termed the Higher Steppes are characterised by high ridges of Ordovician and Pre-Cambrian rocks which stretch across the centre of the continent from east to west for some 400 miles. The average elevation of these Higher Steppes may be taken-as about 2000 feet, and above them the higher peaks of the ridges rise for some 2500 feet more. Prof. Spencer devotes two chapters in his Narrative to the country belonging to the Lower Steppes, two to the Higher Steppes, and one to the Desert Region. The gibber plains to which he refers consist of flat surfaces covered with a layer of purple-brown stones, varying in size from an inch to perhaps a foot in diameter, and all made smooth by the constant wearing away of wind-borne sand-grains. Judging from the description, and the views which illustrate it, nothing could be more deso- late than a gibber plain when everything is bare and dry. Throughout this district the low flat-topped desert hills have a thin capping of hard chalcedonised sandstone, and it is by the dis- integration of this rock that the gibbers or stones have been produced. The stony gibber plains merge constantly into loamy plains covered with poor scrub, but on which the gibbers are wanting. It is suggested that these loamy plains occupy areas on which the Upper Cretaceous rocks are not capped with the hard chalcedonised Desert Sandstone, and where, therefore, no gibbers have been formed. Colours of Animats. Some interesting remarks are made by Prof. Spencer on the subject of protective colouration. Prof. Spencer has collected animals in Central Australia, both in the dry season and in the 186 NATURE [DECEMBER 24, 1896 wet season, and his study of the fauna leads him to the follow- ing conclusions. (1) That in the dry season, when food is scarce and the sum total ofactivities is at its lowest point, the various animals, suchas frogs and lizards, are dull-coloured, but that this dull colouration has not of necessity (as in the case of Amphibolorus barbatus) any definite relation to the environment, though it is often in general accord with it. (2) That in the rainy son, when food is plentiful and the sum total of the activities is at the highest point, various animals are highly coloured, but that this often brilliant colouration has nothing to do either with choice of partners (reaching its climax after pairing has taken place) or with protective colouration—sometimes even it renders the animal more conspicuous. Limits of space prevent us from summarising any other points of interest from Prof. Spencer's most attractive Narrative. For a more detailed notice of the zoological collections and conclu- sions, we must refer our readers to the review which appeared in these columns last July (vol. liv. p. 241). We must mention, however, that the narrative is illustrated by eleven plates (splendidly reproduced from photographs) and seven figures in the text. Among the objects and views depicted upon the plates is a striking natural pillar of sandstone—Chamber Pillar—rising solitary among the sandhills ; Ayers’ Rock—a huge dome-shaped monolith, brilliant Venetian red in colour, and one of the most striking objects in Central Australia ; several wonderful gorges among the McDonnell Range and Mount Olga. These pic- turesque views add to the interest of a well-written narrative. General Geological Features. We come now to the part of the Report referring to the geological and botanical results of the expedition, and here again we think that the valuable work accomplished will be best made known by summarising the leading features. The first section of the third volume opens with a general outline of he physical geography of Central Australia, by Prof. Ralph Tate and Mr. J. A. Watt. The subject is dealt with under seven heads, viz. mountains, rivers, gorges and gaps, lakes, claypans, stony plains, and sandhills. The same authors con- tribute a description of the geological features of the portion of Central Australia examined by them, embracing the country lying between Oodnadatta on the south, and the McDonnell Ranges on the north. Under headings bearing the names of the geological systems to which the different series of rocks are assigned, an account is given of the general geological features, the ‘extent, thickness, mineralogical composition, petrological characters, and fossili- ferous contents of the various rocks. Beginning with the Pre- Cambrian system, the conclusions of previous observers as to the age of the rocks of the McDonnell Ranges, which exhibit a high degree of metamorphism, are summarised. These rocks have been described as Archean and Azoic, but the authors conclude from the fact that a very strong unconformity separates the rocks from the Lower Silurian Group, that they must be either Cambrian or Pre-Cambrian, and reasons are given for favouring the latter alternative. The evidence obtained points to much of the metamorphic group having had an eruptive origin, whereas the Cambrian rocks of Australia, so far as at present known, are entirely sedimentary. In the region examined (from Oodnadatta to the McDonnell Ranges) Cambrian rocks are held not to be represented. Almost all the strata lying between Mount Burrell Cattle Station on the south, and the McDonnell Ranges on the north, are included by the avthors in the Ordovician system. The superstructure of the lowest levels around Lake Eyre have long been known to be argillaceous, and to contain marine fossils, as at Mount Margaret, Primrose Springs, and Dalhousie. The fauna was at first referred to the Jurassic period, but has in late years been recognised as contemporaneous with that of the Rolling Downs series, regarded as Upper Cretaceous, of Queens- land. It has generally been held that the source of supply of the natural artesian wells on the west side of Lake Eyre was “derived from tropical rains in Queensland absorbed by Cre- taceous outcrops, and that the issue of these waters was along the line of junction of the Cretaceous water-bearing beds with the Paleeozoic rocks on the west margin of Lake Eyre. But the now-ascertained far-northerly extension of the Cretaceous rocks; and the replacement of the prevailing argillaceous condition by sandy strata towards the northern boundary make it probable that the source is, after all, of local NO. 1417, VOL. 55 | origin. Thus, the Finke River from Henbury to Crown Point flows approximately along the junction of the Cretaceous arenaceous beds and the impervious Ordovician limestones 3 so also do the Goyder and Lilla Creeks, particularly towards their sources. Moreover, the Cretaceous beds have in the main a slight southerly inclination, It is, therefore, highly probable that they do absorb some of the flood-waters of those river- channels, and conduct them to considerable depths in the depressed area margining Lake Eyre ; whilst in no instance do the subterranean waters issue at the surface at a level so high as that of their conjectural intake. The phenomenon of extinct mound-springs, as at Dalhousie, may be explained by the circum- stance of a diminished supply ; in other words, that the level of saturation has fallen below the level of discharge as a consequence of the desiccation of the climate since Pliocene times. A hard flinty quartzite or chalcedonised sandstone, varying up to fifty feet in thickness, forms the topmost bed of the Rolling Down series, and is referred to as the Desert Sandstone. The Rolling Down series is held to be akin to the European Upper Cretaceous, and the Desert Sandstone is designated Supra- Cretaceous, the palzontological difference between the two being very slight. The Desert Sandstone of Central Australia, on account of its attachment to the Upper Cretaceous, and by the occurrence of marine Mollusca of Cretaceous age (at Lake Frome well-sinkings), is regarded as coeval with the Desert Sandstone of Queensland, which, by its intercalated marine sediments, is proved to be Cretaceous; though separated un- conformably from the Rolling Down series (Upper Cretaceous). The phytiferous beds, which underlie marine Eocene in Victoria and South Australia, and are conformable with them, are con- sidered as Pre-Eocene. As to the origin of the silicification of the Desert Sandstone, in the first place, the obsidian bombs and agates which occur on the Desert Sandstone plateaus and their slopes could not have been transported there by water, unless in the form of ice (an hypothesis incompatible with the coordinate features). The origin of the Desert Sandstone breccia was certainly not due to fracture of the original bed by failure of support arising from denuding action, but might have been caused by a lava- flow or the deposition of highly-heated volcanic ashes when saturated with water. The obsidian bombs demand volcanic action, and agates are not infrequently associated with volcanic ejectamenta ; whilst the silicates of the ash-beds or lava under chemical action would furnish silicated waters asa source of the chalcedonising action on the underlying rock-surfaces. The development of agates within the volcanic material was only another phase of siliceous precipitation. Of this suppositious volcanic formation all that remains are the agates and the obsidian bombs. The theory may seem wild, because of the widespread silicification, and the absence over its area of any traces of actual volcanic outbursts; nevertheless, it is held that no other explanation accounting for the several phenomena appears admissible. Excepting the silt deposits of the present water-ways and the widespread sand-plains, the only Tertiary deposits of any significance are those which indicate a former water-flow of vaster volumes than at present. These signs are chiefly in the form of gravels, more or less consolidated, through which the present water-channels have cut their way, or in the form of terraces margining the valley-plains through which now flow relatively diminutive creeks. These facts demonstrate that high pluvial conditions once prevailed ; and, in consequence, perennial flows in the river-channels of this region were maintained, which, discharging into Lake Eyre, and supplemented by an Artesian , supply in and around it, produced an inland sea of fresh water, inhabited by alligators (Padmnarchus pollens) and turtles, and on its marshy margin dwelt Dzfvofodon and its fossil associates. Inferentially the date of formation of these gravels and river- terraces is coeval with the existence of D7frotodon, whose extinction was due to those physical causes which destroyed its habitats, and gave Central Australia its present rigorously dry climate. The marsupial life of this period, on comparison with that which replaced it, indicates a high antiquity in the number of extinct genera, and the very high percentage of extinct species, i Gold in the McDonnell Ranges. The highly metamorphic character of the Pre-Cambrian rocks of the McDonnell Ranges, their greatly disturbed state, their extensive development, and, lastly, the presence of numerous DECEMBER 24, 1896] MT ORE 187 intrusive masses varying much in composition, are all circum- stances favourable to the development of mineral deposits in them. Gold is the only mineral that has been found in payable quantities in these ranges, and that only in a very limited area of about fifty square miles, situated seventy to eighty miles E.N.E. of Alice Springs, on the Arltunga or Paddy’s Hole goldfield. Although, as just stated, gold in payable quantities has been found on the above-mentioned goldfield, yet alluvial gold in small quantities has been found also near Winnecke’s Depot, Bald Hill, and in some of the gullies in the Georgina Range. The most important auriferous quartz reefs have a prevailing due north and south trend, and their gold contents show a remarkable uniformity. The country-rock includes metamorphic gneisses and mica schists, intruded by eruptive dykes. Where not absolutely vertical the underlay is almost without exception to the west, and varies from 5° to 10°... The outcrops of these reefs, which are not, as a rule, traceable for any great distance, vary in width from four inches to two feet six inches, while at the bottom of trenches and shafts the width varies from three inches up to four feet six inches. Taking the average of ten reefs, the width at the surface was found to be twelve inches, while at an average depth of twenty-one feet it was fifteen inches. Gold is contained not only in the veinstone, but occasionally and in a less degree in the selvage also, on one or both sides of the reef. In nearly all the reefs the gold is associated with gossary quartz, some of the best results being obtained from a spongy siliceous matrix, which crumbles easily when subjected to pres- sure. The lithological specimens gathered during the Horn Expedi- tion included examples of a number of interesting rocks. The microscopical structure of some of the eruptive, and a few of the most typical of the metamorphic varieties, are briefly de- scribed by Mr. W. F. Smeeth and Mr. J. A. Watt, their paper being illustrated by four plates. The Paleontology of the ex- pedition forms the subject of a scparate contribution by Prof. Ralph Tate, who also deals with the botany, : Origin of the Flora. The route traversed by the main body of the expedition prac- tically circumscribes what has been termed the Larapintine region. The Larapintine flora is fully described, Prof. Tate taking in turn the general physiography and boundaries of the region, botanical characteristics, origin of the flora, previous explora- tions, enumeration of the flowering plants and vascular cryptogams, and diagnosis of new genus and species. The flora of the central ** Eremian region” is briefly described in a separate paper. The distribution of the constituent elements of the Larapintine flora and their exoteric relationships, taken in conjunction with the physiographic changes that have taken place within the area, lead to the conclusions that :— (1) The Larapintine table-land was isolated, except perhaps in a northerly direction, during the deposition of the marine sediments constituting the Rolling Downs system (Upper Cretaceous). $ (2) The marine submergence was replaced by a lacustrine area during the deposition of the Desert Sandstone (Supra- Cretaceous), (3) A cosmopolitan flora prevailed at this period, which con- tinued into Paleocene times. (4) The area occupied by the lacustrine area of the Desert Sandstone period was somewhat reduced, yet high pluvial con- ditions continued into Pliocene times. (5) In Post-Pliocene times a high state of desiccation was reached, which has continued till to-day. The cosmopolitan flora became largely extinct, and its place occupied by an Oriental immigration, more especially over the previously- submerged areas. A short description, by Mr. J. H. Maiden, of the vegetable exudations collected during the expedition, concludes the volume. We have had to content ourselves with a sketch of the work of the expedition and of the conclusions arrived at from the knowledge gained. This abridgment will suffice, however, to show the value of the results obtained in geology and botany ; and we need only point to the volumes themselves as monuments to Mr. Horn’s generosity, and to the industry of the members of the expedition organised by him. NO. 1417, VOL. 55 | UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. THE Paris University Council has resolved to consider the institution of a degree which foreign students might take away with them as a proof of their studies and acquirements in Paris. THE officers for the Oxford University Junior Scientific Club for next term will be as follows :—President: A. W. Brown (Christ Church). Treasurer: A. E. Boycott (Oriel). Editor : A. R. Wilson (Wadham). Chemical Secretary : W. P. Billing- hurst (St. John’s). Biological Secretary: J. E. H. Sawyer (Christ Church). Committee: R. A. Buddicom (Keble); E. H. Hunt (Balliol) ; D. Meinertzhagen (New Coll.). Art the inauguration of the Lyons University, the Rector, M. Compayre, announced a donation to the university of 4000/. from M. Auguste Falcouz,a Lyons banker. The 4rztzsh Medical Journal states that the interest of this sum is to be disposed of as follows :—Every two years a prize of 4o/. sterling will be given to the students of each of the four faculties—literature, science, law, and medicine—who write the best essay on a current subject. The subject of the essay will be chosen by the Council of the Lyons University a year in advance. Every two years instruments for the science and medical faculties will also be bought. When fifty years have elapsed, the Lyons University will have entire control over the capital in order to be able to meet the demands of scientific progress. Dr. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., has been appointed professor of pure and applied mathematics in the University College of North Wales. at Bangor. Dr. Bryan graduated at Cambridge in 1886 as Fifth Wrangler. In 1888 he was Smith’s Prizeman, his essay being published by the Royal Society ; he was then elected Fellow of Peterhouse. In 1895 he became Fellow of the Royal Society, and received the degree of Doctor of Science of Cambridge University. Dr. Bryan has been appointed one of the examiners for Part IT. of the Mathematical Tripos (1897). He is the author of a valuable report to the British Association on the *‘ Present State of our Knowledge of Thermodynamics,” and of several other important papers on mathematics and mathematical physics. MAGDALEN COLLEGE, Oxford, has just elected Mr. R. W. T. Giinther to an official fellowship as tutor in natural science. Mr. Giinther, who is the son of Dr. Albert Giinther, F.R.S., so well and long known in the scientific world, has had a dis- tinguished career at Oxford. He was elected to a demyship in natural science at Magdalen in 1888, from University College School. He took a first class in morphology in 1892, was appointed University student of biology at Naples in 1893, and Royal Geographical student in 1895, and has been first lecturer and then tutor at Magdalen since 1894. He has made several contributions to Prof. Ray Lankester’s very interesting “‘ Linacre Reports,” and he read a paper at the British Association meeting last summer. It may be noted that Magdalen has already this term elected a demy and an exhibitioner in biology, the former coming from the Charterhouse. the latter being a pupil of Prof. Weldon at University College. Tue following are among recent announcements :—Dr. Surmont to be professor of hygiene at Lille; Dr. P. V. Lichtenfels to be full professor of mathematics in the Poly- technic Institute at Graz; Dr. Edler to be associate professor of agriculture in the University of Jena; Dr. E. Pringsheim to a professorship of physics in Berlin University; and Dr. Karl Friedheim to a professorship of chemistry ; Dr. Kalischer to be professor of physics at the Technical High School of Berlin- Charlottenburg; Dr. Autenrieth, privat-docent of medical chemistry at Freiburg i.B., to be provisional successor to Prof. Baumanns ; Dr. J. Kurschak to be associate professor of mathe- matics at the Technical High School in Budapest ; Dr. Anton Pestalozzi to be assistant in the Ziirich Botanical Museum 5 Prof. Blass to be full professor of geology at Innsbruck. , Dr. Szadeczky has been invited to become associate professor of geology at Klausenburg; and Prof. Allé, professor of mathe- matics in the German Technical High School at Prague, has been called to the Technical High School at Vienna. THE conference of headmasters was opened at Rugby on Tuesday, and was largely attended. After a long” discussion a resolution declaring the organisation of secondary education to be a matter of pressing necessity, with which the Government should be urged to deal in the next Session of Parliament, was carried, with a rider expressing the desire. of the conference to a i 188 NATURE [DEcEMBER 24, 1896 co-operate with other educational bodies. In moving ‘‘ That the new regulations for Woolwich examinations will not be satisfactory unless the number of subjects a candidate can take up is diminished by at least one, and that a heavy one, below the present number,” the Rev. Dr. James said the Army curri- culum afforded no education at all. It was, from the literary point of view, a failure, and from the scientific point of view was poor and inadequate. The incessant and irritating changes were a grave detriment to the intellectual development of the candi- dates. The result of these changes was especially felt in the department of science, and it was made impossible to give a really valuable scientific training. Under the: old system nine was the maximum number of subjects. Now a boy was to be allowed to take up ten subjects, and the amount of mathematics in Class I. had been very largely increased, while a third alter- native subject had been added which was beyond the reading required by the scholarship standard for mathematics at the Universities. Dr. James's resolution fell through, but the following were adopted in its place :—(1) That the new regula- tions for Woolwich examinations involve a disastrous increase of the burden of a curriculum which is already too heavy for candidates of the required age. (2) That it is not desirable that any such changes as are proposed should be made in regulations: which have been only recently established, and which have enabled Woolwich and Sandhurst candidates to be generally pre- pared together, and that the committee be instructed to urge the views of the conference on the military authorities. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American Journal of Scte nce, December.—Archelon Ischyros, a new gigantic Cryptodire Testudinate from the Fort Pierre Cretaceous of South Dakota, by G. R. Wieland. This testu- dinate is closely allied to the genus Protostega. All the large bones were found in place, and the skeleton was almost com- plete. The ribs, which average 1 m. in length, are remarkable jor their distal increase in thickness. The cervical centra are very heavy and strong bodies, and indicate a neck of enormous strength. The humerus measures “65 m., the ulna *33 m., and thefemur "46m. The totallength is about 11 feet 4 inches, and the spread of the massive forearms 16 or 20 feet, this being the most striking feature of theanimal. The skeleton was found em- bedded at the side of a small ravine near the South Fork of the Cheyenne River.—A method for the separation of aluminium from iron, by F. A. Gooch and F. S. Havens. The method is based upon the different solubilities of aluminium and ferric chlorides in strong hydrochloric acid. To test the method, measured portions of the standardised solution of aluminium chloride were evaporated nearly to dryness in a platinum dish, a measured amount of ferric chloride was added in a very little water, a mixture of equal proportions of ether and strong hydro- chloric acid was introduced, the liquid was saturated at 15° with gaseous hydrochloric acid, more ether was added to secure complete miscibility, and more gas passed to perfect saturation. The aluminium chloride was collected upon asbestos in a per- forated crucible, washed with a mixture of ether and aqueous HCl thoroughly saturated with the gaseous acid, dried at 150°C. for half an hour, covered with pure mercuric oxide, and ignited, gently at first, and finally over the blast. The error was less than I per cent.—Chemical composition of Hawaiian soils and of the rocks from which they have been derived, by A. B. Lyons. The relation in chemical composition of soils to the rocks from which they are derived can be most advantageously studied in a volcanic country, where disintegration of the rock is rapid and is attended with great chemical changes. In the Hawaiian soil there is observed a loss of more than half the silica, 77 per cent. of the manganese, 93 per cent. of the lime, 91 per cent. of the magnesia, and about 50 per cent. of the phosphoric acid. It is especially interesting to note that while the rotted lava has lost nearly all its calcium and potassium, the soil retains a con- siderable proportion of both these elements, probably owing to the influence of plants and molluscous animals.—The Jurassic formation on the Atlantic coast, by O. C. Marsh. Adduces reasons why certain fresh-water formations in New Jersey and elsewhere along the Altantic coast should be regarded as Jurassic instead of Cretaceous. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, vol. iii. No. 2, November.—The number opens with a report of the Buffalo Colloquium, a meeting which was held as auxiliary to the ummer meeting of the Society. It lasted a week, and the plan NO. 1417, VOL. 55] of it was that two courses of lectures should be given, consisting in each case of six one to two-hour lectures. Prof. Bécher’s subject was linear differential equations and their applications, and Prof. Pierpont’s the Galois theory of equations. Outlines of the lectures are given. The result was so satisfactory that at the close of the Colloquium a motion was adopted recommending to the Council that arrangements be made for a similar gathering in connection with the next summer meeting of the Society. —A geometrical method for the treatment of uniform convergence and certain double limits, by Prof. Osgood, was read, as previously noted, at the summer meeting. It is a very thorough paper and fully illustrated. The geometrical representation of functions by curves and surfaces is, the author states, of twofold importance ; for not only does it represent to the eye, by means of a concrete picture, relations which would otherwise appear only in abstract arithmetic form, but this picture in its turn makes evident new facts, and points out at the same time the curve that the arithmetic proof of the theories thus suggested would naturally take.—Prof. Bécher reviews Heffter’s ein- leitung in die Theorie der linearen Differentialgleichungen mit einer unabhangigen variabeln.—From the notes we learn that Profs. Klein and J. J. Thomson addressed the Society on October 17. Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, December.— Weather in the last century. Early records of the weather being somewhat rare, it was thought that summaries of the one in question were worthy of publication. The register was kept at Richmond by Mr. George Smith, a Proctor to Queen Anne, and contains a record of daily observations, made without instruments, from April 1713 to June 1745. The original document is preserved in the library of the Royal Meteorological Society.—The scientific use of kites, by W. L. Moore, Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The question discussed is simply, why kites are better than captive or unmanned balloons for exploring the upper air. The advantages over captive balloons are manifest. Prof. Moore has made out a strong case in favour of kites, but thinks that balloon observations should not be neglected.—Aarometrz descripizo, by J. Addison, 1672-1719. Attention has been called by Mr. Inwards, late President of the Royal Meteorological Society, toa poem under this title which is contained in 7ickel?s Addison, vol. vi. p. 427. The poem is reprinted in the current number of the A/agazzne, and the editor would be glad of a reference to any good translation that may exist, SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON, Royal Society, December 10.—‘‘The Chemical and Phy- siological Reactions of certain Synthesised Proteid-like Sub- stances. Preliminary Communication.” By Dr. John W. Pickering. From the observations recorded in this paper it appears that if certain derivatives of proteids, and other substances of allied chemical constitution, are heated together in sealed tubes with an excess of either phosphorus pentachloride or pentoxide, a series of colloidal substances are formed which, when freed from the contaminating phosphoric acid, and dissolved in concentrated ammonia, give opalescent solutions that, on evaporation down im vacuo, yield substances closely resembling in physical, chemical, and physiological properties certain proteids. These colloidal substances, although they differ from one another in minor details, are usually distinguished by the follow. . ing characteristics :— (1) They are soluble in warm water, forming opalescent leevorotatory solutions. (2) The resulting solutions yield the principal colour reactions hitherto deemed diagnostic of proteids. (3) In the absence of salts, solutions of these colloids do not coagulate on heating. In the presence of a trace of a neutral salt they coagulate on heating at temperatures very similar to proteid solutions. (4) Fractional heat coagulation shows the colloidal solutions are a mixture of different substances. (5) The different constituents of the colloidal solution exhibit different physiological action. (6) In the presence of an excess of neutral salts, or of salts of the heavy metals, the colloidal solutions behave in a manner similar to proteid solutions. (7) When introduced into the circulation of pigmented DECEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE 189 rabbits, dogs, and cats, certain of these substances (viz. the colloids designated A, B, C, a and 8) produce intravascular co- agulation of the blood in a manner similar to a nucleo-proteid. They also hasten the coagulability of the blood withdrawn from the carotid, and will, when slowly injected intravenously in minute quantities into dogs, produce a retardation of the coagulability of the intravascular blood, e.g. a ‘negative hase.” : (8) Apparently these colloidal substances are owing to both their physical and chemical properties and their physiological behaviour, the nearest synthesised bodies at present known to proteids. ** An Attempt to determine the Adiabatic Relations of Ethyl Oxide.” By Dr. E. P. Perman, Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and J. Rose-Innes, M.A., B.Sc. Geological Society, December 2.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The Secretary announced that Mr. Frank Owen had presented to the Society a photo- graphic portrait of his late grandfather, Sir Richard Owen.— Another possible cause of the glacial epoch, by Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S. In the introductory portion of the paper the author gave an account of the submarine topography of the area east of North America, and summarised Dr. J. W. Spencer’s work upon a submerged Antillean continent ; he then dealt with the effects which would be produced upon the Gulf Stream by the uprising of this continent in the glacial period, and maintains that, as the current could not pass into the Gulf of Mexico (being debarred by a coast of high conti- nental land), it would flow directly northwards into the North Atlantic, and thereby be deprived of about 10° (Fahr.) of heat: the effects of which may be practically illustrated by supposing the isothermal line of 32° to take the place of that of 42° in the northern hemisphere. He argued that the in- creased snowfall which would thus be caused over certain areas would tend to intensify the cold through all the adjoin- ing tracts. To the effects produced in this way must be added those due to the elevation of the land of Eastern North America and to an elevation of North-western Europe, which was supposed to have occurred at the end of Pliocene times. These elevations would intensify the glaciation caused by the difference of direction taken by the Gulf Stream. In the discussion which followed, the Rev. Edwin Hill inquired what were the grounds for the estimated reduction of tempera- ture, and asked for a comparison between the Gulf Stream in such conditions and the present North Pacific current. Dr. Blanford agreed with him in feeling doubtful whether a change in the configuration of the American coast would prevent a warm current from still impinging upon the shores of North- western Europe, and expressed the opinion that the main cause of the glacial epoch was still unknown.—On the affinities of the Echinothuridz, and on Pedinothuria and Elikodiadema, two new subgenera of Echinoidea, by Dr. J. W. Gregory. The author summarised and discussed the literature bearing upon the Echinothuridz, and brought forward arguments to prove that the family is a member of the order Diademoidea, and is derived from the Pedinidze, members of which are found in earlier rocks than the Corallian, which contains the oldest member of the Echinothuride, namely, Pe/anechinus. He maintained that the extreme flexibility and loose articulation of the plates of the living genera Asthenosoma and Phormosoma was due to the diminished calcification of the plates, and that these recent genera were extremely specialised forms, and not primitive—the apparently primitive features of the family being secondarily acquired, not primaeval.—On Zchznocystés and Paleodiscus, two Silurian genera of Echinoidea, by Dr. J. W. Gregory. The author gave a history of the genera Achznocystis, Salter, and Paleodiscus, Wyy. Thoms., redescribed their structures, and discussed their affinities. He concluded that Achinocystés was an echinid and not a cystid ; and that Pudeodescus was an echinid and not an asterid. Linnean Society, December 3.—Mr. C. B. Clarke, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—Mr. R. Morton Middleton ex- hibited and made remarks on specimens of Acer dasycarpum | strangulated by Aristolochia tomentosa. He also exhibited examples of Helix Cumberlandiana, an extremely local land mollusc from the carboniferous limestone of Tennessee, his remarks being confirmed by Mr. W. Stearm, an American conchologist, who was present as a visitor.—Mr. E. M. Holmes exhibited specimens of Lzebmannia major, a seaweed not hitherto detected in Britain, and, so far as is known, recorded only from NO. 1417, VOL. 55] Finisterre. The specimens were collected at Lossiemouth in August 1896. He also showed Bonnemazsonia hamifera, col- lected in May last by Mr. E. George, and in August last by himself. In 1895 living specimens of this seaweed, a native of Japan, were found at Falmouth by the late Mr. T. H. Buffham, and during the present year other examples had been found at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, showing that the plant had apparently become naturalised. The Rev. George Henslow gave the sub- stance of a paper entitled, ‘‘ Does Natural Selection play any part in the origin of Species among Plants?” After defining a species from the systematists’ point of view, the author showed, by examples, that many specific characters in plants might be useful, indifferent, useless or injurious ; and that they were the direct result of a responsive action especially to the physical environment. The ovzgzatior of varietal characters, he thought, should be considered as quite distinct from ‘‘the survival of the fittest” and ‘‘the struggle for life” which determine the distribution of species in time and space. The individual differences of plants were held to be (as a rule) inadequate to produce variations of any systematic value, unless the plant migrated, and dimensions fev se could have no ‘‘ destructive” capacities whatever. Darwin’s and Wallace’s conditions for natural selection, viz. large populations and infertility between parents and offspring, had, he considered, no connection with the origination of variations, while the latter did not exist. On the contrary, species with large populations were (as a rule) in- variable, while others might vary greatly, but only whenin different soils, &c. Instead of ‘* changed conditions of life” happening to any plant without migration, it was the latter which brought them about ; instead of a struggle being required with the parent stock or other plants, it was the avoidance of the deteriorating effects of struggling which was most beneficial, and new varieties arise best when there was no struggle at all. Anthropological Institute, December 8.—Mr. E. W. Brabrook, President, in the chair.—Prof. E. B. Tylor read a paper by Mr. Horatio Hale on four historical Huron wampum- belts, which he exhibited, adding remarks of his own on the employment of wampum in a mnemonic system. After a short account of the state of the Indian confederacies at the time of the arrival of the earliest discoverers, in the course of which the mention of the chief Hiawatha caused Prof. Tylor fo contrast the accuracy of Fenimore Cooper as a painter of Indian life with the poetical license of Longfellow, attention was directed to the use of wampum as currency, and to the laborious method of drilling the hard shell to form the beads. Specimens of the two shells employed in the manufacture were exhibited. Dr, Tylor then passed to the symbolic use of wampum-belts as historical records, illustrating his remarks by a number of lantern slides. From these it was explained how the Iroquois belt might be distinguished from others by the occurrence of diagonal bands of beads, contrasting in colour with those forming the ground. These bands are derived from the diagonal rafters of the peculiar ‘* long-houses”’ of the Iroquois. Other well-known conventional symbols, representing hearts, houses, lands, the ‘‘ peace path,” &c., were also illustrated. One of the belts exhibited was itself an historical record of some interest to Europeans, as it depicts a proposal of conversion to Christianity made by the early Jesuit missionaries to the Indians, the message being effected by working into a wampum-belt a symbolic group consisting of the lamb, the dove, and several crosses. The investigations made by Mr. Hale seem to show that the ‘‘ Penn Belt,” which is now in New England, is not a record of the famous scene depicted by Benjamin West, but of a more obscure treaty concluded with Iroquois chiefs. The intrinsic evidence afforded by the belt convinces Mr. Hale that it was made by Iroquois. In this way anthropology has been able to correct history. Dr. Tylor exhibited lantern slides of West's picture, and of one of Lafitau’s plates, the latter giving a far more accurate idea of the ceremonious ratification of an Indian treaty than the former. He also exhibited a slide illus- trating the use of wampum-belts as records in modern times, exemplified by the annual meeting of chiefs, at which all the belts are carefully gone over, in order that events of tribal importance may be kept green. A short discussion followed. Mathematical Society, December 10.—Prof. Elliott, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Major MacMahon, R.A., F.R.S., stated a result arrived at in a note by Prof. Sylvester, F.R.S., on a discovery in the theory of denumeration. In con- nection with this communication the President announced that 190 NATURE [| DeceMBER 24, 1896 Prof. Sylvester had put his ‘‘ Outline of Lectures on the Parti- tions of Numbers,” which he read at King’s College, London, in 1859, and which had never been published, at the disposal of the Council, and that that body had arranged to print them as a companion to the ex-President’s valedictory address, —Mr. Burbury, F.R.S., communicated a paper on the stationary motion of a system of equal elastic spheres of finite diameter.— Mr. Hough read a paper on the influence of viscosity on waves and currents. —Mr. Macfarlane Gray gave a description of his multiplying apparatus. Messrs. C. V. Boys, F.R.S., and T. I. Dewar, Prof. Greenhill, F.R.S., and other gentlemen, joined in adiscussion of points connected with the subject.—Lieut.- Colonel Cunningham, R.E., gave an account of results arrived at in his paper on the connection of quadratic forms.—The fol- lowing papers were communicated by their titles, viz. : Concern- ing the abstract groups of order K! and 4K ! holoedically iso- morphic with the symmetric and the alternating substitution groups on K letters, by Prof. E. H. Moore.—On a series of co- trinodal quartics, by Messrs. H. M. Taylor and W. H. Blythe. —On finite variations, by Mr. E. P. Culverwell. Zoological Society, December 15.—Lieut.-Colonel H. H. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society’s menagerie during the month of November 1896. —Mr. Sclater exhibited two bound volumes of original draw- ings by Joseph Wolf and Waterhouse Hawkins, belonging to the Knowsley library, which had been kindly lent to him for examination by the Earl of Derby. They represented various animals that had been living in the Knowsley menagerie, 1844-48.—Mr. W. Bateson exhibited and made remarks on some pigeons with very well-marked webs between the toes.— —Prof. Newton sent for exhibition the type-specimen of Heterorhynchus olivaceus of Lafresnaye, kindly entrusted to him by Prof. Hyatt, Curator of the Museum of the Boston Natural History Society. This extinct species, now referred to Hemignathus lucidus of Lichtenstein, was peculiar to Oahu, one of the Sandwich Islands, and the present appeared to be the only full-plumaged male specimen ever seen in this country. —Dr. G. Herbert Fowler read a paper entitled ‘‘ Contributions to our Knowledge of the Plankton of the Fzeroe Channel,” which contained an account of the first results arrived at from his examination of the marine fauna of this channel during a voyage in it, in July and August last, in H.M.S. Research (Captain Moore).—The Secretary read a paper by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, entitled ‘‘ On the Genera of Rodents, being an attempt to bring up to date the current arrangement of the Order,” Taking as a basis Alston’s paper on the Rodents, published in 1876, the main object of the present communication was to place in their proper positions the many genera described since that author’s times. In regard to the larger groups, Alston arrangement had been followed as far as possible ; but among other things it had been thought better to elevate the subfamily Bathyergine into a family, to make two families of the Hys- tricidee, one for the Old-World and one for the New-World porcupines, and to give to the subfamilies Geomyinz and Heterominz full family rank. All the recent genera of the order were enumerated, to the number of 158, as compared with 100 in Alston’s list. —Dr. J. W. Gregory gave a description of Lysechinus, a new genus of Plesiocidarids from the Tyrolese Trias.—A second paper by Dr. J. W. Gregory related to the classification of the Palzeozoic Ophiurids.—A communication was read from the Rev. O. Pickard Cambridge, F.R.S., con- taining descriptions of four new or little known spiders (Aran- eidea) from Ceylon, Borneo, and South America.—A com- munication from Dr, Robert O. Cunningham related to the occurrence of a pair of supernumerary bones in the skull of a Lemur, and to a peculiarity which he had noted in the skull of a young Orang.—A communication was read from Dr. Alph. Dubois, in which he gave the description of a new African Trogan from Lake Tanganyika, proposed to be named Hapa- loderma rufiventris. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, December 7.—The first ordinary meeting of the Society was held, at which Prof. M‘Kendrick gave the open- ing address. He remarked that the number of ordinary Fellows of the Society was now 513, twenty-five having been elected during the past year. Referring to the jubilee of Lord Kelvin, he said the celebrations were unique in their kind, and marked the climax, though not the end of a great career. It was now NO. 1417, VOL. 55] fifty years since Lord Kelvin became a member of this Society, and during that time he had contributed seventy-two papers, including his famous memoirs on thermodynamics, on the dissi- pation of energy, and on vortex motion. Prof. M‘Kendrick then read short obituary notices of Fellows who had died during the recess. By request of the Council, he then gave an account of recent investigations of his own, He began with some remarks on the structural and physiological nervous unit. He showed that these units in brain structure—neurons, as they were called—were not, as was at one time believed, linked together. There was contiguity of their fine terminations, but not continuity of structure. He next described how it was possible by an arrangement consisting of a variable resistance transmitter, and an induction coil, to stimulate the sensory nerves of the skin electrically, so that some of the elements in music—rhythm and intensity—might be perceived, and even enjoyed by those who had become deaf. Lastly he exhibited his improved phono- graphic recorder, by which the curves on the cylinder could be amplified so that the form of each might be studied, and made some remarks on the character of these curves.—Papers by Mr. G. R. M. Murray on the reproduction of some marine diatoms, and by Dr. Thomas Muir on the eliminant of a set of quaternary quadrics, on the resolution of circulants into rational factors, and on the eliminant of /(«) = 0, f(1/*) = 0, were held as read. DUBLIN. Royal Dublin Society, November 18.—Prof. A. C. Had- don in the chair.—The following papers were presented :—Note on Irish annelids in the Museum of Science and Art, Dublin, by Prof. W. C. M‘Intosh; new species of dragon-flies in the Dublin Science and Art Museum, by Mr. George H. Carpenter ; on Fresnel’s wave-surface, and the surfaces relative thereto, by William Booth, Principal of Hoogly College, Bengal (communi- cated by Mr. Thomas Preston).—Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., gave an account of a journey in the interior of Fiji, illustrated by numerous photographs, NEw York. National Academy of Sciences, November 17 and 18.— Prof. Ogden N. Rood read a paper on flicker photometers. He called attention toa paper published by him in the Amerzcaz Journal of Science for September 1893, on a photometric method which is independent of colour, illustrating its use by determina- tions of the luminosity of discs of variously coloured paper. In his communication to the Academy, he described five forms of photometer based on the flicker principle. The idea underlying the action of these instruments is identical with that which obtained in his experiments with coloured discs, viz. the rapid distribution of two illuminated surfaces alternately for each other, the flicker disappearing when the two surfaces had equal bright- ness. The photometric measurements made with this new style of photometer are quite accurate and independent of colour.— Prof. Edward D. Cope read a paper on the geographical dis- tribution of batrachia and reptilia in the Medicolumbian region. —Prof. A. E. Verrill read a paper on the evolution and phylogeny of, the gasteropod molluscs, illustrated by beautiful diagrams. He advances the view that the Ophisthobranch molluscs were evolved from Pteropods, and are a type of higher order than the Prosobranchs, notwithstanding that they are hermaphrodites, Their sexual organs are much more compli- cated, and the loss or thinness of the shell gives greater scope for the development and arrangement of internal organs than can be attained by the Prosobranchs with their hard shells. The Ophisthobranchs furnish the most conspicuous examples in the animal kingdom of protection by mimicry, having lost their hard shell as a means of protection, though they still retain it in the early stages of life. The adults, however, either mimic seaweeds, on which they live, or sponges, hydroids, or corals. known to be poisonous to fishes, the chief enemies of the molluscs. Some beautiful examples were shown of molluscs, living in the Sargasso Sea, which imitate the seaweed, and even the parasitic life upon it. In the discussion, Prof. Cope main- tained the correctness of the old theory that the Prosobranchs were the more advanced and higher.—Prof. Othniel C. Marsh read a paper on the Jurassic formation on the Atlantic coast. This formation has long been supposed to be lacking in America ; but Prof. Marsh found it in 1868, near Lake Como in Wyoming, and has now traced it also on the Atlantic coast. —Prof. Alfred M. Mayer read a paper on the equation of the forces acting in the flotation of discs and rings of metal DEcEMBER 24, 1896] NATURE IgI on water and on other liquids, giving several formule. The surface tension of pure water is sufficient to bear up discs or rings of metal for three days in localities free from dust, but the slightest impurity in water destroys the surface tension ; even dipping the finger into it, or pouring vapour of ether upon it. Could the water be kept absolutely free from dust, it seems probable that it would retain its surface tension indefinitely. The surface tension of mercury is about ten times as great as that of water, but it overflows the metal, and is not convenient to experiment with. The kind of metal used in these experiments is quite immaterial.—Prof. Simon Newcomb read two papers, one on the physical causes of the variations of latitude. These causes are accumulation of ice and snow, and the alternate northerly and southerly motion of the earth’s atmo- sphere from and towards the poles for a period of three months in one direction, and three months in the other direction in each year. His second paper was on solar motion as a gauge of stellar distances. He finds that the stars observed have an apparent drift southward of about 2” a year, indicating that the solar system is moving at that rate in the direction of Alpha Lyre. His observations show, also, that the stars of smaller magnitudes are not so remote from the earth as their magnitude would indicate, the increase of distance being about one-fifth for each decrease in stellar magnitude. This seems to warrant the inference, he thinks that the visible universe has a definite limit in space.—Prof. C. S. Hastings read a paper on a new type of telescope free from secondary colour. He finds it possible, by proper arrangement of silicate glasses, to eliminate secondary colour entirely, and also to reduce the length of the telescope tube one half, obviously giving a great advantage in the construction of large telescopes where the weight of the object-glasses has to be supported at a great distance from the point of support.—Prof. Ira Remsen read two papers: one on the hydrolysis of acid amides; the other on the isomeric chlorides of paranitro-orthosulphobenzoic acid.—Prof. C. S. Peirce read two papers: one on a graphical method of logic ; the other on mathematical infinity. Paris. Academy of Sciences, December 14.—M. A. Cornu in the chair. —On a new form of the equations to the problem of three bodies, by M. H. Poincaré.—On a class of transcendental functions, by M. Emile Picard.—The theory of the confluence of lymphatics and the development of the lymphatic ganglions, by M. ‘L. Ranvier.—The application of the Réntgen rays to pulmonary tuberculosis, by M. C. H. Bouchard. The continua- tion of the study of one of the cases of pleurisy previously described shewed an opacity at the summit of the lung, appear- ing to result from a condensation of the pulmonary tissue, and this was confirmed by percussion and auscultation. In all the cases of tuberculosis examined with the aid of the fluorescent screen, the number of pulmonary lesions has been clearly made out, and in all diseases of the thorax the application of this method forms a valuable aid to diagnosis.—On the third scien- tific campaign of the Prevzcess Alice, by S. A. Albert I., Prince of Monaco. This communication is chiefly occupied with the results of deep-sea soundings in the neighbourhood of the Azores, and in the Mediterranean.—A new double image micro- meter, particularly suitable for the measurement of small diameters, by M. G. Bigourdan. —On Taylor’s series, by M. Emile Borel.—On a linear partial differential equation of the second order, by M. J. Le Roux. —On the quadratic in- tegrals of the equations of dynamics, by M. G. di Pirro.—On the longitudinal tension of the kathode rays, by M. Colard. Starting with the hypotheses that the ray consists of the trans- port of negatively charged molecules, and that the electric field is negligible in the space considered, the conclusion is drawn that the behaviour of a kathode ray in a magnetic field is similar to that of a perfectly flexible conductor carrying the same current.—On some errors admitted as facts in electro- magnetism, by M. Vaschy. In the case of the movement of a magnet under the influence of a current of constant intensity, the usual calculation of their relative energy neglects the heat evolved by the current. Other examples are given of similar cases.—On selenic anhydride, by M. René Metzner. A com- parison of the thermochemical data of sulphuric and selenic acids; the formation of selenic anhydride from selenious anhydride and oxygen is an endothermic reaction,— Analysis of copper by the electrolytic method: estimations ef arsenic, antimony, sulphur, and foreign metals, NO. 1417, VOL. 55] by M. A. Hollard. A continuation of a previous paper on the same subject.—On the antimonio-tungstic combinations, by M. L. A. Hallopean.—Researches on the sulphides of cobalt and nickel, by M. G. Chesneau. The solubility of cobalt sulphide in sodium polysulphide increases rapidly with the excess of sulphur present. The sulphide of cobalt obtained in this way approximated to the composition CO,.S;. Nickel gives with the same reagent a black polysulphide of perhaps analogous composition, differing from the cobalt salt in being soluble with difficulty in sodium polysulphide, and more soluble in the mono- sulphide. —New method for the estimation of glycerol, by MM. F, Bordas and Sig. de Raczkowski.—On 1 : 3 di-bromo-propy- lene, by M. R. Lespieau. This substance (CH Br: CH.CH,. Br) is obtained by the action of phosphoric anhydride upon symmetrical dibromhydrin.—On the decolorisation in wines, by M. J. Laborde. Under the action of the oxydase present in a culture of Botrytis cinerea, a wine was completely decolorised in four hours. This oxydase is destroyed by heat, hence the best method of preventing the spontaneous decolorisation of wines is to raise the wine to a temperature sufficiently high to destroy the ferment.—Coagulating and toxic properties of the liver, by MM. Mairet and Vires. By the action of heat upon the ex- tracts a precipitate is formed, possessing coagulating properties ; the filtrate contains the toxic principles. —Replacement of the amibocytes and phagocytic organ in the Pa/udina vivipara, by M. L. Cuénot.—On the development of Annelids, by M. Auguste Michel.—Contributions to the study of the Rouge?, by M. S. Jourdain. The disease known as ‘‘rouget,”’ ‘‘ béte rouge,” &c., is due to the attack of an acarus (Zvombzdton), in a larval hexapodal form.—On the formation of non-nitrogenous food stores in the nut and almond, by M. Leclerc du Sablon. —Action of some substances on the germination of the spores of black rot, by MM. L. Ravaz and G. Gouirand.—On an apparatus designed to show that the quantity of dissolved gas in sea-water at great depths is independent of the pressure, by M. Jules Richard. A description, with diagrams, of the apparatus used in the deep-sea soundings on the last voyage of the Princess Alice.—On the influence of certain living organisms on the quantities of oxygen and _ carbonic acid dissolved in sea-water, by M. Marten Knudsen. The observations on the amount of dissolved oxygen in the superficial layers made by Dittmar, in the Challenger Expedition, and later by Tornoé, show great variations, the quantities found being in some cases greater than that calculated from the law of solubility of gases. These results were attributed by Dittmar to errors of observations, but similar results having been obtained during the expeditions of the Zngolf to Greenland, although by a different method from those adopted by other observers, led to the discovery that this excess was due to the presence of a great number of living copepods.—On a red rain that fell at Bizerte (Tunis), by M. Ginestous. The colouring matter was of a mineral nature, which from its composition would appear to consist of the débris of a granulitic pegmatite.—The cooling of the globe, the primordial cause of evolution, by M. R. Quinton. New SoutH WALEs. Linnean Society, October 28.—Mr. Henry Deane, President, in the chair.—The President formally announced the death, on the roth inst., of Baron von Mueller, who was one of the first two honorary members of the Society to be elected (January 22, 1876).—On the motion of Mr. J. H. Maiden it was resolved that (1) the members of this Society desire to express the profound regret with which the tidings of the decease of Baron von Mueller have been received ; and at the same time to place on record their high appreciation of the Barons life- work, which has in so eminent a degree contributed to the advanced state of our knowledge of the flora of Australia. (2) A copy of this resolution be forwarded to the surviving sister of the late Baron, with an expression of the Society’s sympathy in her bereavement.—The President read a letter from the Royal Society of Tasmania, offering to co-operate in any movement to raise some appropriate memorial of the late Baron von Mueller. —The following papers were read :—Australian Zermitide (Part ii.), by Walter W. Froggatt. The author discusses the classification of the family, and proposes its subdivision into four subfamilies based upon the characters of the neuration of the wings.—Note on the occurrence of Palaeozoic Radiolaria in New South Wales, by Prof. David. With the exception of the opal rocks, which contain numerous spherical casts, possibly of 192 NATURE [ DECEMBER 24, 1896 radiolaria, all radiolarian rocks at present known in New South Wales are of Palezeozoic age, and occur on two geological horizons, namely, Carboniferous (? or Devonian), as in the red jaspers of Barraba and Bingera, and the claystones and cherts, &c., of Tamworth; and Devonian or Silurian as at Jenolan Caves, in which locality the radiolaria are best preserved where the rocks are in contact with eruptive dykes. The author is led to the conclusion that these radiolarian rocks are not necessarily of deep-sea origin. In Paleozoic times in New South Wales the development of radiolaria both vertical and horizontally was very extensive.—Note on traces of Aadzolarza in pre-Cambrian rocks near Adelaide, by Prof. David and Walter Howchin: The recent microscopic examination of calcareous and cherty rocks of undoubtedly pre-Cambrian age from South Australia has shown that these rocks, not previously known to be ossiliferous, contain abundant remains of radiolaria. AMSTERDAM. Royal Academy of Sciences, October 31.—Prof. van de Sande Bakhuyzen in the chair.—Prof. W. Kapteyn on the construction of a curve of the third order, its real foci, its satellite-point and a tangent being given.—Prof. van der Waals demonstrated that the value of 4 in the equation of fluids which, when they are in a state of great rarefaction, is equal to four times the molecular volume, decreases with diminishing volume. The formula b=4m { I-« +) +e ES y &e. | represents the variation of 4 with the volume. Of the co- efficients €,, €, &c., only the first has been calculated, and has been found equal to 43.—Prof. Weber communicated the conclusions drawn from 254 determinations of the absolute and the relative weight of the brains of mammals. A hippopotamus amphibius of 1755 kilogr. had brains weighing only 582 gr. Consequently the ratio is I : 3105. This is the most unfavour- able one hitherto fixed by weighing. Only the relative weight of the brains of the large cetacea presents a more unfavourable ratio, which, however, is founded on estimation. In many respects the hippopotamus has preserved the character presented by the brains of the tertiary mammals.— Prof. Franchimont on the fusing point of organic bodies. The speaker dréw attention to the variation of the fusing point taking place when hydrogen atoms are replaced by other elements or groups of atoms, and took it that the latter, though they become united with the same atom, do not occupy the same place, so that a change in the form of the molecule is brought about, which influences the fusing point. This change of form counteracts in some cases the effect of the increase of the molecular weight, which consists in a rise of the melting point, and seems to be brought about principally by the CH, group, which, when in contact with oxygen, nitrogen, or carbon, can cause the fusing point to fall. To such a change of form the speaker also wished to ascribe the phenomenon observed by himself and Zincke in 1872, viz. a variation of the fusing point in terms of an homologous series with an even and an odd number of C atoms alternately. The speaker had met with this phenomenon in other cases also.— Prof. Engelmann treated of myogenic self-regulation of the action of the heart, and presented a paper on the subject for publication in the Academy’s Proceedings.—Prof. Lorentz pre- sented a paper to be published in the ‘Academy’s Proceedings, entitled ‘‘a universal theorem concerning the motion of a viscous fluid with friction, and a few consequences deduced from it.”—Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes communicated two papers : (a) by Dr. Zeeman, on the influence of a magnetisation on the nature of the light emitted by a substance. Pursuing a hint given by Faraday, several experiments were tried. The principal was this: the light of the electric arc, being sent through a heated tube containing sodium vapour, is analysed by a Rowland’s grating. The tube is placed between the poles of an electro-magnet. When acted on by the magnet, a slight broadening of the two sodium lines is seen, tending to show that forced vibrations are produced in the atoms by the action of magnetism; (6) by Dr. J. Verschaffelt, on capillary ascent between two concentric cylindrical tubes, being measurements carried out in the Leyden Physical Laboratory. Ina previous communication Mr. Verschaffelt, to calculate the capillary ascent of liquid carbonic acid, made use of an hypothesis, viz. that the meridian section of the surface of the liquid was an ellipse. The writer has put this manner of calculation to the 0. 1417, VOL. 55 | test of observation. For this purpose, however, he has not used liquid carbonic acid, but methyl chloride, and has found a satis- factory correspondence to exist between the value deduced from observation and that arrived at by calculation.—Mr. Jan de Vries presented, on behalf of Prof. L. Gegenbauer, of Vienna, a paper entitled ‘‘Zwei allgemeine Satze iiber Sturm’sche Ketten.” GOTTINGEN. Royal Society of Sciences.—The Nachrichten (mathe- matico-physical section, Part 3) contains the following memoirs recently communicated to the Society. August 1.—Charles A. Noble (San Francisco): Solution of the boundary equation for a plane contour composed of segments of continuous curvature and without salient angles. R. Fricke (Brunswick): Ona simple group of 360 operations. W. Voigt: An attempt to determine the true specific electric moment of a tourmaline. October 24.—J. Orth: (1) On the formation of fibrin on serous and mucous membranes ; (2) Researches conducted in the Gottingen Pathological Institute. W. Voigt: (1) A new method of investigating the thermal conductivity of crystals ; (2) On the position of the absorption-brushes in biaxial pleochroic crystals. The formal communications (Part 2) in- clude the address voted to Lord Kelvin upon his recent jubilee, and that to Prof. Wilhelm Hittorf, of Miinster, on his doctorjubzlaum. é BOOKS AND SERIALS RECEIVED. Books.—A Treatise on Ore Deposits: J. A. Phillips, 2nd edition, by Prof. Louis (Macmillan).—Mensuration for Beginners: F. H. Stevens (Macmillan).—Applied Bacteriology: T. H. Pearmain and C. G. Moor (Bailliére).—The Story of Forest and Stream: J. Rodway (Newnes).— Scritti intorno alla Teoria Molecolare ed Atomica ed Aila Notazione Chimica: S. Cannizzaro (Palermo).—The Lepidoptera of the British Islands : C. G. Barrett, Vol. 3 (L. Reeve).—This Wonderful Universe : A. Giberne (S.P.C.K.).—Elementary Meteorology : Dr. F. Waldo (New York, American Book Company) —Obseryations and Researches made at the Hong Kong Observatory, 1895: W. Doberck (Hong Kong).—La Structure du Protoplasma et les Théories sur I'Hérédité, &c. : Prof. Y. Delage (Paris, Reinwald).—Traité de Zoologie Concréte, Tome x : La Cellule et les Proto- zoaires: Prof. Y. Delage and E. Hérouard (Paris, Reinwald). Ser1aLs.—Good Words. January (Isbister).—Sunday Magazine, January (Tsbister).—American Naturalist, December (Philadelphia).—Himmel und Erde, December (Berlin). . CONTENTS. PAGE Petroleum. By E.R. B. . RRO Gc UE, The Aim of Biological Teaching 170 A Study in Symbolism . 171 Our Book Shelf :— Simmons ‘‘ Physiography for Beginners” . 172 Wagstaff: ‘*The Metric System of Weights. and Measures compared with the Imperial System . 172 Angot : ‘* The Aurora Borealis” . . ii chit /23 “ Ros-Rosarum ; Dew of the Ever- ‘living Rose” 173 “Knowledges seen te 173 Knight: ‘* Hygiene Diagramettes ” 173 Letters to the Editor :— Leonids of November 15, a.m., 1896. (Wzth Dia- eram.)—Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S. . 73 The Force of One Pound. —Prof. Jone Perry, ERS: © 176 The Earthquake of December 17. ‘“_Dr. Charles Chree ; J. Lloyd Bozward; E. R. P. : 178 The Earthquake, By Dr. C. Davison... . 179 Notes .. Mes oe) 180 Our Astronomical ‘Column:— Mountain Observatories . 183 Observations of Saturn . 183 Karlsruhe Meridian Observations 183 The Western Australia Government Observatory 183 Opening of New Laboratories at University Col- lege, Liverpool . . . 184 The Anthropological History of Southern Russia , 184 The Horn Expedition to Central Australia . . 185 University and Educational Intelligence .... . 187 Scientific Serials) 5 emememtne ie) © «er ane 188 Societies and Academiesy. =. . - - = ss 188 Books and Serials Received ...... 192 NATURE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1896. ANCIENT ASTRONOMY IN INDIA. fTindu Astronomy. By W. Brennand. Pp. xiv + 329. (London: Chas, Straker and Sons, Ltd., 1896.) HE ancient mathematical and astronomical works of the Hindus are worthy of more attention than they have yet received from Europeans. A lengthened resi- dence in India led Mr. Brennand to become interested in the study of some of these, which was frequently inter- rupted by the pressure of official duties; but after his retirement he took up the subject again, and presented a paper on it to the Royal Society about five years ago. The interest manifested in this has encouraged him in the composition of the work before us, which it is hoped will have the effect of making the Hindu system of astronomy more generally known, and perhaps induce others to make further investigations on the subject. He begins by a discussion of the ancient zodiac, and its general correspondence amongst the Indians, Chinese, Chaldeans, Arabians, and Egyptians ; treats also of the other division of the ecliptic into so-called lunar man- sions ; and shows the bearing of this upon the probability that the Hindus had originally migrated from Central Asia into India. This, however, is a view which probably few at the present time would dispute, as that is under- stood to be the original home of the Aryan race. It is when we come to the astrononiical calculations with re- gard to the movements of the planets, the precession of the equinoxes, and the prediction of eclipses, that the pro- blem of the source and origin of the astronomy contained in the Hindu books stands before us. Now as to the precession of the equinoxes, H. T. Colebrooke (who afterwards became the second President of the Astro- nomical Society, succeeding Sir William Herschel) pointed out in 1816 (“ Asiatick Researches,” vol. xii. p. 221), that the Hindus “had approximated to the true rate of that motion much nearer than Ptolemy, before the Arabian astronomers, and as near the truth as these have ever done since.” The Hindus, indeed, appear to have reckoned it at one and a half degrees in a century, which is equivalent to a revolution in 24,000 years ; whereas Albatenius, the earliest of the Arabian astrono- | mers who improved upon Ptolemy, made it a degree in | 66 years, which amounts to a revolution in 23,760 years. The true value of this is about 25,800 years ; but though the Hindu is nearer it than the Arabian, the difference is hardly enough to warrant us in concluding that the two are independent. Mr. Brennand’s second chapter is on “ Early Hindu Periods.” Aday of Brahma was called a Kalpa,and was supposed to comprise a period of no less than 4, 320,000,000 years. A thousandth part of this was a Maha-Yuga, and a tenth of a Maha-Yuga was a Kali-Yuga, or 432,000 years. At the beginning of each Kali-Yuga the sun and all the planets were supposed to be in conjunction, and the beginning of the present Kali-Yuga corresponded to B.C. 3102 of our era. But, as Laplace pointed out in the “Exposition du Systtme du Monde,” the conjunction was not near enough to permit us to suppose that the €poch in question was founded on observation ; it must NO. 1418, VOL. 55] ‘ have been “invented for the purpose of giving a common origin to all the motions of the heavenly bodies in the zodiac.” With regard to the enormous periods of time which the vanity of other nations besides the Hindus led them to claim, it does not seem to us that Mr. Brennand is particularly successful in endeavouring to explain it by taking a year as in fact a month, or season, and so re- ducing the period. Not to refer again to the Hindu Kalpa, many other periods, even reduced in this way, are absurdly long. Mention is here made of the list of eclipses said to have been sent to Aristotle by Callisthenes from Babylon, extending over a period of nineteen centuries before his time. The sole authority for this is Simplicius, who himself believed that the record sent never reached its destination, as no work then extant of Aristotle re- ferred to it, and, as Delambre remarks, the whole thing is probably a fable. : Our author proceeds to give a very elaborate and interesting account of the Hindu mathematics and methods of astronomical calculation. Colebrooke, in the article which we have already quoted, rightly remarks that these are interesting, not in a scientific (no observ- ations being given that can be verified), but in an historical point of view. History, however, requires chronology as her handmaid; and the date of the beginning of Hindu astronomy seems very difficult to determine with even approximate accuracy. Mr. Bren- nand’s view is that it is really very ancient, but that it suffered an eclipse during the rise of Buddhism, and was afterwards revived. Now this took place about’ five centuries before the Christian era, but Buddhism first became recognised as a State religion under Asoka about the middle of the third century before Christ. During its rise amongst the people, it is thought that there was a great destruction of manuscripts, and, as Mr. Brennand | points out, we are sometimes rather apt to forget how difficult it would be, without the aid of printing, to keep intact scientific knowledge which had been acquired. One of the great revivers of. astronomy amongst the Brahmins was a mathematician named Aryabhatta, who is supposed to have lived not long before the time of the Christianera. He taught the diurnal rotation of the earth, and explained the true cause of solar and lunar eclipses ; he is said also to have noticed the motion of the equinoctial points, but to have restricted it to a periodical oscillation. It is suggested that the allegory of the death of Durga (which, in the nature of its sym- bolism, reminds us of the weeping for Tammuz, which the Israelites adopted from the Babylonians, as Ezekiel was horrified to see it practised by them) was invented by the Brahmins to represent and keep in memory the decline of their favourite science, afterwards revived. We must now pass on to the age of Brahmagupta, which was probably about six centuries after Christ, or nearly the time of Mohammed. As compared with Aryabhatta, his teaching appears to have been in some respects retrograde, but his principal work was a revised and corrected edition of the ancient sacred work, “The Brahma Siddhanta,” from some earlier copy which had been preserved. The word “ Siddhanta”, it may be remarked, signifies “established conclusion,” and a number of astronomical treatises exist under this title, though their exact date Kk 194 NATURE. -[ DECEMBER 31, 1896 in their original shape, cannot be determined. Brahma- gupta’s edition of the above was called “ The Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta,” “Sphuta” meaning “amended” or “corrected” (perhaps “ restored ” would be better). Cole- brooke translated two chapters of this from the Sanskrit. They are chiefly mathematical, giving methods for per- forming trigonometrical, geometrical, and algebraical questions. It should be mentioned that the four principal Siddhantas are reputed by the Hindus to have been in- spired ; the Brahma Siddhanta having been, they say, revealed by Brahma, the Surya Siddhanta by the sun, the Soma Siddhanta by the moon, and the Brihaspati Siddhanta by Jupiter. Mr. Brennand gives a very par- ticular description of the Surya (or sun) Siddhanta, but we can mention only a few points to which he calls attention. The ancient cycle of sixty years, common to the Chaldzeans, the Chinese, and the Hindus, consisted, in fact, of five periods of the planet Jupiter round the sun. As regards the planetary motions, they were all supposed to be of uniform velocity in themselves, though some appeared to move more slowly than others, on account of their greater distances. The Brahmins ap- proximated very closely to the true length of a year, Mr. Brennand devotes a very considerable space to a description of their methods of astronomical calculation, which are worthy of careful study ; but we must now conclude this short sketch of his interesting work by reiterating his own hope that his book may lead to further investigations on the subject, W. T. LYNN. AMBER IN SCIENCE AND THE ARTS. The Tears of the Heliades; or, Amber as a Gem. W. Arnold Buffam. (London: Sampson 1896.) HAT the classical account of the origin of amber has not been sufficiently practical to satisfy modern inquirers, is proved by the interest that has always been attached to the subject, and more especially in recent years. The wide geographical range.over which this fossil resin is now found, and the different conditions of the several deposits, has increased the interest and speculation with regard to the number and character of the trees or plants from which the resin exuded in long past ages; but speculation has of late been largely con- verted into fact by the systematic study of a mass of material that has been carefully examined by Dr. H. R. Goeppert and A. Menge, and more recently by Dr. H. Conwentz, Goeppert and Menge’s “Die Flora des Bernsteins,” published at Dantzig in 1883, is, moreover, illustrated by a number of splendidly executed coloured plates, show- ing not only lumps of amber of different formation, but also sufficient material of wood structure to prove certain botanical affinities,.and of floral and leaf-forms found in masses of the fossil resin. In Dr. H. Conwentz’s contribution to this subject, published at Dantzig in 1886, the plants referred to are arranged in their natural orders, commencing with the monocotyledons. This is also illustrated by a fine series of plates: Dr. Conwentz further published—at Dantzig NO. 1418, VoL. 55] By Pp. 98, 8vo ; with illustrations. Low, Marston, and Co., Ltd., in 1890—a “Monographie der Baltischen Bernstem- baume,” and at the Ipswich meeting of the British Association in 1895 gave a very valuable address “ On English amber and amber generally,” and as this paper was printed in Watural Science (vol. ix. Nos. 54 and 55, for August and September last), it may certainly be regarded as the best contribution in: the English language to this interesting subject. i Though Mr. Buffam in his “ Tears of the Heliades” devotes one chapter of twenty-four pages to the con- sideration of the plants furnishing amber, and their geographical distribution, he does not seem to have been acquainted with Dr. Conwentz’s researches. The two authors, however, have been working on different lines. Dr. Conwentz in his paper has paid special attention to _ English amber and to the sources of amber particularly, while Mr. Buffam has treated his subject, as one of his titles indicates, from an artistic point of view, and in this we must say he has succeeded in making a most charm- ing book. His description of the Sicilian amber shows at once that his admiration of the gem amounts to enthusiasm, and in this the reader is almost carried away with the same enthusiasm with such paragraphs as the following description of a gold and amber neck- lace which he saw on the neck of an Italian girl. “Whilst she spoke,” he says, “the gems in her neck- lace flashed in the sunlight, showing colour shades ranging from faint blue to deepest azure, and from pale rose to intense pigeon-blood, ruby red. The varied and lustrous hues here blended in lavish beauty drew from me involuntary expressions of admiration.” The beauty of these gems is further impressed on the reader’s admiration by an excellent reproduction in colours and gold, forming the frontispiece to the book ; gems such as these, however, it is stated are rare even in Sicily. Sicilian amber, we are told— “is only found on or near the surface of the ground in an accidental manner, scattered over a wide extent of country, having been transported by down-pouring rains and by brooks and rivers far from its primary bed, which is believed to be in the neighbourhood of the Central Mountains, where Gemmellaro and Maravigna, in fact, affirmed its existence.” It is not necessary to dilate here on the general uses of amber, such as for mouthpieces of pipes, beads, brooches, &c., as this has been exhaustively treated of by nearly all writers on the subject ; but the bulk of the amber of commerce is the yellow kind obtained in such~ large quantities from the Baltic. It may, however, be as well to refer to its early use in medicine, and on this head Mr. Buffam says :— Be “The ancients employed amber as a medicine, and it is still prescribed by physicians in France, Germany and Italy, and several chemists in Paris keep it constantly in stock. It has been worn by ladies and children from time immemorial as an amulet, sometimes carved into amphore, and has been pronounced of service either taken internally or worn round the neck.” It is remarkable that the resin should still be used on the continent as a medicine, as stated by Mr. Buffam, for though it formerly had a reputation asa stimulant and antispasmodic in England, it has been discarded by us for at least forty or fifty years as possessing no medicinal properties. ; DECEMBER 31, 1896] NATURE As a material for varnish making, amber was a re- cognised commercial article in the sixteenth century. Whether it was the basis of the varnish used by the old violin makers has long been a disputed question, which can never be satisfactorily settled. It is not improbable that the peculiar electric qualities possessed by amber may have exercised some influence in producing the marvellous tones of the violins of the old masters ; and the extremely dangerous and difficult task of melting amber in either fixed or volatile oils, en account of its liability to fire under heat, would preclude any attempt at its manufacture except in the laboratory and under personal superintendence, so that the secret of its preparation died with each master. On the other hand, the danger and difficulty attending the melting of the substance has been advanced as a reason against the probability of its use. As a modern varnish material, amber is now scarcely in demand. With regard to English amber, though specimens are not unfrequently found on the Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex coasts, as stated by Dr. Conwentz, there has been some doubt as to the genuine character of some of the pieces, which appear to have been copal or anime rather than true amber. The similarity in the formation of the two resins is borne out by an illustration of concentric structure given by Dr. Conwentz in his valuable paper before alluded to, with a specimen of Demerara copal from the locust tree (Hymenwa Courbaril) in the Kew Museum. JOHN R. JACKSON. THE RED DEER. Fur and Feather Series: Red Deer. Natural History, by Rev. H. A. Macpherson ; S¢a/king, by Cameron of Lochiel; Hunting, by Viscount Ebrington; Cookery, by A. I. Shand. Pp. viii+ 320. 12mo, illustrated: (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) LL contributions to the natural history of the finest of our British mammals cannot fail to be interest- ing to all with a zoological turn of mind ; while accounts of the stalking and chase of the same noble animal will command attention from a still wider circle of readers. Whether the three chapters which Mr. Macpherson con- tributes to the little work before us form an adequate account of the natural history of Cervus elaphus, may be a moot point, but to our mind they are too “ parochial.” There is, for instance, nothing said as to the distribution of the red deer, or its relations to other members of the same genus; and the chief attention is directed to its breeding-habits. The author of these chapters appears to derive most of his knowledge of the animal from the Lake District ; and the first chapter is nothing more than a description and history of the fells of Westmoreland, with some casual observations on red deer thrown in. It is written in a pleasant and gossipy style, but as its purport has already appeared in the pages of “ Lake- land,” its reproduction here seems superfluous. The third chapter in the natural history section is entitled “Echoes of the Chase,” and would more appropriately have come in Lord Ebrington’s section. Indeed, the work decidedly suffers from insufficient editing. For instance, most of Lord Ebrington’s very interesting remarks on antlers, in the chapter entitled NO. 1418, VOL. 55] “Deer,” should clearly find a place in the natural history portion. Again, after Mr. Macpherson had written, on page 34, that “ Deer, by the way, are very fond of nibbling the remains of shed antlers,” the editor ought not to have permitted the following sentence, by Lord Ebring- ton, to appear on page 278. “T have never heard any explanation that accounted for this [the rarity of the discovery of the bodies of dead deer] satisfactorily, for the hinds would not eat carrion, though there seems little doubt that they will eat both bones and shed horns.” Either the matter is, or is not, a certainty, and one allusion would suffice. So far as we are capable of judging, the chapters on stalking and hunting form admirable and _ interesting accounts of these sports. In addition to the remarks on antlers already mentioned, Lord Ebrington gives us many interesting observations which might well find a place in works on natural history. In reference to the “gait” and “slot,” he writes that— “A stag’s dew-claws point outward, and are large in proportion to his own size, while a hind’s are small, turn inward, and point straight down. A stag crosses his legs right and left in walking, while with a hind the prints of the hind foot will be in a direct line with those of the fore foot, unless she is heavy in calf. ... The extra weight on the legs is no doubt the reason, and at calving time the stags are defenceless too, having shed their horns. The stag moves with more confidence than the hind, so his paces are regular. The hind moves femininely and distrustfully ; sometimes she will put her hind feet down in front of the spot from where she has just lifted her fore ones, sometimes on the same spot, sometimes behind it.” Unless we are greatly mistaken, there are few pro- fessed naturalists who could have given such details ; and yet they are surely of much more interest than the endless multiplication of species. The illustrations are charming works of art, and the volume must claim a place in the library of every sports- man, if not of the naturalist also. Ree OUR BOOK SHELF. The Tutorial Chemistry. Part 1. Non-Metals. G. H. Bailey, D.Sc., Ph.D. Pp. viii + 226. W. B. Clive, 1896.) Elementary Non-Metallic Chemistry. By S.R. Trotman, M.A. Pp. vill + 183. (London: Rivington, Percival, and Co., 1896.) Ir the publication of text-books is a sign of increased attention to the branches of science with which they deal, chemistry must be making great progress ; for no week, and scarcely a day, passes without the receipt of a manual for chemical students. The two volumes now before us are fair representatives of a class of text-books designed to furnish boys with the facts which examiners periodically endeavour to entice from them. Dr. Bailey’s book furnishes a systematic outline of chemistry, so far as it relates to the non-metals. Acting upon the conviction that a knowledge of physical prin- ciples and measures should be gained from an elementary text-book of physics, Dr. Bailey has omitted the pre- liminary chapters usually devoted to these matters, not- withstanding the growth of opinion that experiments and measurements of physical properties of matter form the best basis for a chemical education. He does not, how- ever, ignore the physics of chemistry altogether, for a chapter is devoted to the physical properties’ of gases. By (London : 196 NATORE | DECEMBER 31, 1896 The fundamental principles of chemistry, and the nature of chemical action, are laid down in the first twenty pages of the book, after which the non-metals and some of their common compounds are described. As a companion in the laboratory, containing details of many instructive experiments, the book should find favour. On page 8 we read : “‘ Quite recently it has been found that Helium, one of the bodies which had already been observed in the corona of the sun, occurs in the gases extracted from certain minerals by heating them in vacuo.” Helium is a constituent of the solar promin- ences, but not of the corona. Mr. Trotman’s book follows very much the same lines as that of Dr. Bailey ; but it is more suitable for use in connection with elementary classes than for the labora- tory. It is an attractive little volume, simply worded, clearly printed, and plainly illustrated. We regret to notice the absence of an index. flygtiene for Beginners. By Ernest S. Reynolds, M.D. Pp. xiv + (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) THERE are a number of good elementary books on hygiene, but this one will find a place among the best of them. The author’s “ Primer of Hygiene” is very well known, being widely used in Evening Continuation Schools, Technical Institutes, and County Council courses. A knowledge of elementary anatomy and physiology is, however, essential before the main principles of hygiene can be intelligently grasped. Recognising this, the author has introduced chapters on the structures and functions of the various parts of the human body, and has considerably enlarged his “ Primer” in other directions. The first hundred pages of the present volume comprise nine chapters on elementary anatomy and physiology ; the remaining nine chapters are devoted to that extensive and varied knowledge concerned in the prevention of disease.. The book. is thus thoroughly in touch with the syllabus of elementary hygiene of the Department of Science and Art. We are not given to praising books moulded to particular syllabuses, but the present volume does not slavishly follow the lines laid down by the examiner in the subject with which it deals, and the independence is a sign of the author’s ability to judge for himself the. best. arrangement. and scope of the matter. It would be to the advantage of the community if every individual had to pass an examination in the subjects dealt with ; and we venture to say that every householder, and every mother having the care of children, should be acquainted with as much of. the elementary principles of hygiene as is contained in this volume. As to teachers of South Kensington classes in hygiene, they only need to see the book to appreciate its admirable qualities. The Parasitic Diseases of Poultry. By Fred. ‘V. Theobald, M.A., F:E.S. Pp. xv + 120. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1896.) POULTRY are subject to many parasitic diseases, and the object of this manual is-to inform poultry-keepers of the life-histories of these pests, so that means of prevention may be successfully carried out. Mr. Theobald is zoo- logist to the Agricultural College at Wye, while his know- ledge of the characteristics and habits of the parasites he describes has been gained from observation of many diseased birds. Poultry-breeders and fanciers may, therefore, safely trust themselves to be guided by him ; and they will learn from his book how to distinguish and cope with the animal and vegetable parasites which often cause them such, serious loss. Entomologists will discover-in the work some new points on the life-histories of the parasitic forms dealt with, as well as a list of the parasites found upon fowls. NO. 1418, VOL. 55 22c 235: 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 ts taken of anonymous communications. | The Letters of Charles Darwin. I am preparing to publish a supplementary series of Charles- Darwin’s letters. My projected volume will include a full selection from those letters of a purely scientific interest which I was unable to print in the “ Life and Letters,” as well as from any fresh material that may now be entrusted to me. I would, therefore, ask those of my father’s correspondents who have not already done so to allow me to make copies of any letters of his which they possess. I venture to remind those who may be inclined to help me, that letters of apparently slight or restricted interest are often of value. FRANCIS DARWIN. Wychfield, Cambridge, December 26. On the Goldbach-Euler Theorem regarding Prime Numbers. IN the published correspondence of Euler there is a note from him to Goldbach, or, the other way, from Goldbach to Euler, in which a very wonderful theorem is stated which has never been proved by Euler or any one else, which I hope I may be able to do by an entirely improved method that I have applied with perfect success to the problem of partitions and to the more general problem of demonstration, z.e. todetermine the number of solutions m positive integers of any number of linear equations with any number of variables. In applying tnis method I saw that the possibility of its success depended. on the theorem named being frue in a stricter sense than that used by its authors, of whom Euler verified but without proving the theorem by innumerable examples. As given by him, the theorem is this: every ever number may be broken up in one or more ways into two primes. My stricter theorem consists in adding the words ‘‘ where, if 27 F ' : 4 n is the given number, one of the primes will be greater than a and the other less than sm. This theorem I have verified by innumerable examples. Such primes as these may be called mid-primes, and the other integers between 1 and 27 —1 extreme primes in regard to the range I, 2,3... , 27-1. I have found that with the exception of the number 10, Euler’s theorem is true for the resolution of 272 into two extreme primes 5. but this I do not propose to consider at present, my theorem being that, with exception of 27 = 2, every even number 277, may be resolved into the sum of two mid-primes of the range (5 25 3} - 22-1). AS, ex. 27. 4-= 2 2 OSes 8 = 5 Oey = 5 + 7 ae 7 16 = |S =e Wsyiaes We Gas 13) Ss Jaen) © 20° +7) Eins, : 40>, “11 + 29 = iget23) 50 = 13 7 BV Ost roo = 29+ 7I1= 41 + 59 200 — 61 + 149 = Sy7arrii27 — &c 500 = 127 + 373 = 193 + 307 = Kc 1000 = 257 + 743 = &e: And so on. My method of investigation is as follows, I prove that the number of ways of solving the equation « + y = 22, where x and 7 are two mid-primes to the range 27-1, z.e. twice the number! of ways of breaking up 27 into two mid-primes + zero. or unity, according as 7 is a composite or a prime number, is. exactly equal to the coefficient of .v*” in the series (222 2 EE oS: ty ete A where 2, 9, , Zare the mid-primes in question. This co- efficient, we know @ grior?, is always a positive integer, and therefore if we can show that the coefficient in question is not zero, my theorem is proved, and as a consequence the narrower one of Goldbach and Euler. By means of my general method . nun . 1 This number may be shown to be of the order -— and a very fair i (log »)* s 4 : L is i approximate value of it is = where p is the number of mid-primes corres- ponding to the frangible number 2% DECEMBER 31, 1896] NATURE (Q7 -of expressing my rational algebraical fraction, say $x, as a residue, by taking the distinct roots of the denominator, say p, and writing the variable equal to pe®, and taking the residue with changed sign of Sp—" «—™pp*, we can find the coefficient of x" or (if we please to say so) of x*" in the above square, and obtain a superior and inferior limit to the same in terms of Ps % , 2; and if, as I exfect (or rather, I should say, hope) may be the case, these two limits do not include zero between them, the theorems (mine, and therefore ev abundantia Euler’s) will be apodictally established. The two limits in question will be algebraic functions of ps9, » - » 54, whereas the aésolute value of the coefficient included within these limits would require a knowledge of the residues of each of these numbers in respect to every other as a modulus, and of 2z in respect of each of them. Ina word, the limits will be algebraical, but the quantity limited is an alge- braical function of the mid-primes Z, 7,7, . . - @ J. J. SYLVESTER. Athenzeum Club, December 20. P.S.—The shortest way of stating my refinement on the -Goldbach-Euler theorem is as follows :—‘‘It is always possible to find two primes differing by less than any given number whose sum is equal to twice that number.” Another more instructive and slightly more stringent state- ment of the new theorem is as follows. Any number 7 being given, it is possible to find two primes whose sum is 27, and whose difference is less than 7, 2 — 1, 2 — 2, 2 — 3, according as 2 divided by 4 leaves the remainders 1, 0, — I, — 2 respectively. Major MacMahon, to whom and to the Council of the Mathematical Society of London I owe my renewed interest in this subject, informs me that in a very old paper in the Phz/o- sophical Magazine 1 stated that I was in possession of ‘‘a subtle method, which I had communicated to Prof. Cayley,” of finding the number of solutions in positive integers of any number of linear equations in any number of variables. This method (never printed) must have been in essence identical with that which within the last month I have discovered and shall, I hope, shortly publish.—J. J. SYLVESTER. ‘Telegraphy without Wires, and the Guarding of Coast Lines by Electric Cable. Ir appears from an article in Commerce, December 16, that Mr. W. H. Preece, ina lecture on ‘‘Telegraphy without Wires,” at Toynbee Hall, said, that from experiments at the Goodwin Lightship it had been found impossible to get a message on board, and ‘‘that the intervening sea-water performed much the same function as an iron plate,” I would like to call the attention of the readers of NATURE to my paper laid before the Royal Society of Edinburgh in January 1893, when it was shown that neither salt nor fresh water had any appreciable effect on the transmission of these electrical waves. Take this case—an iron steamer afloat above a cable lying on the sea-bottom. If the steamer have on board suitable apparatus, messages sent along the cable from a single Leclanche cell can be and have been read on board ship by ordinary sailors. If it is possible to so ‘convey messages to a vessel not moored by an anchor, it is surely possible to do the same to a moored ship such as a light- ship. Mr. Preece’s failure at the ‘‘ Goodwin” is not due to the action of salt water, for, if electric vibrations work through salt water in the Firth of Forth, they will equally do so at the **Gcodwin.” One word as to Prof. Boase and Mr. Marconi’s systems. Although it may be impossible to say what system may be found best for the detection of the electric vibrations, there is one thing certain that it is needless refinement to try to send the vibrations for lighthouse work ten miles. The vibrations require to be sent only 600 feet, as it is possible to lay a cable guarding a stretch of fifty miles of coast, ten miles off the shore, in at most fifty fathoms of water, and send the vibrations along it, and whenever the ship comes within two hundred yards of the cable the detector on board would give the alarm. Further, the advantage of the cable system is great, as the vessel would know her exact distance off; whereas, by sending the vibrations from a point on shore, this would be impossible. CHARLES A. STEVENSON. 84 George Street, Edinburgh, December 21. NO. 1418, VOL. 55] The Origin of the Stratus-Cloud, and Some Suggested Changes in the International Methods of Cloud- Measurement. IN his “‘ Instructions for Observing Clouds” (London, 1888, p- 12), Hon. Ralph Abercromby defines straws as ‘‘a thin uniform layer of cloud at a very low level.” and as an illustra- tion reproduces a photograph of a low sheet of cloud which he says is exceedingly characteristic of east winds in London. In his book ‘‘ Weather,” p. 48, he shows by a diagram that the position of the s¢razzs is in the south-west quadrant of the anti- cyclone. By carefully plotting the observations made at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory during the past ten years, I find that this type of cloud has the same position in the anti- cyclones on the eastern coast of the United States that Aber- cromby found for England. Moreover the continucus records, made by instruments lifted by kites at the Blue Hill Observatory, furnish a very evident explanation of its origin. In a number of cases the recording instruments were lifted into or through such clouds, and in every case the temperature and humidity rose suddenly as the thermograph entered and passed through the stratus-cloud. This rise of temperature is not shown when the thermograph is lifted into cumulus or nimbus clouds. Hence it is evident that the stratus described by Abercromby is found at the plane of meeting between a cold current and a warmer, damp current overflowing it. The cause of the stratus is undoubtedly the mixture between the two currents and the consequent con- densation of moisture in the warmer current. There is, however, another conception of stratus described by Prof. H. H. Hildebrandsson in his *‘ Classification des Nuages employée 4 Observatoire météorologique d’Upsala,” where he says: ‘‘One sees that the stratus of Howard is nothing but a fog ; at Upsala we designate also, under the name of stratus, fog lifted above the earth, and which exists ordinarily as isolated fragments at a slight distance above the ground.” In the Hildebrandsson-K6ppen-Neumayer cloud-atlas a picture of one of these isolated fragments is given above the name of s¢vatus ; and the primary definition of stratus given in large letters is “Lifted Fog.” These two definitions of stratus by Abercromby and Hilde- brandsson have apparently been taken as identical by their authors ; but I think the facts mentioned indicate that they have no more in common, either in origin or appearance, than have cirrus or cumulus. When the International Committee met at Upsala it recognised the inadequacy of the illustration of stratus given in the Hildebrandsson-Koppen-Neumayer atlas, and, like Abercromby, /zctwved stratus as a thin sheet of low cloud, but defined it as ** Lifted fog in a horizontal stratum.” This com- promise between two entirely different conceptions of stratus results in an absurdity. Lifted fog rarely or never forms ina horizontal stratum. Certainly, during ten years of daily observ- ations of clouds, I have not seen such a phenomenon, nor have I seen it described ly writers on the subject. Moreover, if lifted fog ever does form in a horizontal stratum, how can an observer know, when he sees a stratus, whether it is lifted fog or is a cloud formed by mixture? I trust at some future meeting of the International Committee this definition may be changed. Probably the authors of the definition will not object to the change, now that the observations with kites have thrown a new light on the origin of stratus. Another point to which I think the attention of those engaged in the international scheme of measuring the heights and velocities of clouds should be called, is the fact that measure- ments of cloud-heights by theodolites or photogrammeters give erroneous averages for certain forms of clouds. At Blue Hill Observatory, using every opportunity to measure the altitude of nimbus with theodolites, we find the average height by such measurements to be 2077 metres ; yet in our measurements of cloud-heights, made by sending kites into them, we find that on more than half the days when nimbus is present its base is at an altidude of less than 1000 metres, and usually less than 500 metres. The average height determined from the kite- measurements is 497 metres, and by the angle above the horizon of the light reflected at night from the clouds over distant cities it is found to be $45 metres. Similar differences are found in the case of strato-cumulus. The reasons are that low clouds are so indefinite in outline, or they cover the sky with such a uniform veil, that they cannot be measured with theodolites or photogrammeters. It results that the clouds measured by theodolities are principally high clouds. On the other hand very high clouds cannot be measured with kites, and the average a 198 NATURE [December 31, 1896 height by this method is too low. The average determined from reflected lights ($45 metres) is probably most nearly correct, I think it is apparent that the observations with theodolites and photogrammeters at the international cloud-stations should be supplemented by other methods, if correct averages are to be obtained, and if clouds which cover the sky with a uniform veil are to be measured at all. Small balloons turned loose and followed with theodolites, suggested by Kremser, is a good method in such cases. H. HELM ChaytTon. Blue Hill Metec srological Observatory, December 7. Radiography. YOUR correspondent, Mr. G. M. Lowe, asks for information as to the best methods of working direct on to sensitised paper to save the time and expenses involved in taking glass nega- tives. ‘* Nikko” paper, as supplied by the Eastman Company, is a good substitute for glass plates, and the results on it are much superior to the smooth bromide papers. _Eikonogen is a suitable developer—say five or six ounces of water to the contents of an eikonogen cartridge, and fix in clean hypo solution. Of course, to show the palma-surface of the hand when using a glass plate, the film side is wf and the palm down ; but in using paper direct, the film should be down, and the X-rays, therefore, pass through the paper before reaching the sensitive surface. Radiographs made direct on paper are xegatzves, the bones being shown white. It has been stated that this is the correct way to show the bones, but it is quite a mistake. Bones are white by reflected light; by transmitted light they are black, more or less, and if X-rays are light rays, then the light is transmitted, and radiographs ought to be as usually shown printed from a glass negative; but for surgical purposes, for such as foreign bodies in the hand, negative or positive makes little or no difference. By the direct ‘‘ Nikko” paper method the exposure must be longer, but to locate a needle in the hand thirty to forty seconds is sufficient. Two, three, or up to a dozen sheets of *‘ Nikko” paper may be exposed at one time. Between the first and second sheet very little difference in ex- posure will be noticed, but between the first and, say, the twelfth the difference will be considerable. To extend this difference when only a few sheets are used, insert a piece of suitable black paper between each. W. I. Cuiapwick. The Heating of Anodes in X-ray Tubes. I sHALL be much obliged if any of your readers who work with the X-rays will give me their experience with the 10-inch coils. I have one by Apps, which is excellent in every way ; but whether I take from it a 2-inch or a 10-inch spark, the anode of the tube invariably becomes red or white hot within a few seconds, The tubes are by leading makers, and exhausted for 8 or ro- inch sparks; but, as I have said, even a 2-inch spark makes the anodes red hot. On the other hand a German coil I have, does not perceptibly heat the anode of the tube even when I use a 5-inch spark. Is this the experience of others ; and why should a 24-inch spark from one coil make the anode red hot immediately, when a 5-inch spark from another coil does not do so ? This difficulty at present prevents me employing the Apps ro- inch coil at all for X-ray work. WALTER CHAMBERLAIN. Harborne Hall, near Birmingham, December 19. Units of Force. IN your issue of December 10, Prof. O. J. Lodge makes several curious statements. He speaks of ‘‘ inertia multiplied by the square of a velocity.” He might as well speak of ‘‘shapelessness multiplied by the cube of a length.” Inertia is a word best left unused, but usually means a property of what is called matter—like white- ness, hardness, inextensibility. He also speaks of natural formule “independent of every system of units that can be devised,” and, though he only gives one formula, implies that every mathematical relation can be expressed in a similar manner. Will he be so good as to give a formula connecting the weight, volume, and specific gravity of a body which is ‘‘ independent of every system of units ” ? As to the poundal, the objection to it is that no one uses it in NO. 1418, VOL. 55 | . to lower it to its summer position. actual work. sufficient one. As to teaching elementary mechanics, I am convinced that we should avoid ‘*mass” as much as possible. When dealing with a particle, express Newton’s Second Law by the formula P/Q = //a, where P and Q are the forces producing accelerations There may be other objections, but that is a f, a, respectively. This will usually take the form P/W = ile: Then you may use any unit of force you choose, and the energy formula becomes P x s = W“_ ; which may be in inch tons, 2s foot pounds, or what you please. Is it too much to hope that the poundal may be shortly relegated, even in text-books, to that place, wherever it is, where grades are employed for measuring angles ? C. S. JACKSON. R,M. Academy, Woolwich. The Distance of the Visible Horizon. Has not Prof. Lodge in his enthusiasm, which I fully share, for an absolute system of measurement rather overstepped the mark when in the equation 2 R 4=d? for the distance of the visible horizon, he says that ‘‘ 4 is not the number of feet, or of metres, or anything else, it is the actual height; @ is not the number of miles or of inches to the horizon, but it is the distance itself; and similarly 2 Ris the diameter of the earth, and not any numerical specification of that diameter (see NATURE, vol. lv. page 125). Surely the equation as written is an algebraical equation, and, as such, the symbols it contains express numbers and not things. The multiplication as he implies of one length (2 R) by another length (4), is abhorrent to the mind of ‘‘the Cambridge mathematician.” The superiority of the formula over the mutilated apology for it which Prof. Lodge quotes, lies in the fact that the equation is true in terms of any conceivable unit of length in which the three lengths involved in it are measured. Iam of course aware that the particular formula given may be regarded as an abbreviated statement of the approximate geometrical proposition that the rectangle contained by the diameter of the earth and the height of the observer above its surface equals the square ona line equal to the distance of the visible horizon, in which case, of course, Prof. Lodge's description of the symbols would be accurately true; but I do not think that the formula with this interpretation really illustrates his meaning. I wish to associate myself with Prof. Lodge in his condemna- tion, for educational purposes, of all formulz of the engineer's: pocket-book type, should it unfortunately happen, that they gain a footing on the scientific side of school instruction it will do much to justify the slur, still too often cast, on science teaching at schools and at the universities, that it is not education. This must be my apology to Prof. Lodge for thus emphasising a mere dapszus calamiz. L. CUMMING. Rugby, December 12. Position of Boughs in Summer and Winter. THE following measurements may perhaps be of interest. They have been made witha view to ascertaining how much the weight of leaves and fruit depressed the branches of a tree. The first measurements were taken on August 3, the second on December 14, 1896 :— Leight from Ground tn inches. Mulberry tree— August 3. December 14. Lowest twig ao on O in. 31 in. Higher branch 59 in. 72 in. Another branch 20 in. 39 in. Walnut tree— : : Lowest twig 15 in. 34 in. Higher branch 60 in. 76 in. In the case of the first branch of the mulberry tree, it was found in December that a weight of 35 pounds was not sufficient AGNES FRy. Failand, near Bristol, December 15. The Cultivation of Woad. WITH reference to the letter of Rosa M. Barrett, in NATURE of November 26, p. 79, I formerly lived for many years, and my father before me, in the part of Somerset to which your correspondent alludes, viz. the neighbourhood of Bath, and within a few miles of Mells, I never remember to have seen or DECEMBER 31, 1896) NATURE “go heard of the cultivation of woad, Zsa¢zs t2ncforia ; but ‘‘ wood- wax ” (? woad-wax), Genzsta ténctoréa, which grows plentifully in that neighbourhood in pastures on marly soil, used to be collected by the peasant-women for dyeing purposes at the cloth factories in Trowbridge. The plant being very tough to pull up, ‘* wood-waxing ” was Very laborious work. I am not aware whether it is still carried on there. Croydon, December 16. , H. FRANKLIN PARSONS. ELECTRIFICATION OF AIR BY RONTGEN RAYS? me? test whether or not the Réntgen rays have any electrifying effect on air, the following arrangement was made. A lead cylinder 76 cms. long, 23 cms. diameter, was constructed ; and both ends were closed with paraffined cardboard, transparent to the Rontgen rays. Outside the end distant from the electrometer (see diagram) a pumped away froma place in the cylinder permeated, or from a place not permeated, by the Réntgen rays, it was in all cases found to be negatively electrified. The following are some of the resu!ts obtained on December 16and 17. Theelectrometer was so arranged as to give 140 scale divisions per volt. Conditions.—Large lead cylinder metallically con- nected with sheath of electrometer. Rontgen lamp surrounded by a lead sheath, which latter was also con- nected to electrometer-sheath. There was a window in this lamp-sheath 2°5 cms. broad and 5 cms. high. This window could be screened by aluminium or by lead. These screens were always connected metallically to sheaths. During all the experiments a Bunsen lamp (not shown in the diagram) was kept constantly burning, with its flame about 30 c.m. below the Rontgen lamp. Results.—Rontgen lamp in action; air drawn from lowest point of end of lead cylinder next to the R. lamp. Krom windows n q co To air-pump. Rontgen lamp? was placed. In the other end two holes were made, one in the middle, through which passed a glass tube (referred to below as suction pipe) of sufficient length to allow the end in the lead cylinder to be put into any desired place in the cylinder. By means of this, air was drawn through an electric filter * by an air pump. The other hole, at a little distance from the centre, contained a second glass tube by which air was drawn through indiarubber tubing from the open-air quadrangle outside the laboratory. In one series of experiments the end of the suction pipe was kept in the axial line of the lead cylinder at various points 10 cms. apart, beginning with a point close to the end distant from the Réntgen lamp. In every case the air drawn through the filter was found to be negatively electrified when no screen or an aluminium screen was interposed between the Réntgen Jamp and the near end of the lead cylinder. The air was found not electrified at all, or very slightly negative, when a lead screen was interposed. When the Réntgen lamp was removed or stopped, and air was still pumped through the filter, no deflection was observed on the electrometer. This proved that the air of the quadrangle was not electrified sufficiently to show any deflection when thus tested by filter and electrometer. Similar results were obtained with the end of the suction pipe placed so as to touch the floor of the lead cylinder, or the roof, or the sides. Whether the air was 1 “Electrification of Air by Réntgen Rays.’ By Lord Kelvin, Dr. J. C. Beattie, and Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan. (Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Monday, December 21, 1896.) 2 The Réntgen lamp was a vacuum vessel with an oblique platinum plate (Jackson pattern). : 3 Kelvin, Maclean, Galt, Proc. R.S., London, March 14, 1895. NO. 1418, VOL. 55 | December 16 :— 3°55 p-m. — 61scale divisions in 2 mins. with aluminium screen, — 63 ” 9 2 oA no screen. = ie nt) re a5 lead screen. 4.20 p.m. Air drawn from point on lowest line of lead cylinder 26 cms. distant from R. L. end. 14 scale divisions in 2 mins. with lead screen. - 78 5, ne s no screen. aw 33 2 Df lead screen -— 83 a3 ee ; alumin. screen. — 13 5 ae re lead screen. December 17. k.L. acting, and air drawn through filter. End of suction pipe kept in axial line of cylinder 10.47 a.m. ems. —44 in 2 mins, with alumin, screen... 68 from R. L. end. oO 3 Ss lead 53 . 68 4 EEING that Prof. Huxley, with his well-known candour, felt constrained to admit that the study of rudimentary or vest- igial characters had done more than that of any other class of facts to produce general acceptance of the doctrine of evolution, and that at the same time he acknowledged the double-edged January 7, 1897] nature of these characters, it is not out of place to appraise the evidential value of certain of them. The direction of the hair-slope on three regions of the body, as bearing upon the simian ancestry of man, will be first con- sidered. e -~ (1) On the upper extremity of man the direction of the hair-slope, which may for the sake of brevity be called the Human Type, is as follows :—On the upper arm the slope is all downwards to the elbow, with a slightly oblique direction on the anterior surface. This direction appears to be the same as that in all the monkeys examined. But on-the fore-arm the Hwan Type is as follows :— On the flexor surface the stream of hair divides and passes’ obliquely to the radial and ulnar borders respectively, and to the carpus. On the extensor surface the slope continues on the radial side in a direction at right angles to the long axis of the limb, and gradually curls backwards over the posterior surface of the ulna, joining a corresponding ‘‘ backwash ” of the stream of hair from the ulnar border. Thus, on a small area amounting to about a fourth of the extensor surface, the united stream of hair passes directly to the elbow. This description is based upon the examination of numerous fore-arms, hairy and non-hairy ; of infants a few days old and three months old, of children from seven to fourteen years old, of adults male and female—among the adults five very hairy male subjects. In all of these fore-arms, as far as the scanty hair on some would allow one to observe it, there was very little departure from the Azan Type as described. In the cases of infants, the hairs were very minute and re- quired a lens to reveal them. The direction stated is easy to verify or to disprove ; but it is surprising to find such a state- ment as occurs in ‘* Darwin and after Darwin,” by the late Prof. Romanes, where, on page 89, he says, ‘‘again, in all men the rudimentary hair on the upper and lower arm is directed towards the elbow—a peculiarity which occurs nowhere else in the animal kingdom, with the exception of the anthropoid apes and a few American monkeys. . . .” With this statement Prof. Komanes and Prof. Drummond seem to have remained satisfied, though their own fore-arms, and those of every person they might have examined, would have told a different tale, either with or without the assistance of a lens. The statement of Prof. Roianes clearly refers to the permanent hair of the body, as shown by his illustrations, and not to the lanugo or temporary hair. The direction of the hair-slope on the fore-arm of the anthropoid apes—the Anthropotd Ape Typfe—is certainly what is stated by Romanes and Drummond, viz. towards the elbow with a slightly lateral direction both on the flexor and extensor surfaces, except in the orang, in which the slope is all directly to the elbow. This is to be seen in all the anthropoid apes at the Zoological Society’s Gardens, London, in the case of the gorilla, chimpanzee, and gibbon hoolock, and in the case of the orang at the Natural History Museum, South Ken- sington, where also the slope of the hair on the fore-arms of gorilla, chimpanzee, and gibbon is confirmed. St. George Mivart’ mentions one species of gibbon, Hyéobates agilis, where the Human Type appears to be exceeded in the wrést-ward direction. He says, *‘in AHy/obates agilis all the hair of both these limb-segments is directed towards the wrist.” This statement is not fully borne out by the examination of the specimens of Ay/obates agzlis at South Kensington. In addition to these four genera of anthropoid apes, twenty- two other species of monkeys were examined as to the slope of the hair on the fore-arm, with the following results :— A 19. Catarhine or Old World monkeys, as follows :— 13. Human Type, viz. :— Cercocebus a@ethiops— Barbary ape—Japanese ape— Cercopithecus campbelli—Cercopithecus ruber—Cerco- pithecus diana—Cercopithecus callitrichus—Cercopithe- cus lalandii— Cercopithecus griseo-viridis —Cyno- cephalus anubis—Macacus maurus—Arabian baboon — Cercopithecus abigulosus. (1) Anthropoid Ape Type, viz. :— Cercopithecus cephus. (5) Partial Human Type inclining to Anthropoid Ape Type, viz. :— Cynopithecus niger—Cercocebus fuliginosus—Macacus cynomologus—Macacus rhesus—Macacus sinicus. P 1 Encyclop. Brit., vol. ii. p. 157. NO. 1419, VOL. 55 | NATURE No [o3) SJ ty be ) Platyrhine or New World monkeys. ) Human Type, viz. :— Cebus fatuellus—Cebus monachus. (1) Anthropoid Ape Type, viz. :— Ateles geoffroyt. Thus of twenty-two lower monkeys, Old World and New World, fifteen very closely resemble the human subject in this small morphological character, whereas all the anthropoid apes (one species of one genus excepted) are markedly different from the Human Type. Such things ought not to be on the theory of the descent o man from the ape. They may not alone support the opposing theory, but they ought never to have found their way into valuable and popular books, being selected from a great array of so-called vestigial characters with a view to supporting the above theory. (2) There is no reason why the direction of the hair-slope on the fore-arm should he studied in its vestigial character, any more than that on the ¢Azghk. On the ¢high the Human Type is as follows: On the flexor surface the hair slopes in two streams to the outer and inner borders respectively, and towards the knee. At the upper third and outer side the slope takes a direction at right angles to the long axis. On the extensor surface the streams of -hair which come from the borders coalesce and pass to the back of the knee. The Simian Type is oblique, and fo the pelvis, z.e. in the _ favourite position of the monkey, when sitting on its haunches, the hair falls quite vertically downwards. This statement is based on the observation of the four anthropoid apes and twenty-seven other lower monkeys, including the twenty-two previously specified, thirty-one in all. There were found, out of these thirty-one specimens, ten partial exceptions, five’ American monkeys, and five lower Old World monkeys, such as baboons, Barbary ape, and Japanese ape. In these ten there was a slight resemblance to the Human Type, but not a vestige of resem- blance in one of the anthropoid apes examined. (3) A third region of the human body shows the divergence- between the Auman Type of hair-slope and the Szmzan Type even more strongly. On the dorsal surface of the trunk in man, in the erect posture, the hair slopes in the supra-scapular region inwards and at a right angle to the middle line, on approaching which it curls downwards. Below the spine of the scapula the same direction obtains until about the level of the angle, when the hair slopes zfwarvds and inwards to a point over the trans- verse processes of the vertebrae, where it becomes horizontal and then curls sharply downwards, joins the stream of hair from the - opposite side, and passes vertically downwards in the hollow over the vertebral spines. This Human Type I have found constant in children and adults, and it differs strikingly from that of all the apes and monkeys examined, in which, without exception, the hair slopes as nearly as possible vertically down- wards, when the animal is sitting. These remarks, calculated to disparage the value of the direc- tion of the hair-slope on the human body as a “‘ vestige” of his descent from the ape, may be met in two ways at least. In the first place, one may be reminded thatit is not to the few existing anthropoid apes, ‘‘ living fossils,” indeed, but to some unknown dead fossil apes of the Miocene period that we must look for the direct ancestry of man, and that the difference in the hair-slope pointed out is consequently unimportant. Perhaps it is. But the supposed resemblance was thought worthy of prominence in the works of evolutionists, and accordingly the ascertained divergence is worthy of not less prominence, In the second place, the differing hair-slope on the /ore-arz, thigh, and back of man and the anthropoid apes, may be ex- plained by the possible influence which the greater weight of the- long hair covering the bodies of apes would have in producing a generally vertical direction of hair-slope in the sitting posture. This posture doubtless is the one in which far the greater part of the life of the ape is spent, and a little consideration of the- position of an ape in sitting, will show that gravitation would tend in the case of long-haired apes to produce the Anthropoid Ape Type on the fore-arm, thigh, and back. In the case of man, the action of gravity would be unable to influence the slope of his short rudimentary hairs. This suggestion of a possible cause contributing to the hair-slope on the bodies of apes has, how- ever, no bearing on the question of fact. It may be an explana- tion, but the facts remain. Thus man in these characters resembles much more closely the lower Cercopithecidee and Cebide than his supposed B( ( 238 NATURE [JANUARY 7, 1897 nearest congeners, at present existing. It is also incorrect to assert that only in man, a few American monkeys, and the anthropoid apes, does the hair slope towards the elbow. This Human Type is seen in the corresponding area of this segment of the anterior extremity of almost all hairy mammals, excepting most of the Ungulate types, and those with woolly hair. It is found very constantly in Carnivores, especially those which frequently rest in a ‘‘couchant” attitude, in which the head is held erect, the fore-limbs planted in front of the body, and the extensor surface of this limb-segment resting flat on the ground, also in certain other positions of rest; and it can be seen in nearly all wild Carnivores and domestic cats and dogs. In those Carnivores which assume this attitude the posterior limbs adopt a much more variable ‘‘ pose,” and here there is no constant form of hair-slope. The backward curl of hair on this narrow area of the fore-arm in man, certain monkeys, and many other hairy mammals, seems to be due to a mechanical force, slowly acting downwards and forwards, which makes for this direction of hair-slope. In all these three classes it is obvious that such pressure is frequent. This explanation of an inherited character, maintained by a simple physical cause, meets the case far better, I submit, than any supposed tracing out of ancestral vestiges. WALTER KIpD. TS ANIMAL LIFE POSSIBLE IN THE ABSENCE OF BACTERIA ? SOME ten years ago Pasteur, in one of those ‘‘causeries du laboratoire” which those who were privileged to take part in will never forget, discussed with the young scientific men around him the interest which would attach to the nourishment of an animal from its earliest existence with sterilised food under conditions which would ensure the absence of all microbial life. “* Sans vouloir rien affirmer,” he added, ‘‘je ne cache pas que j entreprendrais cette étude, si j’en avais le temps, avec la pensée préconcue que la vie dans ses conditions deviendrait impossible. . Que le résultat soit positif et confirme la vue préconcue que je mets en avant ou quwil soit négatif et méme en sens inverse, c’est-A-dire que la vie soit plus facile et plus active, il y aurait un grand intérét a tenter l’expeérience.” To decide this question Messrs. George Nuttall and H. Thier- felder have carried out elaborate experiments in the Hygienic Institute of the Berlin University with young guinea-pigs re- moved from the mother by means of the Caesarean opera- tion, Every conceivable precaution was taken to prevent all access of bacterial life. The young guinea-pig was placed in a sterilised chamber, supplied with sterilised air, and it was fed exclusively upon sterilised milk. It had to be supplied with food every hour, day and night, a process which so exhausted the investigators that at the end of eight days, when it had con- sumed 330 cubic centimetres of milk, and to all appearances was in perfect health and spirits, it was killed. A microscopic examination of the contents of the alimentary canal revealed no bacteria whatever ; zerobic and anzrobic cul- tures in various media were further made of the intestinal con- tents and of the excreta, but in every case the culture tubes re- mained sterile, not a single colony made its appearance. Messrs. Nuttall and Thierfelder claim by these experiments to have proved conclusively that the presence of bacteria in the alimentary canal is not essential to vital processes, at any rate in the case of guinea-pigs ; and they consider themselves justified in assuming that other animals, and also human beings, could similarly exist in the absence of bacterial life, as long as the food supplied is purely animal in character. Whether the con- ditions would be altered by the addition of vegetab/e food to-the diet, they next endeavoured to determine. In this series of ex- periments the food selected was so-called ‘* English” biscuits containing about 7 per cent. nitrogenous material, 9 per cent. fat, 17 per cent. sugar, 58 per cent. of other non-nitrogenous matters, and o°2 per cent. cellulose ; these, together with the milk employed, were sterilised before use. The same rigorous precautions characterised these experiments as the previous ones; more animals were, however, secured, and they were allowed to live longer. The weight of the animals was this time carefully noted, and during the ten days, during which the experiment lasted, one animal gained 23 grammes and another Ir grammes. This calculation could only be an approximate one, as the experimental animals were not weighed when originally removed from the mother, and their initial weight was NO. 1419, VOL. 55] only arrived at by weighing the other guinea-pigs which were re- moved at the same time, but not experimented upon. Thus in the case of vegetable substances bacterial life is apparently also not essential for carrying on digestive processes. The authors made also as careful an examination as was possible with the limited amount of material at their disposal, of the urine, and state that aromatic oxyacids were undoubtedly present. This result they regard as confirmatory of E. Baumann’s assertion that aromatic oxyacids may be elaborated independently of intestinal decom- position. To this point they intend, however, to return later ; at present further investigations are in progress with fowls, and the results will be awaited with the greatest interest, while im- mense credit is due to the authors for the ingenuity of the methods they have devised, and the self-sacrificing laboriousness with which they have conducted the experiments. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, Dec. 21, 1896.—Lord Kelvin in the chair.— The first paper, on atomic configurations in molecules of gases according to Boscovich, was by the President himself. At the outset Lord Kelvin confessed that the problem was quite beyond him, and he only desired to throw out some suggestions. Boscovich’s theory would quite well explain the atomic con- figuration of a gas if we could only apply it. In a monatomic gas the problem was fairly easy, collision between molecules leading to change in direction, either backwards on the original path, or at an angle, according as the impact was direct or oblique. For a diatomic gas we must imagine a ‘‘ pair of some- things” held together by a mutual force which knocked about like one. He thought he could see why a diatomic gas should become monatomic when its temperature was sufficiently raised. But he could not yet understand why, when the process was’ reversed, molecules should combine in quartettes rather than in pairs, or triplets, and he illustrated his conjectures by means of models. He showed by means of these how, for example, the mutual repulsion between the H’s might prevent O from com- bining with any more than two, and hence we did not have H,0. And he explained, similarly, how O, was unstable, as the octohedral arrangement of the atoms (taking“O = O,) was easily-broken up. But the whole subject was one of tremendous difficulty.—In an abstract from a paper on the cecal fossee, Dr. Richard Berry pointed out that the periczecal folds and the resulting fossee were primary in origin, and vascular in evolution. He strongly dissented from Treves’ view that the meso-appendix is a substituted mesentery, maintaining that the ilio-colic and ilio-czecal folds were the true cxcal mesenteries, primary and subsidiary respectively, the meso-appendix being the true appendicular mesentery. Arguing from this and. other facts which he adduced, Dr. Berry stated that it would almost appear as though the appendix were gradually replacing the caecum in functional activity. Passing on to the retro-czecal fosse, he pointed out the inaccuracy of the term retro-czecal as applied to these fossze, suggesting for them the name retro-colic as being more accurate and more scientific. He proceeded to show that these fossz were secondary in origin and depended for that origin upon the secondary coalescence, sometimes wanting, ot the colon, czecum, and mesentery, to the posterior abdominal wall. In this respect Dr. Berry differed from almost every British author. He pointed out the variability of these fossa in number and position, and strongly emphasised their importance to the surgeon in view of the prevalence of appendicitis and the part which these fossze, according to the author, play in the etiology of that disease.—Dr. T. H1. Milroy read a paper dealing with research into the nature of the nucleins and paranucleins of the animal cell. During the last few years much attention has been paid to two great classes of proteids intimately con- nected with the life of the cell, viz. the nucleins and paranucleins. The former class hag been rather vaguely defined as including proteids which have only two points in common—a high per- centage of phosphorus in organic combination, and a marked resistance to the action of the gastric secretion. The natural nucleins examined were those of the thymus gland of calves, of the red blood-corpuscles of birds, and of the pancreas of the ox ; and these were found to agree in almost every particular with artificial syntonin-nuclein. That is, they were only slowly dissolved, not decomposed by the gastric juice (with the exception of the pancreas nuclein), while trypsin and sodium re JANUARY 7, 1807 | NATURE 239 carbonate rapidly split them up, the phosphorus passing into solution in organic combination. body is acid in nature, and ,possesses marked proteid-precipi- tating properties. It does not seem to be either nucleic or meta- phosphoric acid. It was not present in the products obtained This phosphorus-holding | from tryptic digestion of the nucleins of the red blood-corpuscles | of birds. obtained by the action of weak alkaline solutions upon the mother substance. The acid so obtained is not impure nucleic acid, as Altmann thought, because no nuclein bases appear among its decomposition products. It is very soluble even in cold water, and the solutions so obtained precipitate albumins, &c., out of their solutions. It gives a distinct Buiret reaction but no red colour with Milton’s reagent. It does not give any precipitate with ferrocyanide of potassium and acetic acid. It contains, on an average, about 78 per cent. phosphorus. From the nucleic acid of the thymus another acid can easily be obtained which still retains the proteid-precipitating power of the original acid, but no longer gives, on decomposition, nuclein bases, agreeing in these particulars with the paranucleic acid of the paranucleins. These point at least to means by which the nuclein series of proteids may be built up and decomposed in the animal organism.—A paper by Dr. Thomas Muir, on the expression of any bordered skew determinant as the sum of products of Pfaffians, was taken as read.—Lord Kelvin then, by permission of the Council, gave an extra paper describing the result of experiments conducted by him along with Drs. Beattie and Smolan as to the effect of Rontgen rays on air (see p. 199). PARIS Academy of Sciences, December 28, 1896.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—On the method of Bruns, by M. Poincaré. An account of an exception to Bruns’ theorem, and an amendment to part of his proof.—A new theory of cicatrisation, and on the part played by the anterior epithelium of the cornea in the healing of wounds in this membrane, by M. L. Ranvier. Observations showing that cellular multiplication is not indis- pensable to the formation of a cicatrix, and that this multipli- | cation, when it occurs, is of only secondary importance in the process of healing.—New note on the application of radioscopy to the diagnosis of diseases of the thorax, by M. Ch. Bouchard. Several cases of diseases of the thorax were clearly made out by the use of the Rontgen rays with fluorescent screen, but a study of diseases of the abdomen has given much less satisfactory results. —The energy consumed by a muscle in static contraction | sustaining a load, studied by means of the respiratory exchanges, by MM. A. Chauveau and J. Tissot.—On the fossil hippopotami of Algeria, by M. A. Pomel. Some remarks on a monograph submitted by the author on the quaternary fossil hippopotami of Algeria. —New nebulz, discovered at the Observatory of Paris, by M. G. Bigourdan. The positions are given of nebule numbered 245 to 281.—On the transformations of differential systems, by M. Etienne Delassus.—On a series relating to the theory of linear differential equations with periodic coefh- cients, by M. A. Liapounoff.—On the movement of a solid in | an indefinite liquid, by M. W. Stekloff.—On the use of a system of numbered points in the representation of equations, by M. M. d’Ocagne.—On a thermic machine, by M. Delsol. An account of the theory of a machine designed to utilise the work done by the gas given off on heating a solution of ammonia.— On the problem of vibrating membranes, by M. Le Roy.— Methods of calculation in electromagnetism, by M. Vaschy.— Effect of the state of the polar surfaces of an exciter on the explosive potentials, static and dynamic, by M. Swyngedauw.— Action of the X-rays on gaseous dielectrics, by M. L. Benoist. It is shown that the law recently found experimentally by M. Jean Perrin, is really identical with that previously enunciated by MM. Benoist and Hurmuzescu.—New facts in the applica- tion of radioscopy to intrathoracic lesions, by M. J. Bergonié. The outline of the shadow cast by tubercular lesions was traced out in pencil on the body, with the aid of the fluorescent screen. The line thus drawn was found to coincide with remarkable precision with that previously marked out after a careful study by auscultation and percussion.—On a Crookes’ tube for use with alternating current dynamos, by MM. Oudin and Barthélemy.—The Hall-phenomenon in liquids, by M. H. Bagard. A reply to the criticism of M. Floris.—Action of lithium upon carbon and some carbon compounds, by M. Guntz. When lithium, contained in a carbon boat, is heated NO. I419, VOL. 55] The combination between paranucleic acid and | albumin in ovovitellin is not a firm one, as the acid is easily | in nitrogen gas, the boat is attacked, lithium carbide and cyanide being formed. Lithium carbide alone is produced if the heating is performed in a vacuum. The same substance is found among the products of the action of CO and CO, upon heated lithium. At 700°, ethylene is completely absorbed by the metal, with the formation of a mixture of lithium carbide and hydride. Acetylene behaves similarly. Methane is only very slightly attacked by lithium at a red heat.—On cyanuric chloride, by M. Paul Lemoult. A thermo-chemical study of the chloride C,N,Cl,.—Action of carbonic acid of waters on iron, by M. P. Petit.—The action exerted on solutions of haloid alkaline salts by the corresponding haloid acid, by M. A. Ditte.—On the action of phosphorus on platinum, by M. A. Granger. At very high temperatures, the phosphide obtained appears to be Pt,P, at lower temperatures using platinum black a phosphide is obtained from which aqua regia extracts Pt,P,. —Action of hydrogen chloride in the gaseous state upon alkaline sulphates, by M. Albert Colson.—The reduction of wolfram by carbon in the electric furnace, by M. Ed. Defacqz. The metal produced contained 92°5 per cent. of tungsten, 50 per cent. of carbon, and traces of iron and other metals.— New examples of normal rotatory dispersion, by MM. Ph. A. Guye and P. A. Melikian.—On the transformation of the sulphonated camphophenols into dinitro-orthocresol, by M. P. Cazeneuve.—On hexadiinediol, by M. R. Lespieau. Propargyl alcohol is converted into its cuprous compound by shaking with ammoniacal cuprous chloride, and this oxidised with potassium fer- ricyanide gives the alcohol, CH,. OH — C=C - C=C -- CH,.OH. —Contribution to the study of borneols and their ethers, by M. J. Minguin.—The freezing point of milk; reply to a note by MM. Bordas and Génin, by M. J. Winter.— Optical analysis of urine and the exact estimation of the proteids, glucosides, and non-fermentable saccharoid substances, by M. Frédéric Landolph.—General observations on wheat, by M. Balland.— Immunising properties of the serum of the eel against snake venom, by M. C. Phisalix.—On the morphology of Cryptococcus guttulatus, by MM. J. Kunstler and P. Busquet.—The regenera- tion of the vesical epithelium, by M. Etienne de Rouville.— On the presence of an oxydase in the branchia, palps, and blood of the Acephala, by MM. Pieri and Portier.-—Parasitism and evolution of two Monstrillidz in the interior of the vascular system of the Filigranzeand Salmacynz, by M. A. Malaquin.—New mosa- sauria found in France, by M. Armand Thévenin. The fossil de- scribed was found in the grey phosphatic chalk beds in the north of France, and appears to be che skull of a reptile closely allied to Mosasaurus giganteus (Moestricht). The teeth, however, show differences, and the name Josasaurus Gaudry? is given to the species. Another skull found appears to be allied to the American species Platecarpus, and the name /atecarpus Somenensis is proposed for it-—On the structure of the funda- mental protoplasm in a species of Mortzerella, by M. L, Matruchot.—A new micrococcus of the potato, by M. E. Roze.— Synthesis of hauksite, by M. A. de Schulten. The hexagonal crystals of 4Na,SO,.Na,COs3, obtained by pouring a hot solution of sodium sulphate and carbonate into a strong solution of caustic soda, possess the composition and properties of natural hauksite.—Observations on some asphaltic rocks and on the origin of asphalte, by M. Stanislas Meunier. The conclusion is drawn from the behaviour of bituminous rocks towards solvents, that bitumen is the result of purely mineral reactions, of the type of the double decomposition between metallic carbides and water.—On the identity of the phosphates from the Paris and London basins, and on the Tertiary age of this deposit, by M. N. de Mercey.—Documents serving for the geological study of the neighbourhood of Luang Prabang (Cochin China), by M. Counillon.—On the Foiba of Pisino (Istria), by M. E. A. Martel. New SourH WALEs. Linnean Society, November 25, 1896.—The President, Mr. Henry Deane, in the chair.—On the comparative anatomy of the organ of Jacobson in Marsupials, by Dr. R. Broom, —- Observations on the eucalypts of New South Wales, Part il.. by Henry Deane and J. H. Maiden..—On a new species of Jaca- damia : together with notes on two plants new to the colony, by J. H. Maiden and E. Betche. (a) Macadamia integrifolia, n.sp., is a small tree originally found near Camden Haven, N.S. W., now under cultivation in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. It is very closely allied to the well-known Queensland nut, 47. ternifolia (also found in N.S.W.), from which it may be readily distinguished by the petiolate entire leaves, rather smaller fruits, 240 NATURE | JANUARY 7, 1897 and less hairy flowers and inflorescence. (/) Chezrvostylés grandi- florus, Blume, found ‘*in moist forests between rocks on the coast of New Guinea,” is now recorded from similar situa- tions near Lismore, Richmond River, N.S.W. Its discovery adds a genus to the flora of Australia. (c) Grevzllea alpina, Lindl , hitherto only recorded from Victoria, has been found in the Albury district.—On a new fungus (Capnodium callitris) attacking the Murray pine; together with observations on a fungus found on Aypocherts radicata, L., by D. McAlpine.— On some Australian gudgeons (Z/eotridinw), by J. Douglas Ogilby.—Descriptions of some new Araneide of New South Wales. No. 7, by W. J. Rainbow.—Contributions to a know- ledge of the arachnidan fauna of Australia, No. 1, by W. J. Rainbow. This paper, the first of a new series, is descriptive of anew scorpion (Suthus favicrurts) from Como, obtained by Mr. J. D. Ogilby.—On Domatia in certain Australian and other plants, by Alex. G. Hamilton.—Description of a new species of Pupina from Queensland, by C. E. Beddome.— Revision of the genus Paropsts, Part 1., by Rev. T. Blackburn.—The Silurian trilobites of New South Wales, with references to those of other parts of Australia. Partiv. The Odontopleuride, by R. Etheridge, sea and John Mitchell. —Note on a Papuan throwing-stick, by J. Jennings. —On the so-called evidences of glaciation on the Mi. Kosciusko plateau, by Rev. J. Milne Curran. The author concluded that (1) there is no satisfactory evidence of glaciers in the present valleys. (2) There is abso- lutely no evidence of extensive glaciation on the Kosciusko plateau. (3) The ‘glacial epoch in Australia” in Post-Tertiary times as described by Dr. Lindenfeld, has no foundation in fact. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, Janvary 7. at 3.—Visible and Invisible Light : Roya. INSTITUTION, Profs, we) be Thompson, F.R.S. FRIDAY, January 8. Roya. ASTRONOMICAL Society. at 8.—A Method of Clearing a Lunar Distance: F. C. Penrose.—Determination of the Diameter and Com- pression of the Planet Mars, from Observations with the Repsold Helio- meter of the Royal Observatory, Gottingen: W. Schur.—On the Com- parison of Reflector and Portrait Lens Photographs : Dr, Isaac Roberts. —Note on the Magnitude of Argis, 1896: R. T. A. Innes.—Orbit of 44 Bodtis Ht I. 15 =Sh. 193 = % 1909: S. W. Burnham. San URDA Y, JANUARY 9 "Rovat INSTITUTION, at 3.—Visible and Invisible Light: Prof. S. P. Thompson, F.R.S. SUNDAY, January to. Sunpay Lecture Society, at 4.—Attificial Light: Prof. Vivian B. Lewes. TUESDAY, JANvaRY 12. ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, at 8.30. INSTITUTION OF CiIvIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Superheated Steam Engine Trials : Prof. W. Ripper. ‘'RoyvaL PuoroGrapuic Society, at 8.—Photography Rays, up to date : Dr. Hall-Edwards. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13 SocieETY OF Pusiic ANALysTs, at 5.—Annual Meeting.—Also, some Analyses of Water from an Oyster Fishery ; Note on Weighing out Fats; by the Réntgen Remarks on Formaldehyde: Chas. E. Cassal.—A Specific Gravity Pipette: W. F. Keating Stock.—A Modified Schmidt Process: R. W. W oosnam. THURSDAY, January 14. MATHEMATICAL Society, at 8.—Supplementary Note on Matrices: J. Brill. INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Inaugural Address of the President, Sir Henry Mance. SoutH Lonpon ENTOMOLOGICAL AND NaTurat History Sociery.— Some Marine Mimics: E. Step. FRIDAY, JANUARY 15. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL Society, at 8.—Age Incidence in Relation with Cycles of Disease Prevalence : Dr. Hamer. INSTITUTION OF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.—On “‘ Monier” Arches : Walter Beer. Girders and BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS KECEIVED. Booxs,—Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal Col- lege of Chemtlstios &c.: T. G. Chambers (Hazell).—CSuvyres Sclentinge de L. Lorenz, Revues et Annotées par H Valentiner, Tome 1, Fasc. {Copenhague, Lehmann).—A Handbook to the Game Birds : W. R. Online: »Grant, Vol. 2 (Allen).—Microscopic Researches on the Formative Property ‘of Glycogen : Dr. C. Creighton. Part 1. Physiological (Black).—Coloured Figures of the Eggs of British Birds, with De criptive Notices: H. See- bohm, edited by Dr. R. B. Sharpe (Sheffield, Pawson).—The Collected Mathematical Papers of Arthur Cayley, Vol. xi. (Cambridge University Press).—The Const!tution and Functions of Gases, &c. : $. J. Corrigan (St. Paul, Pioneer Press Company) —Untersuchungen iiber Bau. Kernteilung und ‘Bewegung der Diatomeen: R. Lauterburn (Leipzig, Engelmann).— Smithsonian Institution Report to July 1894 (Washington).—Notes of Lessons on Elementary Botany : W. Bland, 12th edition (Bemrose).—Out- lines of Psychology : W. Wundt, translated by C. H. Judd (Williams and Norgate).—A Dictionary of Birds: A Newton and others, Part 4 (Black).— Catalogue of the African Plants collected by Dr. F Welwitsch in 1853-61. Dicotyledons, Part 1: W. P. Hiern (London, British Museum, Natural History).—Inorganic Chemical Preparations: Dr. F. H. Thorp (Boston, Ginn).—Oceanic Ichthyology: Drs. G. B. Goode and T. H. Bean, Text NO. 1419, VOL. 55] and Plates (Washington).—Life Histories of North American Birds: Captain C. Bendire (Washington).—A Catalogue of 16,748 Southern Sters deduced by the U.S. Naval Observatory from the Zone Observations made at Santiago de Chile (Washington).—Sixteenth Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey, Part 1 (Washington).—Annals fof the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, Vol. v. Part 2; Vol. vi. Part 1; and Vol. vii. (Calcutta, bengal Secretariat Press). PAMPHLETS —Annuaire Astronomique et Météorologique pour 1897: C. Flammarion (Paris, E. Flammarion).—An Account of the Crustacea of Norway, Vol. 2, Parts 1 and 2: G. O. Sars (Bergen).—Annuaire de L’Académie Royale des Sciences, &c., de Belgique, 1897 (Bruxelles).—The Camera and the Pen: T. C. Hepworth (Lund).—Museums Association Report (Dulau).—Meteorological Observations and Results obtained at the U.S. Naval Observatory for the Year 1890 (Washington). Serias.—History of Mankind: F. Ratzel, translated, Part 15 (Mac- ruEDD —Lloyd’s Natural History. Game Birds, Part 3: W. R. Ogilvie- Grant (Lloyd).—Lloyd’s Natural History. British Birds, Part 7: R. B. Sharpe (Lloyd).—Longman’s Magazine, January (Longmans).—Century Magazine, January (Macmillan).—Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. xviii. Nos _2 and 3 (Leyden, Brill),—Economic Journal, December (Maemillan).—Bibliographia Physiologica, 1896 : Prof. Ch. Richet, Premier Fasc. (Paris, Alcan).— Zeitschrift fiir Physikalische Chemie, xxi. Band, 3 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—National Review, January (Arnold).—Con- temporary Review, January (Isbister).—Natural Science, January (Page). —Science Progress, January (Scientific Press).—Reliquary and Illustrated Archeologist, January (Bemrose).—Astrophysical Journal, December (Chicago).—Fortnightly Review, January (Chapman).—Humanitarian, January (Hutchinson).—Scribner’'s Magazine, January (Low).—Biblio- graphy of the more important Contributions to American Economic Ento- mology, Part 5 (Washington).—Journal of the Chemical Society, December (Gurney).—Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, December (Murvay).—Geographical Journal, January (Stanford).—American Journal of Psychology, Vol. viii. No. 2 (Worcester, Mass.).—Internationales Archiv. f r Ethnographie, Band ix. Heft 6(Leyden, Brill). CONTENTS. PAGE Physical Science a Hundred Years ago. By NO 7 aed Os > 0 REE OL Egyptian Made Easy . ; - Sens The History of Elementary Mathematics. By GBM... 6 VM cows mindy Medicine: (amram. : . . . ie 221 Our Book Shelf:— Cooke and Sons: ‘*On the Adjustment and Tete of Telescopic Objectives."-—W.J.S.L. ... 221 Sexton : ‘‘ Fuel and Refractory Materials”. . 2B Barrett: ‘‘ The Lepidoptera of the British Islands” , 222 Henslow : ‘‘ How to Study Wild Flowers” .. . 222 Letters to the Editor:— On a New Law Connecting the Periods of Molecular Vibrations.—Prof, Arthur Schuster, F.R.S. _ 223 The Pound as a Force.—Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, TAR ke 6 223 The Theory of Dissociation into Ions. — Spencer Pickering, F.R.S. .. 223 Some Neural Descriptive Terms.—Prof, Burt G Wilder = eye. 2 224 Measurement of Crabs. =H Thompson é pean Set Marriage of the Dead.—Kumagusu Minakata . . 224 The Heating of Anodes in X-Ray Tubes.—A. A. C. Swinton . . ep Res 6 = e225) Sesamoid Bones. = ip Reid . 225 Discharge of Electricity Phosphorus. = R. Ash- WOOL). en ae a 225 Shooting Stars observed on January 2 Dr Bue! Sorby, F.R.S. . . Co 25 The Geodetic Survey of South Africa. By Sir | C) W. Wilson, KR@iBe ers: . . 226 In the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral Seas. (//lustrated.) By W. Saville-Kent 227 The Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic of the Neo- lithic Troglodytes. (///ustrated.) By A.C. H.. . 229 Emil du Bois-Reymond. By Prof. J. Burdon- Sanderson, FP RUSHamEEeEEe. |. . <2 Alte Wiotes!

and the Fontannes Prize (2000 fr.) in 1899, for the best palzontological publication. In Botany, the Barbier Prize (2000 fr.) is offered for a dis- covery of medical value ; the Desmaziéres Prize (1600 fr.), for the best work on Cryptogams published during the year ; the Montagne Prizes (1000 fr. and 500 fr.), for important discoveries bearing on the anatomy, physiology, and development of the: lower Cryptogams ; the De la Fons Melicocq Prize (goo fr.), in 1898, for work on the Botany of the North of France ; and the Thore Prize (200 fr.), for the best memoir on the Cellular Cryptogams. In Anatomy and Zoology, the Savigny Prize (975 fr.) will be given in aid of young zoologists who have specially occupied themselves with the study of the Invertebrates of Egypt and Syria; and the Da Gama Machado Prize (1200 fr.), for the best memoirs on the coloured parts of the tegu- mentary system of animals. In Medicine and Surgery, there is offered a Montyon Prize; a Barbier Prize (2000 fr.) ; the Bréant Prize (100,000 fr.), for the discovery of a remedy which shall cure Asiatic cholera in the great majority of cases ; the Godard Prize (1000 fr.), for the best memoir on the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the genito-urinary organs ; the Serres Prize (7500 fr.), in 1899, for work on General Embryology applied as far as possible to Physiology and Medicine; the Chaussier Prize (10,000 fr.), in 1899, for a work advancing legal or practical Medicine ; the Parkin Prize (3400 fr.), for researches on the curative effects of carbon; the Bellion Prize (1400 fr.), for work especially profitable to the public health; the Mege Prize, for an essay on the progress of Medicine ; the Dusgate Prize, in 1900, for the best means of preventing premature burial ; the Lallemand Prize (1800 fr.), for work on the nervous system; and the Baron Larrey Prize (1000 fr.), for work on Military Hygiene, Medicine, or Surgery. In Physiology, the Prizes proposed are those of Montyon (700 fr.), La Caze (10,000 fr.), Pourat (1400 fr.), Martin- Damourette (1400 fr.), and Philipeaux (890 fr.), and in Physical Geography, the Gay Prize (2500 fr. ). ; Of the General Prizes, there will be awarded in 1897, a Montyon Prize for a means of ameliorating an unhealthy trade or occupation; the Cuvier Prize (1500 fr.), for a work on Geology; the Trémont Prize (1100 fr.) and the Gegner Prize (4000 fr.) ; the Petit D’Ormoy Prize (10,000 fr.), for work in Pure and Applied Mathematics, and in the Natural Sciences ; the Tchihatchef Prize (3000 fr.), for work on the less known parts of Asia; the Gaston Plante Prize (3000 ire) for an im- portant invention in Electricity ; and the Cahours Prize (3000. fr.), for assisting young chemists in chemical researches, Of these prizes those bearing the names of Lalande, La Caze, Delesse, Desmaziéres, and Tchihatchef, are specially stated to be given without distinction of nationality. All memoirs for this year must be sent to the Academy before June 1. 262 NATURE [JAN UARY 1 4, 1897 THE OLD TURKISH INSCRIPTIONS IN MONGOLIA A EOUS 170 years ago it became known in Europe that there are, on the Upper Yenisei, inscriptions on stone monu- ments which are written in some unknown language, and are relics of an unknown population. Various hypotheses were made as to the origin of these inscriptions ; but it was only in 1893 that the Copenhagen Professor, Wilhelm Tomsen, suc- ceeded in deciphering them.” Although Prof. Tomsen attributes the discovery of these inscriptions to Heikel and Dr. Radloff, who visited the spot—the former in 1890-1891, and the latter in 1891— they were discovered in reality by the late N. M. Yadrint- seff, who was sent out in 1889 by the Irkutsk Geographical Society for a journey to Mongolia.* Heikel’s collection was luxuriously edited by the Finnish-Ougrian Society,* and the col- lection of reproductions made by MM. Radloff and Yadrintseff was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences.® However, neither of these three explorers succeeded in reading the inscrip- tions, and it was only Prof. Tomsen who, taking advantage of the names of rulers, which were written in Chinese characters, and stood by the runic inscriptions, found the cue for reading the mysterious writings. It became thus known that the inscriptions belonged to a Turkish stem which formerly inhabited the upper parts of the Yenisei and the Orkhon. The cue having been discovered, Prof. Radloff set at once to decipher and to translate the inscriptions—a task which involved very great difficulties at the outset, as the vowels were not written in this alphabet ; but with all that, Dr. Radloff succeeded in finding out the meaning of the inscriptions and in translating them, and his researches are now embodied in a work issued by the Russian Academy of Sciences.® In this work Dr. Radloff analyses, first, the alphabet of the old Turkish monuments, and, next, the Chinese monuments on Lake Kosho-tsaidam ; he then gives an eighty-page long list of words; the translation of the Chinese Kosho-tsaidam inscriptions, by Prof. Vasilieff; and the transla- tions of the inscriptions found in different places of Mongolia and on the Yenisei, on both Chinese and Russian territory, followed by a study on the morphology of the old Turkish dialect. Thirty inscriptions in all have been deciphered ; they are written phonetically, in vertical columns following each other from the right to the left. The letters are angular ; they contain only four vowels and thirty-four consonants—different consonants being used in the words which contain guttural vowels, and in those words which have palatal vowels. The Chinese inscription at Kosho-tsaidam was written on a monument erected in 732, to honour the Turkish ruler Kyul- teghin, under the Chinese Emperor Kai-yuang, who reigned A.D. 713 to 742. A people named ‘‘ Turk” is mentioned in it, and the monument was erected on that people’s territory, to order the inhabitants to live in peace with the Tibet, Kirghiz (‘* Kyrkyz ”), Chinese (‘‘ Tapkach,” or ‘* renowned’), and Tatar peoples (‘‘ Tatar”). Another monument, unhappily broken in three pieces, stands to the south of the former ; it dates from 733- A third monument of importance was found by Yadrintseff on the Onghin River, and it is concluded that it was erected in 692, inhonour of Moghilian-khan, A monument on the Ikheaset seems to be of a later date than the twojust mentioned. Twenty more monuments were erected in honour of different relatives of the Turkish Khan, Kyul teghin, who resided at Kara-balgasun. They have been found in the Minusinsk region, by Stralenberg, in the early part of the last century, and have been described since by several explorers, including Castrén. The reading of these inscriptions offers many difficulties, and Prof. Tomsen and Dr. Radloff are not quite agreed together as to the proper way of reading ; so that more materials are wanted, and the Irkutsk Geographical Society is now busily at work to collect them. Dr. Radloff, who thoroughly knows the old and the new Turkish dialects, has edited the book in a thoroughly scientific spirit ; and if his readings are doubtful in certain places, this 1 From a paper by the Kazan Professor, N. Katanoff, in the Zevestia of the East Siberian Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, vol, xxvi. 4 and 5: Irkutsk, 1896 (Russian). “Dechifirement des Inscriptions de l’'Orkhon and de I’ Yenissei ’ (Copen- hag gen, 189,), in the Budletin of the Danish Academy of Sciences. Bons Memoirs of the Oriental Branch of the Russian Archzological Society,” vol. viii. p. 324. St. Petersburg, 1894 (Russian). 4 “Inscriptions de l'Orkhon, recueillies par l’expédition Finnoise, 1899, et publiées par la Société Finno- Ougrienne” (Helsingfors, 1892). 5 ** Atlas der Altherthtimer der Mongolei, i im Auftrage ‘der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften herausgegeben,” von Dr. Radloff. 6 “Die alttiirkischen Inschriften der Mongolei,” von Dr. W. Radloff. 460 pp. 4to. (St. Petersburg, 1895). ‘ NO. 1420, VOL. 55] chiefly depends upon the incomplete preservation of the i inscrip- tions themselves. From the dictionary and grammar given by Dr. Radloff, it appears that the language is a true Turkish dialect, quite harmonic, and nearly akin to the old Uigur dialect. In certain respects it even seems to be older than this latter, and the shades of sounds can be better rendered in the alphabet of the inscriptions than in the old Uigur alphabet. The old Turks had two alphabets in use; a variety of the Syrian, which goes under the name of Uigur alphabet, and the Arabian. A third alphabet must be added now to these two, and to the four which are in use amongst the moder Turks. It is worth noticing that, according to the Chinese historians, Indian writing was in use in East Turkestan; while in West Turkestan some other alphabet, ‘* khu-shu ”’—z.e. barbarian—was in use. It was written in vertical columns, and it may have been the alphabet of the Orkhon and Yenisei inscriptions. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. By the will of the late Mr. Henry L. Pierce, Harvard Uni- versity and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology each receive 50,000 dollars. THE following are among recent announcements :—Dr. F. B. Peck to be associate professor of geology and paleontology at Lafayette College; Mr. Richard Rathbun to be assistant in charge of the Smithsonian Institution, in succession to the late Mr. W. C. Winlock. A NUMBER of professors of the University of Berlin have addressed the Senate in order to obtain its approval for a move- ment in the nature of University extension, and it appears that the same course has been adopted in Jena and Leipzig. The Berlin correspondent of the Z2zes states that the movement has met with an unexpectedly strong and widespread opposition. Many members of the classes which have themselves enjoyed University education object to the proposed extension, on the ground that the persons who are likely to take advantage of it will only receive from their attendance at the proposed lectures a most superficial kind of instruction, both in point of quality and of quantity. A SKETCH of recent progress of technical education in England forms part of the ninth annual report of the National Association for the Promotion of Technical and Secondary Education. From this we learn that, in spite of the efforts made from time to time to secure for general county purposes certain portions of the funds belonging to education, the total sum annually set aside and utilised for educational purposes increases year by year. OF the forty-nine County Councils in England, forty are now giving all, and nine are’ giving part of their grants to educational purposes ; while of the sixty-one county boroughs, fifty-five are devoting all, and five are devoting part of the fund in a like manner. The county borough of Preston is the only instance of an authority devoting all its grant to the relief of the rates. In considering the total amount of money devoted one way and another, it appears that of the 742,000/, annually available in England alone, no less a sum than 662,000/. is being spent on education. This is an advance of 62,000/. upon last year’s figures, and is chiefly due to the rapid development of the work of the Technical Education Board of the London County Council. There thus remains a sum of 80,000/. still unappro~ priated to the purposes for which the fund was originally in- tended. Of this sum, however, London is responsible for 51,000/., an amount which, there is ev ery reason to believe, will shortly be required for ‘the organisation of technical and secondary education in the metropolis. THE number of technical schools which have been transferred to local authorities for municipal management and control has increased by four during the year covered by the above report, thus bringing up the total to 44. The four schools referred to are at Bradford-on-Avon, Gloucester, Leicester, and Lichfield. In the county borough of Huddersfield this matter is under consideration. Attention may also be directed to the operations of those local authorities in England which, upon their own initiative, have built, or are building, or are about to build, in the aggregate 115 technical schools, 101 of which involve an expenditure of 1,317,000/. This sum is derived from (1) the accumulation of funds under the Local Taxation Act, (2) loans raised by local authorities, (3) local subscriptions ; the greater January 14, 1897 | NATURE 263 proportion, however, is undoubtedly raised by loan. At the same time it is pointed out in the report that in two or three localities the entire fund was raised by donations and subscrip- tions, and in one instance, that of St. Helens, a site and 20,0007. was presented by Colonel Gamble, C.B., to the cor- poration for the establishment of a technical school and free library. Of the large number of technical schools mentioned above, 57 are already at work, 32 new schools having been opened since last year’s report. There remain, therefore, 58 schools which, according to the latest information, are still in- complete. Dairy institutes or agricultural schools or colleges have been established by nine English County Councils. In addition to these, the establishment of a central agricultural school is under consideration in Cornwall, and the County Councils of the East, North, and West Ridings of Yorkshire are taking joint action with a view to forming a rural agricultural centre. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LonpDon. Royal Society, November 19, 1896.—‘‘ Preliminary Report on the Results obtained with the Prismatic Camera during the Eclipse of 1896.” By J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S. The author first states the circumstances under which Sir George Baden-Powell, K.C.M.G., M.P., with great public spirit, conveyed an eclipse party to Novaya Zemlya. in his yacht Otarta, to which party was attached Mr. Shackleton, one of the computers employed by the Solar Physics Committee. The prismatic camera employed, loaned from the Solar Physics Observatory, was carefully adjusted before leaving England, and a programme of exposures was drawn up based upon the experience of 1893. As the station occupied Iay at some dis- tance from the central line, this programme was reduced by Mr. Shackleton. “ Two of the photographs obtained are reproduced for the information of other workers, as some time must elapse before the discussion of all the results can be completed. This dis- cussion and Mr. Shackleton’s report on the local arrangements and details of work, are promised in a subsequent communica- tion. The.lines photographed in the ‘‘ flash” at the commencement of totality—happily caught by Mr. Shackleton—the wave-lengths of which lines have been measured by Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, show interesting variations from those photographed by Mr. Fowler in the cusp during the eclipse of 1893. With the exception of the lines visible in the spectra of hydrogen and helium, and the longest lines of many of the metallic elements, considerable differences of intensity from the lines of Fraunhofer are noticeable. The coronal rings have been again photographed, and the results of 1893 have been confirmed. EDINBURGH. Royal Society, January 4.—Prof. Chrystal in the chair.— Mr. T. S. Muir read the report of the intermediate station on Ben Nevis. He was stationed there from September 1 to September 23, and during that time he took 186 observations, or eight readings per day. Out of twenty-two times that the barometer at the intermediate station (reduced to 32° and sea- level) read higher than that at Fort William, fourteen occurred close together during the first four days of the month, and were followed by a period of fine weather. On the average the intermediate barometer read one-hundredth of an inch lower than the Fort William barometer, and the weather of the month generally was bad. The mean day-difference of temperature between the intermediate, summit, and Fort William stations was as nearly as possible half of that between the summit and the base. But it is probable that during the night the inter- mediate temperature comes closer to that of the summit, and that the average for the twenty-four ‘hours is closer to that of the summit than Fort William. When the station was en- veloped in fog, or between two fog-systems, or close to the fog, the temperature approximated to that of the summit, and when there was no fog visible, or, if it were, at a great height, it approximated to that of the base. Also, when the sky was overcast, or nearly so, the middle temperature was closer to that of the summit ; when the sky was clear, to that at Fort William, During the period, the rainfall at the summit was 6} inches, NO. 1420, VOL. 55 | at the intermediate station 6 inches, and at Fort William 4} inches. Dr. Munro read a paper on intermediary links between man and the lower animals. He maintained that by the attainment of the erect posture and the consequent conversion of the limbs into hands and feet man became Homo sapéens, and inaugurated a new phase of existence, by means of which the manipulative organs became correlated with the progressive development of the brain. In the evolutionary career of man two stages were therefore to be recognised. First, that during which his physical transformation had been effected, so as to adapt him to bipedal locomotion ; second, that during which his mental organisation had become a new governing force in the universe. The one, being readily effected according to the laws of morphological adaptation, had a short duration. The other, an extremely slow process, consisted of small increments to his knowledge, acquired by repeated experiences, and reasoning from causes to effects, and from means to ends. The one was merely an adjustment of physical contrivances to physical ends, comparable to that by which the bird, the bat, or the whale had converted its limbs to their special purposes. The other had to be relegated to the mystic laboratory where thought was converted into its material equivalent in the form of increased brain substance. The transition from the semi-erect to the erect posture could not, in point of duration, be at all paralleled with the ages during which this erect being had lived on the globe. It was also probable that this transformation took place in a limited area ; so that the chances of finding the intermediary links of this stage were very small. On the other hand, the probability of finding erect beings with skulls in all grades of development, from a slightly changed Simian type up to that of civilised man, was enormously greater. He regarded the erect posture as the most conspicuous line of demarcation between man and, the lower animals. From this standpoint, the Java skeleton would come under the category of human; but if this line of distinc- tion was to be dependent in any degree on mental phenomena, Dr. Dubois was perfectly justified in regarding it as a transi- tional form, because it was a long time after the attainment of the erect posture, before his religious, moral, and intellectual faculties became human characteristics. Dr. Munro believed that many fossil remains of man were intermediary links which marked different stages in the history of mankind, and the further back such investigations carried them, the more Simian- like did the brain-case become. If the geological horizon of the Java man was correctly defined as the borderland between the Pliocene and Quaternary pericds, they could form some idea how far back they had to travel to reach the common stock from which men and anthropoid animals had sprung. The lower races of to-day were also survivals of intermediary links which had been thrown into the side eddies of the great stream of evolution. PARIS. Academy of Sciences, January 4.—M. A. Cornu in the chair.—Researches on the physiology of muscular action, by MM. A. Chauveau and J. Tissot. When the weight sustained by a muscle and the amount by which it shortens increase together, it is shown experimentally that the respiratory ex- changes which represent the energy spent, that is, the oxygen absorbed and the carbon dioxide exhaled, increase as the pro- duct of the shortening by the weight.—On a generating and distributing apparatus for acetylene, by M. H. L. Lechappe.— Observations on the new Perrine comet (December 8, 1896) made at the Observatory of Algiers, by MM. Rambaud and BR Sy.—On the consumption of water in locomotives, by M. E. Vicaire. On the basis of some experiments carried out on the Orleans system of railways, a general expression is deduced for the consumption of water on any given section.—Variation of the accidental double refraction of quartz with the direction of the compression, by M. R. Dongier. It is found that the same pressure, applied in two independent directions normal to the ternary axis, affects the wave-surface differently. The experi- ments will be continued with a view of determining the exact relation between the direction of pressure and the double refraction produced. —The action exercised upon solutions of the haloid salts of the alkalis, by the bases that they contain, by M. A. Ditte. An experimental study of the decrease of solubility of KBr by the addition of a solution of caustic potash, and of NaBr, by caustic soda.—Action of ammonia upon tel- lurium:chloride. Tellurium nitride, by M. René Metzner. At 200°—250° C., TeCly is slowly but completely reduced to metallic tellurium, ammonium chloride and nitrogen being formed, At 264 NATURE [JANUARY 14, 1897 o” C. the action is quite different, the compound TeCl,:3 NH, being produced. Under certain conditions, somewhat difficult to realise, tellurium nitride; TeN, arises by the spontaneous decomposition of this ammoniacal chloride. The nitride is unstable, detonating violently when struck or heated, but is not attacked by water or by dilute acetic acid. —On the absorption of sulphuretted hydrogen by liquid sulphur, by M. A H. Pélabon. Liquid sulphur at 440° C. absorbs hydrogen sulphide, which it gives out on solidifying. This can scarcely be a true case of a solution of a gas in a liquid, as it is found that the amount absorbed increases with the temperature, and is only given out on solidifying, no gas being given out by the solution in liquid sulphur even into a vacuum.—On the pro- duction of vanilline with the aid of vanilloylcarboxylic acid, by M. Ch. Gassmann.—On the transformation of eugenol into isoeugenol, by M. Ch. Gassmann.—On the principal varieties of wheat consumed in France, by M. Balland. Analyses of wheat from various sources. —Influence of the nervous system on the effects obtained by the injection of serum from vaccinated animals, by MM. Charrin and Nittis. As a general result it was found that lesions of the nervous system, which, as a rule, favour infection, also interfere with the protective power of a serum.—Influence of the different psychic processes upon the blood pressure in man, by MM. A. Binet and N. Vaschide. In all the experiments the blood pressure was increased. This effect was produced by pain, a strong mental effort, conversation, and a fatiguing muscular effort.—The Malpighian tubes of the Orthoptera, by M. L. Bordas.—On the Sfrrorézs ; asymmetry of these annelids and in the classification of this and allied species, by MM. Maurice Caullery and Félix Mesnil.—Remarks on the above note, by M. Edmond Perrier. —On the geological history of the Vosges, by M. A. de Lapparent.—On the period of formation of the phosphatic sands at the surface of the brown chalk, by M. Stanislas Meunier. Some remarks on a note by M. de Mercey. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, January 14. “MATHEMATICAL Society, at 8.—Supplementary Note on Matrices: J. Brill.—The Partition of a Number into Primes : Prof. Sylvester, F.R.S.— Some Properties of Bessel’s Functions : Dr. Hobson, F.R.S. INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Inaugural Address of the President, Sir Henry Mance. SoutH Lonpon EnromotocicaL anp Naturat History SocieTy.— Some Marine Mimics: E. Step. FRIDAY, January 15. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL Society, at 8.—Age Incidence in Relation with Cycles of Disease Prevalence: Dr. Hamer. InstTiruTION OF CiviIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—On Girders and Arches ; Walter Beer. ** Monier” SUNDAY, January 17. Sunvay Lecrure Sociery, at 4.—The Mountains of Great Britain : Norman Collie, F.R.S. MONDAY, January 18. Socrery or Arts, at 8.—Material and Design in Pottery : William Burton. - Society or CHEmicat INDustTRy, at 8.—The Character of the London Water Supply : W. J. Dibdin. Vicrorra INSTITUTE, at 4.30.—On the Assouan Embankment ; Prof. Hull, F.R.S. TUESDAY, January 19. Rovat INSTITUTION, at 3.—Animal Electricity : F.R.S. 5 Royat GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, at 4.30.—Sand Dunes; Vaughan Cornish. ~ ZOOLOGICAL SociETY, at 8.30.—Revision of the West Indian Micro- lepidoptera, with Description of New Species : Lord Walsingham, F.R.S. -On some Points in the Anatomy of the Manatee lately living in the Society's Gardens: F. E. Beddard, F.R S.—On the Classification of the Primates from the Ophthalmoscopic Appearance of the Fundus oculi: Dr. G. Lindsay Johnson. “Roya STATISTICAL SOCIETY, at 5.30. INSTITUTION OF CivIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Paper to be further discussed : Superheated Steam Engine Trials: Prof. W. Ripper.—Papers to be read, time permitting : The Diversion of the Periyar: Colonel J. Penny- cuick, C.S.1., R.E.—The Periyar Tunnel: M. P. Roscoe Allen. Royal PHoTOGRAPHIC Society, at 8. —The History of the Half-tone Dot : W. Gamble. GRESHAM COLLEGE, at 6.—Minute Organisms as Causes of Disease: Dr. Symes Thompson. Prof. Prof. A. D. Waller, WEDNESDAY, January 20. Society oF Arts, at 8.—The Roller Boat of M. Bazin: Emile Gautier. GEOLOGICAL Society, at 8.—On Glacial Phenomena of Palzozoic Age in the Varanger Fjord; The Raised Beaches and Glacial Deposits of the Varanger Fjord: Aubrey Strahan. RoyaL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 7.30.—Report of the Council ; Elec- tion of Officers and Council.—Address on Shade Temperature : E. Mawley, President. NO. 1420, VOL. 55] Roya Microscoricat Society, at 8.—President’s Address. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8.—Annual Meeting. GrEsHAM COLLEGE, at 6.—Bacteria in Air and Water: Dr. Thompson. Symes THURSDAY, Janvary 21. Royat Society, at 4 30.—The following Papers will #70ably be read :— On Cheirostrobus, a New Type of Fossil Cone from the Calciferous Sand- stone: Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S.—(1) Experiments in Examination of the Peripheral Distribution of the Fibres of the Posterior Roots of some Spinal Nerves, Part II. ; (2) Cataleptoid Reflexes in the Monkey; (3) On Reciprocal Innervation of Antagonistic Muscles (third note): Prof. Sherrington, F.R.S. Roya INsTITUTION, at 3.—Some Secrets of Crystals : Prof. H. A. Miers, F.R.S. LinnEAN Society, at 8.—On the Origin of the Corpus callosum ; a Com- parative Study of the Hippocampal Region of the Cerebrum ‘of Mar- supialia and certain Cheiroptera ; Dr. G. Elliott Smith.—On the Minute Structure of the Nervous System of the Mollusca: Dr. J. Gilchrist. CuHemicac Society, at 8.—Studies of the Properties of Highly Purified Substances. I. The Influence of Moisture on the Production of Ozone from Oxygen and on the Stability of Ozone. II. The Behaviour of Chlorine, Bromine, and Iodine with Mercury. III. The Behaviour of Chlorine under the Influence of the Silent Discharge of Electricity and in Sunlight: W. A. Shenstone.—Action of Diastase on Starch, Part III. : A. R. Ling and J. L. Baker.—The Solution Density and Cupric-reducing Power of Dextrose, Levulose, and Moist Sugar: Horace T. Brown, F-R S.; Dr. G. Harris Morris ; J. H. Millar.—Derivatives of Maclurin, Part IL.: A. G, Perkin. GresHAM COLLEGE, at 6.—Milk, Meat, and Oysters as Carriers of Disease : Dr. Symes Thompson. FRIDAY, JAanxvary 22. Roya INsTiTuTION, at g.—Properties of Liquid Oxygen: F.R.S. Prysicat Society, at 5.—An Exhibition of some Simple a by W. B. Croft.—On the Passage of Electricity through Gases: E. C. Baly. GresHam COLLEGE, at 6.—Diphtheria : Dr. Symes Thompson. Prof. Dewar, CONTENTS. Cellulose.—The Choice of Paper for Books. By PAGE i a cies 241 Early Chaldean Civilization : 243 Handbooks of Physiology 244 Our Book Shelf:— ‘“The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma”. . ees so) ee Luedecke : ‘‘ Die Minerale des Harzes” : + 2 Sea Giberne : ‘‘ The Wonderful Universe”. jee 246 Rodway: ‘‘ The Story of Forest and Stream”. 246 Chudzinski : ‘‘ Quelques observations sur les Muscles Peauciers du Crane et de la Face dans les Races Humaines” (3aegeeae . 2°. ea Letters to the Editor :— The Meaning of the Symbols in Applied Algebra. — Prof. Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. .. 246 The Force of a Pound.—Prof. A. M. Worthington, F3RsS2.. sae ay Sir William MacGregor’ Ss Journey : across New Guinea. Dr. Henry O. Forbes .. . nea, Shooting Stars of January 2. __w. F. ‘Denning . 247 The Svastika. (J///ustrated.)—S. E. Peal... 248 A Critic Criticised.—Prof. Uo There The Reviewer. . 248 The Union of Nerve ‘Cells.— F. XC. Kenyon; A. Sanders : : oes Ceunz4s Two Corrections == Ni “F. Sinclair. so Ey ee Celestial Eddies. (J/ustrated.) By J. Norman — Lockyer, C. Bikes Same). - sis «1 von eag The Theory of Solutions. Be: Lord Rayleigh, ERS See ae 253 The Bog-Slide ae Eeceieeecha, i in ‘the County of Kerry. (J//ustrated.) By Prof. Grenville A.J. Cole 254 Notes ‘...).. . GaMeBeMIc= Ss 0s << s © e RoneneeeUEen Our Astronomical Column :— The Algol Variable + 17° aaer W Dep eee 6) 2a) Comet Notes. . . 5 pits ZO The Universal Meridian een ese eg Lou Prize Subjects of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 261 The Old Turkish Inscriptions in Mongolia 262 University and Educational Intelligence +p) eedopd Societies and Academies Sls ty mee 2 05 Diary, of Societicsmeeaiar-eetice-) -) - =) ne 264 THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1897. OUT-DOOR STUDIES OF NATURE. The Round of the Year, a Series of Short Nature Studies. By Prof. L. €. Miall, F.R.S. Pp. 295. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) Life in Ponds and Streams. By W. Furneaux, F.R.G.S. Pp. vi + 406. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) OTH these volumes, while aiming at scientific accuracy, are intended for the general reader ; and, on this account, they have a considerable value. Prof. Miall’s “ Round the Year” is quite an unique book, The study of a lofty model is sure to inspire us, intel- lectually or morally ; and a close study of Gilbert White is manifest in most of his extremely interesting pages, They constitute a group of sketches growing out of the events of the year 1895; a year, in some respects, of unusual interest to the naturalist. It is somewhat rare in these days to find a book, written almost entirely on biological subjects, so happily free from the laboratory, and its technicalities and methods. We see Prof. Miall as an observer, and by the very manner of his observations showing the _ amateur and the young mind interested in nature how to observe. This is aided rather than hindered by the _ very wide and even desultory character of the subjects which in this volume claim his attention. In the very first pages he introduces his reader to a fascinating account of some Simulium larve, found in “a clear and rapid stream which flows down from the moors of the Wharfe.” This affords precisely the description of facts and circumstances likely to arrest and fix the attention of the hesitating as to whether or not he will make nature the subject of his special study. These and the following few pages on insects and plants in midwinter are precisely what we need at this time. The amateur is diverted from the study of nature by the enormous mass of “facts” accumulated in the laboratory, having no doubt inestimable value, but compiled by men who, to those outside the specialist circle, appear little concerned with nature in the sense in which it was so beautiful to, and made so interesting by Gilbert White. The danger is lest we should, in modern days, cause the majority to conclude that the world must be divided into scientific and non-scientific ; which in effect means into specialists and general readers. The intermediate order of mind, deeply observant of, and interested in, nature, is rarely considered. But it is to this class of mind that Prof. Miall appeals ; and he does it with all the accuracy of a sound man of science, and all the simplicity of a natural lover of the objects he con- templates. Some of the notes, such as “‘ Snow-flakes,” presenting as they do the latest results, will perhaps not be readily assimilated by the reader for whom these notes are really written ; but ever and again we come upon the keen clear observations of a man as independent of text- books as he is of tutors: an observer whose observa- tions will lead others to do likewise. His notes on NO. 1421, VOL. 55 | pee RE 205 ‘f Phi and Theta”?! are especially of this order, and while they incorporate the latest scientific investigation easily lead the non-scientific observer to see what possibilities of pleasant observation lie around him. A very interesting paper is that on “Animals with and without Combs.” “The Oil-Beetle (Meloe)” is another cluster of notes which we heartily commend to the general reader. But there is something quite fresh in “The Corn-rigs of Beamsley Fell,” and in this we see the author’s knowledge and love of Yorkshire. Some very interesting matter not commonly thrown together is given on “‘ The Cuckoo,” in which the problem of the cuckoo’s action in regard to her egg is very cleverly presented. The “ Botany of a Railway Station” is well worthy of the ordinary reader’s study ; and the notes on “ Hay-time” and on “ Moorland Plants” will quicken the interest of many in what is still known as “natural history.” The note on the “ Reversed Spiral” is of great value ; quite by incident, it will show the general reader how some of the most remarkable adaptations—*con- trivances”—in nature are in reality not such. “The reversed spiral (with all its wonderful perfections of ‘adaptation ’) is not a contrivance at all ; it is a mechan- ical necessity when a band whose ends are not free to revolve is thrown into coils.” “The Structure of a Feather” and “The Fall of the Leaf” are not new, but clear and so presented that the readers for whom the book is written, and to whom it will be fresh, will find in it an uncommon interest. In short, this book worthily represents its author. A student of the deeper things of nature, he has pleasure, manifest in every page, in presenting to others the results ot general observation, which may awake in them the keenest delight. Mr. Furneaux’s book on “ Life in Ponds and Streams” is remarkably well presented to the reader. The pub- lishers’ work has been admirably done; and to those who have read “ The Out-door World,” there will be little doubt that in this book we have a thoroughly practical treatise. In fact this isnot a book to “read” ; it isa book to be taken as a guide to the practical study of the ponds and streams. It was ponds and streams that led to the whole science of microscopic research ; and whilst this book deals with the larger inhabitants of the pool and the brook, it is of exactly the order that is needed to awake an interest in living things far beyond the limits it has wisely set itself. The “introduction” is a useful epitome of the animal kingdom so far as it will be needed by the collector ; and the practical hints and instructions on collecting are such as could only have been given by an experienced leader ; and we may say that the careful reader of the chapters on “Collecting in Ponds and Streams” and “Collecting Minute Forms of Life,” will not suffer much from embarking on his task with supreme trust in his guide. We think that the instructions given to the possessor of a moderately good modern micro- scope—and the English market is now crowded with the very best models at the very lowest price—as to how to make a “sfot-dens” are, however, quite superfluous, for the simplest substage condenser ought to be supplied with 1 A dog and cat. N 266 WATOURE [JANUARY 21, 1897 the means of getting all the results the “spot-lens” can give, and we very heartily hope that even low powers are now rarely used without a suitable condenser. This, however, is a detail, and leaves the instructions to the tyro on this head with very little to be desired. “The Pond Hunters Museum” and “Aquaria and their Management,” are both chapters of great value, and they are written by one who has realised the pleasures and the difficulties they involve. And after this we enter upon the supreme purpose of the book— the life which the pond and the stream reveals. For the purpose which the writer had in view it is not easy to conceive of a more practical and thorough treatment of his subject, and withal one which would enable the least initiated to follow more intelligently, and at the pond- side, what this book incites him to study. It is not with the lower and minuter forms of life that the author chiefly concerns himself. These are lightly touched, affording ample room for future study. But worms, leeches, molluscs, crustaceans, spiders, aquatic insects, fishes and amphibians, form the main subjects of study. In this region of study, as in all others, wonderful advances have been made. The pond-hunter of twenty- five years ago would have found a treasure indeed in a book like this. Its thoroughness and its admirable illustrations taken together give it a great value to the youth who happily determines to make the life of the pond or the stream his hobby ; and if it never goes beyond that point, this volume will have served an ad- mirable purpose. But the book is so well written, and is capable of inciting so much interest, that we believe it will accomplish a deeper and more lasting purpose W., HD: THE LUNAR THEORY. An Introductory Treatise on the Lunar Theory. By Prof. E. W. Brown, M.A. Pp. xvi + 292. (London : Cambridge University Press, 1896.) HE design of this valuable text-book on the lunar theory is similar to that of Tisserand’s “‘ Mécanique Céleste,” the object in both cases being to lay before the reader the methods by which various practical problems of gravitational astronomy have been attacked. In each case the recent pure mathematical investigations of Poincaré, Lindstedt, Gyldén, &c., though not passed by without notice, evidently form but a small part of the author’s plan. Of the two writers, Prof. Brown is by far the least ambitious ; and his work does not extend, like Tisserand’s, to planetary theory, figure of the earth, precession, and other gravitational problems that form so large a part of the most recent “ Mécanique Céleste.” We venture to think, however, that Prof. Brown has dealt with his more limited subject in a manner that is far clearer, more thorough, and more useful to the student. Prof. Brown has not attempted to follow any theory through all the approximations that are necessary for obtaining an orbit that shall represent the moon’s path within the limits of observation, neither are the huge masses of figures necessary for such a task repro- duced in the treatise. There is no mathematical point that cannot be sufficiently illustrated by the third approximation, or terms depending on the square of the NO. 1421, VOL. 55] disturbing force. The author has therefore limited himself generally to the first approximation, or inter- mediate orbit ; to the second approximation, depending on the first power of the disturbing force; and to the third approximation, depending on the square of the dis- turbing force. In connection with the first approxima- tion the author discusses the choice of an intermediate orbit, and in the case where this orbit is an ellipse he shows why it was necessary to modify it so as to repre- sent the motion of the node and apse. Various elliptic formula are also given, including the application of Bessel’s Functions. A theorem of Hansen’s is also given, that is subsequently employed. For a second approximation the author shows that in practice the earth’s mass may be neglected in comparison with the sun’s, and that subject to a simple modification in the final result the moon’s mass may be neglected altogether, or rather assigned to the earth. A numerical estimate—which we believe is original—is given of the magnitude of the errors involved in these assumptions. In this connection we should like to enter a protest against the calculation of terms depending on the square of the sun’s parallax when the moon’s mass is neglected. The modification, above referred to, does not correct these terms; they cannot in any way be made to repre- sent an actual phenomenon : they are, as it happens, small enough to be negligible—were this not so, the method would have to be altered in order to compute them. The disturbing function is also developed in different ways suitable for different theories. The differential equations of disturbed motion are also obtained. In the integration, various points are carefully discussed. The most important of these is the way in which terms pro- portional to the time might occur, the way in which such terms are got rid of, and the interpretation of this artifice —due to Clairaut—as representing a motion of the node and apse. Another point is the meaning of the constants of integration ; when, for instance, the motion is no longer elliptic, the notion of the eccentricity becomes somewhat vague. In order to render two theories comparable, the arbitrary constants of one must be expressed in terms of those of the other; and hence it is desirable in every theory to have a clear conception of the meaning—if possible the physical meaning—of the constants. Again, at every fresh approximation fresh constants arise as part of the “complementary function.” What to do with these constants requires careful consideration; some- times one has to be left arbitrary for a time, in order that it may. be used later to remove terms depending on the time ; more often—and the preceding case is really only a special case of this—they may be used to suitably modify or to define more exactly the constants that have previously arisen. These points are of fundamenta importance, and are rightly dealt with by Prof, Brown at considerable length. The difficulties of a third approximation chiefly consist in the necessity for computing the disturbing forces with the disturbed coordinates already obtained. An example is given from De Pontécoulant s method. Prof. Brown also discusses the general form of the final result. Every argument must be the sum or difference of integral multiples of four angles, and the characteristic January 21, 1897] NATURE 267 of each coefficient—that is to say, its order in the eccen- tricities, inclination, and solar parallax—can be written down by inspection, and is not modified by any integra- tion or other process that occurs in the computations. The order, however, in the ratio of the mean motions does not follow any simple law. that certain terms rise in importance on integration. The class of terms that behave thus is carefully pointed out in the book, and the fact that their consequent increase in importance is transmitted to the terms in gueue with them, thereby doubling the number of approxi- mations necessary, is noticed. As far as we know, the whole question has never been thoroughly gone into, so as to form rules whereby the order in the mean motions of every term may be estimated. It would form a fitting subject for a thorough investigation. For instance, with Delaunay’s notation, the term with argu- ment 2D is of order ”, the term with argument 2D —/ has been lowered by one order in » to me. The term in 4D + Z may be considered as made up of 2D + 2D + /, 2D + (2D—Z) + 2/, or (2D—Z) + (2D—Z) + 3%, and its order will be wztz, 7°", me° in the three cases. Similarly the order of the term in 4D —/ is me and me. These are simple cases illustrating the fact that lower powers of m often occur than the power by which the characteristic part of the coefficient is multiplied. The treatise deals with four theories in some detail— De Pontécoulant’s, Hansen’s, Delaunay’s and Hill’s. Pontécoulant’s is an easy one to understand, and the author has attached to it his discussions of the constants and other points that are in reality common to all theories in variously modified forms. Hansen’s theory is an extremely difficult one, and Tisserand has entirely failed to give an intelligible | account of it. Prof. Brown, too, leaves something to be desired ; but we at least owe to hima remarkable sim- plification in an introductory lemma (recently published in the AJonthly Notices). The proof given by Prof. Brown is so simple, that its merit is only apparent to those who have read Hansen’s investigation of the same | point. Hansen’s theory is of a curious design: the inequalities are thrown upon the time or the mean longitude. Dr. Hill considers that the method was an outcome of an extension to all terms of a method used by Laplace for terms of long period. Delaunay’s theory is a gigantic task representing twenty years’ labour. His method is the variation of arbitrary constants, using canonical equations. Prof. Brown has considerably simplified the introductory analysis on which the theory rests, and has recently published a further simplification in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. Dr. Hill’s theory is the most recent, and the simplest in form. It is, however, as yet far from complete. It was, as is well known, originated by some papers of Dr. Hill’s in the first volume of the American Journal and the eighth volume of the Acta Mathematica. In these papers Dr. Hill obtains the variation curve (that does duty as the intermediate orbit) and the motion of the perigee. The further development has been left almost entirely to Prof. Brown, who has published a series of papers in the American Journal. Among these is a paper of great analytical interest containing some NO. 1421, VOL. 55 | This is due to the fact | De | theorems that include two famous theorems of Adams’ as a special case. It is much to be wished that Dr. Hill’s theory should be completed. The book concludes with a short sketch of several other theories, and the methods used in computing inequalities other than those due to the sun. OUR BOOK SHELF. Chemistry for Engineers and Manufacturers. “ical /ext-book. A Prac- By B. Blount and A. G. Bloxam. Vol. i. Chemistry of Manufacturing Processes. Pp. 484. (London: C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1896.) Ir is stated in the preface that the sole object of this work is to give the reader a general view of the principles which underlie the several manufactures described. ‘lhe ground covered is very wide, so that in order to keep the book within reasonable limits a very condensed style has been adopted. The opening chapters deal with the manufacture of sulphuric acid and alkali, and the de- structive distillation of coal, wood, and bone, the account of coal-gas manufacture being especially well done, although the short account of methods of gas-testing is sketchy and inadequate, and might have been omitted with advantage. The subjects of artificial manures, petroleum, cement, glass and porcelain, sugar and starch, brewing and distilling, oils, resins and varnishes, are next dealt with. The soap and candle industry is dis- missed in nine pages, no account being given of the chemistry of the “cold process” of soap-making. in which the excess of alkali is eliminated by the subse- quent addition of ammonium salts, although most of the highest grades of toilet soaps are now prepared by this process. The chapter on dye-stuffs, which follows, con- tains a good synopsis of the chemistry of this subject. It is, however, too brief to be of much service to the dye- works chemist, and is certainly beyond the apprehension of the average engineer. ; The authors, indeed, are rather optimistic in their estimate of the chemical knowledge possessed by engineers, as chemical formule and equations are freely used throughout the book. Of the remaining chapters, those dealing with the preparation of pigments, leather, and explosives are the most important. In view of the growing importance of cyanide compounds in gold extraction, it is to be hoped that a little more space will be found for this subject in the next edition, no mention being made of the recent advances in the industrial applications of the well-known synthesis from alkalis, carbon, and gaseous nitrogen. The short bibliography at the end of the book will prove useful in following up the details of any particular subject. The Struggle of the Nations. By G. Maspero. Edited by A. H. Sayce, and translated by M. L. McClure. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1896.) SoME time ago (see NATURE, No. 1310) we called the attention of our readers to the issue of a much enlarged and illustrated edition of M. Maspero’s work “ Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l’Orient Classique” in a notice of the first volume, which appeared in England under the title of “‘ The Dawn of Civilization,” and we welcomed it as a book much to be desired. The second volume now before us is the next instalment of the edition, and we welcome it no less gladly; it is to be hoped that the intervals between the issue of the volumes will become shorter and shorter, and that the whole work may be in our hands in a few years. The period covered by the first volume extended from the time when we first have written records in Egypt and Western Asia (including Babylonia) to the end of the reign of the kings of the twelfth dynasty in Egypt, say about B.C. 2500; in this volume we are led from the time of Khammurabi and his immediate predecessors to the end of the twenty-first 268 NATURE [JANUARY 21, 1897 dynasty, about B.c. 1100. The nations discussed in the earlier volume were comparatively few, but when we turn to the later one we see that it treats of the history of all ; the peoples who lived in the countries which lie between Elam on the east, Cyprus on the west, Armenia on the north, and Berber on the south. How they arose, gained power, made war and invaded each other's territories, attained the zenith of their glory, were conquered, and were finally destroyed or merged in the ascending might of their neighbours, M. Maspero has undertaken to tell; and we think that he has carried out his task very fairly well. The overwhelming mass of notes and references to authorities testify to immense energy, and to a desire to put the reader in possession of a large number of facts. In the course of his work he has touched upon a variety of “burning questions,” such as the Hyksos, the Hittites, the Exodus, &c., and we are tolerably certain that he will not please every one who reads his book; on many points we ourselves should disagree with him. To discuss these differences would require more space than we are allotted, and it is only fair to say that the general plan of the work is excellent, and that the author has spared no pains to make it a useful guide to the knowledge of Oriental history. On certain subjects his information is not obtained at first hand, but when we consider that he has to deal with Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Cosseans, Kassites, Elamites, Hittites, Arameans, Syrians, Hebrews, and others, this cannot be wondered at ; and that he should be led away, at times, by his authorities is quite excusable. His chapters on Egyptian history are, as might be ex- pected, worthy of his reputation. The Camera and the Pen. By T. C. Hepworth, F.C.S. Pp. 64. (Bradford: Percy Lund, Humphries, and Co. Ltd., 1896.) RELIEF blocks produced without the aid of the engraver are now extremely common—rarely do blocks of any other kind appear in NATURE—yet it is astonishing how very hazy are the ideas which the majority of people have as to the way they are made. In this slender volume will be found a sketch of the methods employed to produce line blocks and half-tone blocks, and we trust it will be widely read; for a knowledge of the possi- bilities of process work would often save the production of a bad block. The simplest form of process block is that made from line drawings, or pen-and-ink sketches. To obtain the best effect, the drawing should be made on Bristol board, or similar white surface, in very black ink. Liquid india ink is commonly used, but Stephens’ ebony stain is sometimes preferred. This is photographed by the process worker, and, by a simple arrangement, a reversed negative is obtained. A sheet of zinc, covered with a substance which becomes insoluble after exposure to light, is placed in contact with this negative, and after- wards the unaltered parts are washed or rubbed off. The zinc plate thus marked is then etched, and even- tually mounted on wood ready for the printing machine. It will be evident, then, that drawings to be used for the production of blocks in this way should be very distinct, and no lines or marks should be upon them but what are required to appear in the figure. The half-tone process is used for the reproduction of pictures other than line drawings. For illustrations of natural things and phenomena, where accuracy is all-important, reproduc- tion by photographic process may be said to be essential. The only conditions for satisfactory results are clear pictures, which may be either negatives or positives. Many hints of interest to photographers, as well as very instructive information on the processes of manufac- turing blocks for illustration purposes, will be found in Mr. Hepworth’s book. The only complaint which is likely to be raised about the contents is that they are deficient in details. NO. 1421, VOL. 55] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. (Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATuRE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. | Bog Slides and Debacles. THESE slides have been brought very prominently forward on account of the recent debacle near Gneevegullia, Co. Kerry. They are a subject that ought to be known and understood, as numerous observers and writers have brought the subject before the public since Gerrard Boate wrote on bogs in A.D, 1652, up to the present time. If, however, we are to judge from what has been lately written, the public seem to be supposed to consider such a slide as that in Kerry as something quite out of the common, which no one can understand. But, on the contrary, bog slides and debacles are one of the numerous Irish disturbances, that lie dormant for a time and burst forth suddenly when least expected —take Gneevegullia Bog as an illustration. It is situated on the watershed of the Brown Flesk, a tributary of the Maine, the Blackwater and the Flesk, into all which rivers at times it sent squirts, but especially in late years, into the Quagmire River, a tributary of the Flesk. Into the latter river it sent a consider- able squirt three or four years ago ; now it breaks forth into the Flesk instead of the Brown Flesk ; where it was always expected to go. Small slides and debacles of both bogs and drifts, in the Irish hill groups, are not uncommon, and any frequenter of the hills must at some time or another have seen one. They give the observer a very nasty sensation. Suddenly he sees a curious shiver in a bog flat; at first he considers it to be only the shimmery air over the bog, so usual in hot weather, but presently he sees a ‘‘ creeping where no life is seen,” with a black steam or sheet issuing from it. Ten to one he immediately jumps up to make sure that his seat has not also taken to walking. Most bog slides are hard to see, as they usually take place during the night; there are, however, exceptions to this general rule, as the famous slide in the Ballykillim Bog, near Clara (1825), took place while the turf-cutters were at their dinner, and the slide on March 28, 1745, near Dunmore, Co. Galway, also took place in the day-time, and the turf-cutters had to run for their lives. In the annals of the Four Masters there are records that myst refer to either water-spouts or bog debacles, but they are too vague to quote. Gerrard Boate, in 1652, tells us how to drain a ‘‘ shaking bog,” but he does not record any movements. The first I know of is the communication to the Royal Society in 1697, by W. Molyneux, of the Bog of Kapanihan, Co. Limerick, near Charleville. As this began at 7 p.m. on June 7, 1697, the first movement of this bog could be described ; afterwards he gives the final results, and the causes that made the move- ments. The newspaper reports at the time talk of the accom- panying great noise ; Molyneux, however, says there was none. The Bishop of Clogher also gives a good scientific account of a bog movement near Clogher on March 10, 1712 ; but the majority of the other records are by men who have gone in for sensation. This has been the case in the recent reports. No one knows when the movement began in the Gneevegullia Bog, but now we are told it was heralded in by noises and great shaking. The printed records of big slides or debacles that I have read (as far as I can remember) are the following :— 1607. June 7. Kilpaniham, near Charleville, Co. Limerick. 1708. Castlegarde, Co. Limerick. 1712. March 10, Near Clogher. according to tradition, before 1640. 1745. March 28. Addergot, near Dunmore, Co, Galway. 1780. Monabogh, Dundrum, Co. Tipperary. 1819. Valley of the Owenmore, Erris, Co. Mayo. 1821. Slip in Joyce County, Co. Galway. 1824. December 22. Ballyroindallow Bog, near Coleraine. 1825 (?). Kilmalady Bog, near Clara, King’s Co. Fasset Bog, 16 miles away, also moved, but did not burst forth, 1867. Glen Castle Hills, Belmullet, Erris, Co. Mayo. 1871 (?). In the Valley of the Suck, alongside one of the Roscommon tributaries. 1871 (?). Clonagill, near Birr, King’s Co. , Other big slides will be found recorded by Lewis, but it would take time to go over all his County histories. This bog had also moved, January 21, 1807] NATURE 269 Every slide and debacle is due to the combined effects of great drought succeeded by heavy wet. In the majority of the bogs, of any extent, and even in some of very small dimensions, there are in parts “shaky bogs.”” Those portions in great drought dry and contract, thereby being traversed by fissures, and more or _ less broken away from their soles. When the rains descend and the floods come, the water first saturates and floats the lower portions and afterwards the upper portions. The latter process has a peculiar appearance. When a bog is saturated, on its highest part there is generally a Loughaun, ze. a pool with- out any surface outlet. During a drought the bog about the Loughaun sinks, while it often becomes quite dry ; but when the rains come, the bog swells just like a dry sponge put in water, and rises the Loughaun along with it. When a bog is saturated its lower portion is a sea of mud surrounded by a hard margin. If this margin in any place gives way there is a bursting forth (*‘ debacle”), as in the recent case in Kerry, but sometimes the bog will over-swell, as in the case described by Molyneux, when the bog will begin ‘‘to walk” on its own account, and in its course lift up and carry away the barrier. Different slides, such as that near Clara, that near Dunmore, and the recent one, were due to the turf-cutters, who weakened the barriers. Turf may be cut on two systems—‘‘ Brest banks,” or banks opened round the margin of a bog or along a road; and banks that are more or less perpendicular to the margin of a bog ora bog road. The latter class of banks prevent slides, as they act as drains to the mass of the bog; while the Brest banks facilitate slides, as possibly may be exemplified this coming season, when the Brest banks are being cut. Naturally it will be asked why all the bogs are not cut on the perpendicular system? The answer to which is, that it has been generally adopted in the mountain districts; but in the Low Land deep bogs this is nearly impracticable, as it would take years before you could run your bank into them, while all the time you would be at a dead loss. This, however, is a subject outside the present inquiry. During my years of tramping the Irish hills, I have seen some interesting aspects of bog and drift slides ; but it is unnecessary to recapitulate them here, as any one interested can fully read up _ the subject in previous publications. It may, however, be allowable to point out that the different _ writers on the late Kerry debacle, apparently never saw the site of a previous debacle, or they would not make the foolish sug- _ gestions that have appeared in their writing. I visited the Owenmore site about 1875, or about fifty years after its occurrence. This is the most disastrous slide on record, as it carried away a whole village and its inhabitants, also a picket of Highlanders, whose bodies were afterwards pinked up in Tullaghan Bay. When I saw it there was nothing very remarkable about the bog ; it had a nice hollow in it, with a pollagh for snipe and duck ; but if I had not been told to the contrary, I would have seen nothing very extraordinary about it. Of similarly other sites that I have visited, that in the Joyce country is now a heathy hollow, a good place for grouse ; while that on the Glencastle Hill slope, when visited ten years after, could scarcely be detected, except that at the north end of the townland, adjoining the road and Broad Ilaven, there was a tumbling up in hummocks, partly drift, partly bog. A new gulch, due to a debacle, is hard to cross, if not im- passable, for a year or two ; after which time the bog will have soaked, and the bog-mould slopes will begin to consolidate and grow vegetation ; once they have a sod on them all appearances of the debacle rapidly disappear, so much so, that only one person out of a hundred, if you undertook to explain to him what had formed a gulch in a mountain slope, would believe you ; the other ninety-nine would say ‘‘ Hookey Walker !” The bog, the site of the recent slide, is not more than 20 or 30 feet deep; this will contract at each side of the gulch so as to leave a hollow not more than from 10 to 15 feet deep, as has elsewhere been practically proved. G. Henry KINAHAN, District Surveyor (Retired), H.M. Geol. Survey. On the Goldbach-Euler Theorem concerning Primes. I HAVE verified the new law for all the even numbers from 2 to 1000, but will not encumber the pages of NATURE with the fetails, The approximate formula hazarded for the . . / . . . number of resolutions of 27 into two primes, viz. f , where NO. 1421, VOL. 55| i wis the number of mid-primes, does not always come near to the true value. I have reasons for thinking that when # is sufficiently great, may possibly be an inferior limit. The generating function given in a recent number of NATURE, p. 196, is subject to a singular correction when the partible number 27 is the double of a prime. In this case, since the development to be squared is PR ese eer tg ye ee based Se +, &c., the coefficient of 2?” will contain 2u, arising from the combina- tion of 0 with 27, which is foreign to the question, and accord- ingly the result given by the generating function would be too great by 2u. This may be provided against by always rejecting the centre of the mid-range from the number of mid-primes. The formula will then in all cases give twice the number of ways of breaking up 27 into two unequal primes. Another method would be to take as the generating function not the square of the sum, but the product of the fractions — (without casting out 2 when =a it is a prime), but this method would be inordinately more diffi- cult to work with in computing series involving the roots of unity than the one chosen, which is in itself a felicitous inven- tion.! Whether the method turns out successful or not, it at the very least gives an analytical expression for the number of ways of conjoining the mid-primes to make up 27 without trial, which in itself is a somewhat surprising result. Ifaving lost my pre- liminary calculations, it may be some little time before I shall be able to say whether the method does or does not contain a proof of the new theorem ; but that this can be ascertained, there is no manner of doubt. This is the first serious attempt to deal with Euler’s theorem, or to bring the question into line with the general theory of partitions. It is proper to regard the range I to 2-1 as consisting of two complementary flank regions, two lateral mid-prime regions, and a region reduced to a single term in the middle, as ex.g7. LNs An Ole) 7a Oe Og LO MLe Or, again, AP KG GHlOR YB ten Cp MOR ty hep ee And the question of 27 being resoluble into 2 primes breaks up into three, viz. whether 27 can be composed with two flank primes, two lateral mid-primes, or with the number in the central region repeated. : Some slight corrections are required in the preceding note in Nature. P. 196, 1. 5 of letter, for ‘‘improved method” read ‘* original method ” ; 1. 7, for ‘‘ demonstration” read ‘* denume- ration” ; 1. 24, omit the words ‘‘ with the exception of 27 = 2.” Also, p- 197, 1. 3, for ‘‘pe*” read ‘* pet.” January I. J. J. SYLVESTER. Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates. In the course of a recent X-ray lecture demonstration, I accidentally got what is, so far as I know, a novel, and certainly an interesting result. Having takena radiograph of three small wire skeletons enclosed in cardboard bodies, on the developed plate (covered with a plain glass pressed upon the film) being put into the lantern, I noticed the precipitated silver particles set themselves in certain lines. These radiated normally from the skulls and limbs of the figures, and in the more open parts of the background set themselves into a key or fret pattern. I concluded, on further examination, that this effect was probably due to a state of electric strain induced by the Réntgen tube, but it was only upon the softening of the gelatine film by the heat of the lantern that the particles were set free, so as to obey the electric impulse to which they were subjected. _ This led me to experiment upon the effect produced by charged conductors on sensitive plates, with the final result of 1 For the generating function we may take any power greater than instead of the square, and the coefficient of 2» will then be the number of couples making up 2# multiplied by (7* - yur-1, which can be calculated by the same method as for the square, but is more difficult and must give rise to numerous theorems of great interest, arising from the multiform representa- tion of the same quantity. 270 WALORE | JANUARY 21, 1897 securing very perfect images of the invisible electric discharge without the plates being exposed to either X-rays or light. This discharge—or possibly, more strictly speaking, the electrified streams of air driven off by it—appears to act upon It is thus possible to secure the plate exactly as light does. Fic. 1. impressions of such discharges by simple electrification and subsequent development. Under certain conditions very perfect images of the relief upon coins and similar objects can be obtained. This seems to Fic. 2. account fully forthe fact that in some cases radiographs of coins have shown some trace of the design upon the under side which was in contact with the film. I enclose prints of the radiograph showing the set of the silver particles around the skeletons, which effect I have since NO. 1421, VOL. 55] | reproduced, and also of what I think may properly be called electrographs of coins, and of discharges from metallic points and surfaces. I should be glad to know if any similar results have come within the experience of any of your correspondents. Fig. 1 is a radiograph of wire skele- tons enclosed in cardboard figures, developed and fixed, covered with glass plate, and put in lantern. On the heat of the lantern softening the film, the precipitated silver particles set themselves in pattern. The ex- planation which suggested itself was that this was an electrical effect induced by the Rontgen tube, but I cannot definitely assert that this is the case. It is conceivable that: the segregation of the particles may be due to some other play of forces, such as unequal tension in the film; but the first idea seems the most probable. I hope to test this further by experiment. I have reproduced a similar pattern, though not quite so perfectly as in this in- stance. The irregular edge is the result of the partial drying of the film. Fig. 2 represents an aluminium medal and gold coin. The coins were laid upon a photographic dry plate, enclosed in a cardboard box, electrified for two seconds from one pole of a small induction coil, and developed. Brush discharge round mar- gin very fine, the discharges from the two objects repelling each other. The larger was in high relief, and the lettering has produced small brush discharges. Some shaded ground in recessed part of coin, probably due to the electrified film of air, confined within the margin of the coin, resting in contact with the plate. James PANSON. Fairfield House, Darlington, January 7. The Force of a Pound. PRror. PERRY, in his review of my ‘‘ Elements of Mechanics” in your issue of November 19, 1896, gives his method of explana- tion of mechanical units to engineering students. The method is almost as perplexing as the one he so severely condemns. The source of confusion in both cases is in at- taching the term ‘‘mass” to the ordinary gravitation system —the system of ‘*weights and measures.” Engineers have no need of the term; in its strict sense it is foreign to their work. The engineering unit of quantity is the ‘*pound,” as determined by the process of weighing against standard weights. : The engineer deals mainly with bodies at rest, or moving with uniform speed. The system sufficient for him is therefore not sufficient for the physicist, to whom the idea of acceleration is fundamental. The physicist notices that bodies possess a certain quality determinative of acceleration, and to this he gives the name mass. Masses are thus to be compared by kinetical methods, fundamentally at least. The term ‘‘ mass ” belongs to the system of the physicist, the so-called absolute system, and to it only. To sum up. Use the term weight in its legal sense, which is that understood by the engineer and by people in general ; define mass with reference to acceleration, and not as “‘ quantity of matter’; understand that the passage from an absolute to a gravitation system [not from mass to weight] is by means of a suitable factor with a corresponding change of unit, and all confusion vanishes. The agitation in favour of an absolute system involving the ‘* poundal” should be discouraged for the reason, among others, that the adoption of the metric system is delayed in consequence. The metric system alone is sufficient for both engineer and physicist. T. W. WRIGHT. Schenectady, N.Y., December 17, 1896 January 21, 1897 | NATURE 271 Acceleration. In Nature, No. 1415, p. 125, Prof. Lodge asserts that the subject of acceleration is at the root of the perennial debate be- tween engineers and teachers of mechanics ; and he urges clear- ness of idea and accuracy of speech on all who deal with the junior student. Towards this end I would suggest that the too common phrase “acceleration of velocity’ should be aban- doned when the idea intended is ‘‘ velocity of velocity.” Vand V ought not to be confounded. Let the student be told that the time-rate of change of a particle’s speed in any given fixed direction at a given instant is called the acceleration of the Aar- ticle in the given direction at the given instant. If the direction of the particle’s motion at the given instant makes anangle @ with the given fixed direction L, and if the speed of the particle in its own direction at this instant is V, its speed in the direction L is Vcos @. The time-rate of change of this is called the accelera- tion of the fardéc/e in the direction L. It is [V cos @— V@ sin 0] units of speed per unit of time. If @= 0, L coincides with the line of motion, hence the acceleration of a particle along its line of motion is V units of speed per unit of time. If @ = 47, L coincides with a normal, hence the acceleration of the particle along a normal is V@, 2.e. it is the product of the linear speed and the angular speed. Linear speed is expressed in units of length per unit of time; angular speed is expressed in units of angle per unit of time, Acceleration is expressed in units of speed per unit of time. EDWARD GEOGHEGAN. Bardsea. Tus is simply kinematic, and well known ; but perhaps its | adduction at the present time is useful as emphasising the fact that acceleration in general is not a ludicrously simple and obvious idea. The term “ velocity ” is, however, hardly a good synonym for ‘‘rate of change” of everything: the term ‘‘ fluxion ” would be better; moreover, none, of the phrases about ‘‘units”’ are necessary. OL Yerue The Rydberg-Schuster Law of Elementary Spectra. THE interesting law of connection shown so clearly by Prof. Schuster in the recent pages of Narure (vol. lv. p. 200, and p- 223), to exist between the primary and secondary series of lines in the representations given by Kayser and Runge of the spectra of certain metallic elements, is a law which seems so suggestive of the musical phenomena termed in acoustics ‘« difference-tones,’’as a possible explanation of its origin, that it may perhaps be of some use in seeking fora true account of the connection, to show heré how it may be held, if not quite perfectly and exactly; at least up to a certain point of great resemblance, to possess that aspect. The set of fundamental and over agitation-rates comprised in a Balmer-series, form a sort of chime of rays together, perhaps not very unlike the mixture of notes composing the almost vocal-sounding scream, or buzz, rather than a pure note, whicha humming-top emits. From combined actions of the proper mem- bers of this chime, sets of vibrations would no doubt arise, with oscillation-rates in a succcession of secondary series, equal to the surplus rates of all the succeeding proper members of the chime above the oscillation-rate of some starting member. In the case of =A ( Le ( =. Ny) the differential set Balmer’s series, 7 nN for all the vibration-rates following the first, or fundamental Kate; (7t<— A(t ~ (2)); is represented generally by 3 =@))--O}--@)}} or 2, =) 4G - (3)). a slightly modified Balmer- series, of which the convergence frequency, (4 #4 4(+- 0) or the excess of the primary series’ convergence frequency, 4, above its fundamental rate of vibration, 4 (1 = (¢)) 3; the 3 ' n'y NO. TSI VOL. 55 | law of dependence of the secondary on the primary series found to hold good ina number of line-spectra of the elements, by Prof. Schuster and Prof. Rydberg. But the form of the second series is a little different from that of the first, in that the coefficient of its second term is nine times instead of four times the fixed value of the firstterm. I regret that Iam not familiar enough with the measurements obtained, and with the very im- portant discussions that have been based upon them, to be able to say if any secondary series of this modified form, or of the similar 2 subaA ee LNs on fats higher forms, as 7’, = (3) AQ ( W with in the ranks of lines found by Kayser and Runge to accompany the chief, or leading ranks in so many of the spectra of the elements. But as a supposition which seems thus to present itself most prominently and invitingly for trial and consideration, I would yet venture to suggest that real or actual productions of secondary rays by differences of rates of vibration among primary rays, may perhaps occur in molecules in some such way as that recently expounded by Prof. Everett ! to account for the corresponding phenomenon of audition of diflerence-tones in acoustics without excluding those tones as purely subjective existences from a real place in physics. If the possibility of such secondary, differential light rays’ origination from primary vibrations in molecules is admissible, then this present description of their long secondary, tertiary and other higher ranks or scales of vibration-rates, may perhaps prove. means (with some transformations very possibly not quite in- explicable, in the least complicated cases) of comprising all the secondary ranks’ array of vibration-lrequencies, and the sur- prisingly exact law of numerical dependence shown so very certainly and clearly by Prof. Schuster to hold between the primary and secondary ranks’ terminal oscillation-rates, in one view of physical relationship together. A. S. HERSCHEL. Observatory House, Slough, January 9. ) ’ ), &c,, are met P.S.—The answer to this suggestion is, I see, supplied already by Prof. Schuster in his first letter on this newly-found relation- ship; for he has there noted (this vol., p. 201), that the above supposed successive differences, although their series, B yy is of the type A- —, only approach to, with- ae SG out exactly reproducing the set of frequencies of the subordinate If A= iB represents the lowest or ‘‘funda- 3 mental” rate of vibration, F, in all the primary line-series, and spectrum-series. et 18} ; ? : therefore = A - F the ‘‘conyergence frequency,” A’, common, 2 i by the observed law. to both the line-series subordinate to such a primary one, then whatever values, near 4, B may have been found to have in the chief series, the first of the above ideal series AB! and this does not correspond more than approximately, except in rays of frequencies very near to the ‘‘ convergence-value.”” of differences may easily be seen to be always A i ( Sailing Flight. ALL students of aerodynamics must be sorry to learn of the death of Herr Lilienthal, on August rr last. His loss is serious, as he evidently had the courage necessary to put these exceptionally dangerous experiments to practical test, which few care to do, and had thereby gained a large experience. I have just secured a Cyrus (Gras antigonz), 5 feet 2 inches in height. It weighs 16 pounds, and has a spread of wings 8 feet 8 inches. The primary feathers require 10 ounces each to bend them to the curve seen when the bird is soaring ; they are 17 inches long on the feathered portion, not all identical in size or strength, but their total comes so nearly to the weight of the bird, that it is obvious the primary feathers constitute the lifting mechanism. From the almost universal arrangement of the mode of sup- port in relation to the weight, as seen amongst birds, bats, and 1 Proceedings of the Physical Society of London, vol. xiv. p. 93; and Philosophical Magazine, March 1896. 272 fish, &c., I cannot help thinking that Lilienthal’s central and superposed aeroplanes were a mistake ; and that instead of that type, while the weight must be central, the sustaining aeroplanes should, like the birds, have great lateral extension. You will observe in the diagram that the wing planes can each be divided into two portions, having quite distinct functions. The outer extremities are the sustaining aeroplanes, marked by the arrows, while the inner portion of each wing, A to W, is that which assists the bird when it is alighting, by offering a fixed passive resistance to a fall when the speed is slackened down. W is the central weight. —— — faa rF : — = — ss Observe also that in the bird, the sustaining mechanism is so far structurally subdivided that the loss of a primary feather is not fatal to flight ; each primary lies, and acts, in a distinct plane, and has its attachment distinct from the others. Now, it seems to me that Mr. Maxim’s central aeroplane and twin screws, situated so far apart, are hardly a safe plan, for if accident happen to one screw, the other must at once stop, and the whole thing, zo/ens volens, come down. It is not like the twin-screw steamer, where the water sus- tains the hull, and progress by one screw is still possible. In the aerial ship translation is the support, and it only. In the bird, when sailing, we see no screw at work: the aeroplanes are there plain enough, lifting the 16-pound bird higher and higher as we watch it; but propeller there is none. This propulsion, as I before stated, must be got from an out- side source. The bird can only soar 27 a wznd, and then, to rise, must go in spirals, passing to leeward a little at each lap. Of course the wing planes are not horizontal, but inclined thus in passing round the centre of spiral C ; and there is necessarily great centripetal reaction at such a high speed of translation as fifty or sixty miles per hour. I think Mr. Maxim will find the bird arrangement of aero- planes to weight, and a central screw, the best and safest. Ifa large central overhead aeroplane is needed, it would be for safety in alighting only. S. E. PEAL. Sibsagar, Asam, December 13, 1896. OSMOTIC PRESSURE. N last week’s NaTuRR, Lord Rayleigh gave, for an tnvolatile liguid, a rigorous and clear proof of “the Central Theorem” of osmotics. But this theorem, though highly interesting in itself, is not, so faras I can see, useful as a guide for experiment. Consider for example the typical cases of sugar, and of common salt, dissolved in water. Tf water were absolutely non-volatile, the osmotic pres- sure of eachsolution against anideal semi-permeable mem- brane separating it from pure water, would, according to the theorem, be equal to the calculable pressure of the ideal gas of the dissolved substance supposed alone in the space occupied by the solution. Zhzs would be true whatever be the molecular grouping of the sugar or of the saltin the solution. It is believed that experiment has verified the theorem, extended to volatile solvents, as approximately true for sugar and several other sub- stances of organic origin, and of highly complex atomic NO. 1421, VOL. 55] WATRORE [ JANUARY 21, 1897 structure ; but has proved it to vastly under-estimate the osmotic pressure for common salt. and many other sub- stances of similarly simple composition. KELVIN. Belfast, January 19. ON OSMOTIC PRESSURE AGAINST AN IDEAL SEMI- PERMEABLE MEMBRANE.! To approach the subject of osmotic pressure against an ideal impermeable membrane by the easiest way, consider first a vessel filled with any particular fluid divided into two parts, A and B, by an ideal sur- face, MM. Let a certain number of individual mole- cules of the fluid in A, any one of which we shall call D (the dissolved substance), be endowed with the property that they cannot cross the surface M M (the semi-permeable membrane) ; but let them continue to be in other respects exactly similar to every other molecule of the fluid in A, and to all the mole- cules of the fluid in B, any one of which we shall call S (the solvent), each of which can freely cross the membrane. Suppose now the con- taining vessel and the dividing mem- brane all perfectly rigid.* Let the apparatus be left to itself for so long time that no further change is _per- ceptible in the progress towards final equilibrium of temperature and pres- sure. The pressures in A and B will be exactly the same as they would be with the same densities of the fluid if MM were perfectly imperme- able, and all the molecules of the fluid were homogeneous in all quali- ties ; and MM will be pressed on one side only, the side next A, with a force equal to the excess of the pressure in A above the pressure in B, and due solely to the impacts of D molecules striking it and rebounding from it. If now, for a moment, we suppose the fluid to be “perfect gas,” we should find the pressure on MM to be equal to that which would be produced ,by the D molecules if they were alone in the space A ; and this is, in fact, very approximately what the osmotic pres- sure would be with two ordinary gases at moderate pressures, one of which is confined to the space A by a membrane freely permeable by the other. On this supposition the number of the S molecules per unit bulk would be the same on the two sides of the membrane. And if, for example, there are 1000 S molecules to one D molecule in the space A, the pressure on the piston P would be too! times the osmotic pressure, and on Q 1000 times the osmotic pressure. But if the fluid be “liquid” on both sides of the membrane, we may annul the pressure on Q and reduce the pressure on P to equality with the osmotic pressure, by placing the apparatus under the receiver of an air-pump, or by pulling Q outwards with a force equal and opposite to the atmospheric pressure on it. When we do this, the annulment of the integral pressure of the liquid on the piston Q is effected through balancing by attraction, of pressure due SSS NNSA AAA : ; 1 Communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, January 18, by Lord Kelvin. 2 In the drawing, the vessel is represented by a cylinder closed at each end by a pistonito facilitate the consideration of what will happen if, instead of supposing it rigid, any arbitrary condition as to the pressures on the two sides of the membrane be imposed. January 21, 1897] NATURE 273 to impacts, between the molecules of the liquid S and the molecules of the solid piston Q. We are left abso- lutely without theoretical guide as to the resultant force due to the impacts of S molecules and D molecules striking the other piston, P, and rebounding from it, and their attractions upon its molecules ; andas to the numbers per unit volume of the S molecules on the two sides of MM, except that they are not generally equal. No molecular theory can, for sugar or common salt or alcohol, dissolved in water, tell us what is the true osmotic pressure against a membrane permeable to water only, without taking into account laws quite un- known to us at present regarding the three sets of mutual attractions or repulsions: (1) between the molecules of the dissolved substance ; (2) between the molecules of water ; (3) between the molecules of the dissolved sub- stance and the molecules of water. Hence the well- known statement, applying to solutions, Avogadro’s law for gases, has manifestly no theoretical foundation at present; even though for some solutions other than mineral salts dissolved in water, it may be found some- what approximately true, while for mineral salts dis- solved in water it is wildly far from the truth. The subject is full of interest, which is increased, not diminished, by eliminating from it fallacious theoretical views. Careful consideration of how much we can really learn with certainty from theory (of which one example is the relation between osmotic pressure and vapour pressure at any one temperature) is exceedingly valuable in guiding and assisting experimental efforts for the increase of knowledge. All chemists and physicists who occupy themselves with the “theory of solutions,” may well take to heart warnings, and leading views, and principles, admirably put before them by Fitzgerald in his Helmholtz Memorial Lecture (7vazs- actions of the Chemical Society, 1896) of January 1896 (pages 898-909). KELVIN. METHOD FOR MEASURING VAPOUR OF LIQUIDS.! Apparatus for realising the proposed method is re- presented in the accompanying diagram. Two Woolff’s bottles, each having a vertical glass tube fitted air- tight into one of its necks, contain the liquids the difference of whose vapour pressures is to be measured. Second necks of the two bottles are connected by a bent metal pipe, with a vertical branch for connection with an air pump, provided with three stopcocks, as indicated in the diagram. Each bottle has a third neck, projecting downwards through its bottom, stopped by a glass stop- cock which can be opened for the purpose of introducing or withdrawing liquid. The upper ends of the glass tubes are also connected by short india-rubber junctions witha bent metal pipe carrying a vertical branch for connection with an air-pump. This vertical branch is provided with a metal stopcock, To introduce the liquids, bring open vessels containing them into such positions below the bottles that the necks project downwards into them. Close the glass stopcocks of these lower necks, open all the other six stopcocks, and produce a slight exhaustion by a few strokes of the air- pump. Then, opening the glass stopcocks very slightly, allow the desired quantities of the liquids to enter, and close them again. They will not be opened again unless there is occasion to remove the whole or some part of the liquid from either bottle ; and, unless explicitly mentioned, will not be included among the stopcocks referred to in what follows. It will generally be convenient to make PRESSURES 1 “On a Differential Method for Measuring Differences of Vapour Pres- sures of Liquids at One Temperature and at Different Temperatures.” (Communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, January 18.) By Lord Kelvin, G.C.V.O.1. NO. 1421, VOL. 55] the quantities of the two liquids introduced such, that they stand at as nearly as may be the same levels in the two bottles, as indicated in the drawing. Operation No. 1.—Close the stopcock on the lower passage from the bottles to the air-pump (which, for brevity, we shall call the lower air-pump stopcock) ; and, with the other five stopcocks all open, work the air-pump till the liquid in one of the glass tubes rises to within a centimetre of the india-rubber collar round its top. > dung Hy Jo enmasou mars Operation No. 2.—Open the lower air-pump stopcock till the liquids fall down the tube, nearly down to hydro- static equilibriums in the bottles. Close it again, and work the air-pump till the liquid in one of the glass tubes rises to within a centimetre of the india-rubber collar. Operation No. 3.—Repeat operation No. 2 over and over again until you cannot, however long you go on pumping, get the liquid in either tube to rise within a centimetre of the india-rubber collar. Operation No. 4.—Continue Operation No. 3 until the 274 NALTORE [JANUARY 21, 1897 liquid that rises higher than the other stands steadily at a convenient marked point, when the air-pump is kept vigorously going, with the lower air-pump stopcock closed. This marked point may be perhaps a few centimetres below the india-rubber collar, so as to allow the liquid surface ofit to be conveniently seen through a wide glass cylinder containing hot or cold water around it, applied to fulfil the thermal conditions referred to in Operation No. 6. In these present circumstances the vapour pres- sure is practically equal throughout the upper bent tube, and the portions of the glass tubes between its ends and the liquid surfaces in the two glass tubes. Hence the more volatile of the two liquids is kept cool at its surface by rapid evaporation, and the less volatile liquid is kept warm by rapid condensation of vapour into it, so that, by flow of vapour through the bent tube, the difference of temperatures required to equalise the vapour pressures is very nearly maintained. Operation No 5.—Close the upper three stopcocks, both air-pump stopcocks being already closed, and the two lowest metal stopcocks open. Leave the apparatus to itself until the temperatures become equalised. The difference of levels of the liquids in the two glass tubes, with proper corrections for their densities and for the difference, if any, of levels of the liquid surfaces in the two bottles, measures accurately the difference of vapour pressure over them, at the temperature to which they become equalised. Operation No.6.—Open the upper air-pump stopcock, work the air-pump and open the stopcock over the top of one of the two liquids for a minute or two and close it again. Do the same for the other liquid. Allow tem- peratures to be equalised to what they were at the end of Op. 5. If any air or other foreign volatile substance! has escaped from either liquid along with its proper vapour, its level will be seen higher than it was at the end of Op.5. The present operation (No. 6) must be continued long enough to distil out of either, or both liquids, any such foreign ingredients if, when originally introduced, any such impurity was contained. Operation No. 7.—By proper thermal appliances, in- dicated by the dotted lines in the diagram, and the lamp under the upper bent metal tube (inserted merely as an indication that somehow the metal tube is to be always slightly warmer than the warmer of the two liquid sur- faces, in order that there may be no condensation of vapour in it), bring the upper surfaces of the liquids to any other temperature, or to two different temperatures. The difference of levels of the liquids in the two tubes, with proper correction for the densities of the two liquids at their actual temperatures in different parts of their columns, gives the difference of vapour pressures for the actual temperatures of the two liquids at their upper surfaces. Operation No. 8.—TYo facilitate and approximately determine the hydrostatic correction for specific gravities at the actual temperatures of the two liquids, open wide the stopcocks above the tops of the two glass tubes, and let a little air run back from the air-pump, by very cautiously and slightly opening our upper air-pump stop- cock, and closing it again before the lower of the two liquid surfaces reaches the lower end of its glass tube. After that, by cautiously opening and closing our lower air-pump stopcock, let in a little air to the bottles until the mean level of the liquids in the two columns rises to nearly the same level as it had in the measured positions of Op. 5 or Op. 6. In the present circumstances, air in the upper bent metal tube resists diffusion of vapour through it sufficiently to prevent any important difference of temperatures from being produced by evaporation and condensation at the two liquid surfaces, and there is 1 See Ostwald, ‘‘ Physico-Chemical Measurements,’ translated by Walker (Macmllian, 1892), last paragraph, page 112. NO! 1421, Vor 55 i] practically perfect hydrostatic equilibrium of equal liquid pressures at the tops of the two columns. The vapour pressure of water is accurately known through a very wide range of temperature from Reg- nault’s experiments ; hence, if pure water be taken for one of our two liquids, the mode of experiment described above determines the vapour pressure of the other liquid. The apparatus may be kept day after day with the same liquids in it (all the stopcocks to be closed, except when it is not in use for observations) ; and thus, the observa- tions for difference of vapour pressures may he repeated day after day ; or a long series of observations may very easily be made to determine vapour pressures at different temperatures. Always before commencing observations, Operation 6 must be repeated to remove air or other im- purity, if any air has leaked in, or if air or other foreign volatile impurity has escaped from dissolution in either liquid into the vapour space above it. KELVIN. RELATIVE TEMPERATURES IN GEISSLER TUBES. | the Physical Institute of the Berlin University, Mr. R. W. Wood has been making a series of experi- ments, most interesting to students of astrophysics, with the object of investigating the relative temperatures at different parts of the discharge in a Geissler tube, with special reference to the stratification phenomena. Wiede- mann and Hittorf, and also the theoretical calculations of Warburg, have shown that the temperature of the gas in the positive part of the discharge lies far below red heat, while that of the negative light, according to Hittorf, is at least below the melting-point of platinum. These observations are for the most part corroborated by the experiments of Mr. Wood, who has investigated in this case a fixed part of the discharge in an atmo- sphere of nitrogen under varying pressures and currents of different strengths. The results obtained by employ- ing hydrogen instead of nitrogen established the fact that, under similar-conditions of pressure and strength of current, the heating was only about 11 per cent. of that found in the former case. It was found difficult, however, to keep a steady current with this gas. Perhaps more interesting are the results which he has been able to procure by determining the relative tem- peratures of the different parts of the space between the anode and kathode. For this he has designed a neat and very simple means, by which the positions of the bolometer inside the vacuum tube might be varied at will without impairing in the least degree the vacuum. The description of this apparatus will be found in the article in which the results of his observations have been published (Physical Review, November- December 1896, xxi.). We may, however, mention that the bolometer wire—that is, the wire which was placed in the different positions between the two poles of the Geissler tube to indicate the varying temperatures of the different parts of the discharge—was here composed of platino-iridium, and bent in the form of a loop. Its exact position could at any moment be read off from a vertical scale. It was thus found possible to make a complete map of the temperature changes inside the vacuum tube. In the unstratified anode light the temperature was sometimes constant for the greater part of the column, rising to a maximum near the middle, and falling off as the dark space was approached. The maximum was always found when the light was on the point of strati- fying, and sometimes at higher pressures. The exact conditions, however, could not be determined ; but the extent of the anode light played an important part. JANuaRY 21, 1897 | NATURE 27.5 On nearing the dark space, a decrease of temperature was always observed. The temperature was found to drop very suddenly on leaving the anode light, reaching a minimum near the middle of the dark space ; a rapid rise to maximum occurred as the blue negative light was entered. Witha pressure sufficiently reduced to cause the appearance of stra¢ifications in the anode light, the maximum was always to be found in the middle of the column, the temperature rising as the anode was left behind, and falling after the middle of the column was passed. In addition, “there is a periodic rise and fall, the light discs being warmer than the dark spaces be- tween them, although one often finds a point where there is no change of temperature on passing from a light space to a dark.” This last-mentioned fact is explained on the ground that the increase in the steepness of the curve as the maximum is approached, masks the comparatively small decrease due to the passage from the light to the dark interspaces. One of the many diagrams he reproduces, shows the temperature fluctuations in the stratified discharge at a low pressure of o11 mm. The ordinates edges of these strata further act as if they “had an elastic skin or a sort of surface tension, bending in as the wire pushes against them, and finally snapping back to their original positions, leaving the wire well within the luminous disc.” Mr. Wood, commenting on the results, considers that the curves obtained with the movable bolometer indicate with considerable accuracy the relative temperatures in the different parts of the discharge. THE TOMB OF LOUIS PASTEUR. PEN account of the impressive ceremony with which the remains of Pasteur were laid in their last resting-place at the Pasteur Institute was given in these columns on December 31, 1896. We are indebted to the Lancet of January 9 for the following full description of the tomb, and for the accompanying illustration, which is reproduced from a fine picture of the mausoleum of the great French investigator. 2 The mausoleum is built at the end of a long corridor in the Institute, and is shut off by magnificent gates of wrought iron. increase for a rise in temperature, and the abscissz are longer the further the bolometer wire is away from the anode. The horizon of the diagram is taken as the temperature of the room, which in this case was 25°. Comparing the curve giving the fluctuations of the bolometer wire placed at points of different inten- sities throughout the tube (the latter being drawn parallel to the abscissa), many points of interest may be at once seen. Commencing at the anode, the curve on the whole is fairly horizontal, but rises wave fashion at every increase of lumin- Osity in the tube, dropping more or less suddenly as a dark space is entered. As ’ the kathode is approached, the bolometer wire enters the large dark space; the curve falls somewhat abruptly down for some distance, rising again rapidly as the kathode is approached. It may be stated that the maximum in the anode light is less predominant here than it is at higher pressures, owing to the smaller changes of temperature. The periodic change in the strati- fied anode light was made the subject of a detailed investigation, more points of reference being taken. These results were also plotted in the diagram just mentioned (larger scale). “The temperature is steady for a certain distance, then rises gradually to a maximum, situated in the brightest part of the disc, turns and drops suddenly as we pass out of the sharply defined edge of the disc. The differ- ence of temperature between the light and dark spaces varies from 05 to about 1°°5, depending on the degree of exhaustion and current strength.” Assuming the electrical energy is wholly connected with heat, the temperature curves indicate for Positive light ... Medium potential fall .. Medium temperature Dark space... Small af 3 eee AO, 3H Negative light ... Large H High a a result which, as Mr. Wood says, agrees with what is already known. Two incidental points of interest mentioned refer to the behaviour of the strata. The movement of the bolometer loop from one stratum to another appears, at some pressures, to draw the stratum through which it is passing into the one immediately below it, the two dissolving into one, and the place left thus vacant being filled up by a new stratum springing off the anode. The NO. 1421, VOL. 55] Before describing it, it is interesting to note that it was built’ by the Pasteur family, and Monsieur J. B. Pasteur, the son of the great savant, suggested as a model the well-known tomb of Galla Placidia at Ravenna, which he had visited in the course of his travels in Italy. This tomb was built about 440 by the Christian Empress Placidia, the daughter of Thedosius the Great. It is in the form of a Latin cross 49 feet long and 41 feet broad, and we may refer to it in some detail to show how it inspired the architect of Pasteur’s tomb, Monsieur Girault. The interior of Placidia’s tomb is covered by mosaics, on a blue ground. Above the entrance are garlands of fruit and foliage ; and in the dome the symbols of the Evangelists. In the four arches which support the dome are figures of eight apc »stles, and between them is seen the familiar representation in mosaics of doves drinking out of a vase. Under the vaulting of the right and left transept are the other apostles, and, between them, stags. drinking at a spring in the midst of golden foliage. There are also designs in mosaic of branches of vines ; and two subjects, full of grace and dignity, the chef-d’aucres of Christian art in the fifth century, the first representing the Good Shepherd with His sheep, and the second representing the triumph of the Christian faith. The altar is constructed of oriental onyx, and behind it is the large marble sarcophagus, which was at one time enriched with plates of silver. Turning now to the Pasteur mausoleum, we find the archway 276 NATURE [ JANUARY 21, 1897 over the gates decorated in mosaic with irises on a gold ground, and there is also the simple inscription—‘‘ 7c? vefose Pasteur,” and on either side of it the dates of his birth and death— 1822-1895. Passing through the gates, the crypt is approached by a flight of nine steps of white statuary marble. The pave- ment of the crypt is of marble mosaic, on which are represented large wreaths of laurel. The crypt is formed by four arches which support a cupola, and in the centre is placed the sar- cophagus, which is carved out of a single block of dark-green porphyry. The arches are supported on four groups each of three columns, two of green porphyry and one of red, with Byzantine capitals of white marble. The walls of the crypt are lined with pavonazza, a cream-coloured marble richly veined in black, and above it are beautifully executed mosaics. On the marble which fills the arches on the right and left are inscriptions indicating Pasteur’s discoveries in historical order as follows :— 1848. F 1871. Dyssymétrie Moléculaire. Etudes sur la Biere. 1857. 1877. Fermentations. Maladies Virulentes. 1862. 1880, Generations dites Spontanées. Virus Vaccins. : 1863. 1885. Etudes sur le Vin. Prophylaxie de la Rage. 1865. Maladies des Vers a soie. Beyond the sarcophagus is an apsidal chapel containing an altar of white marble enclosed by a balustrade of the same material. Above the staircase is the following inscription from the oration delivered at the reception of Pasteur into the Academy of Science : ‘‘ Heureux celui qui porte en soi un dieu, un idéal de beauté, et qui lui obéit—idéal de l'art, idéal de la science, idéal de la patrie, idéal des vertus de ’Evangile.” In the apse is another inscription containing the name of the architect and other interesting particulars: ‘*Ce monument fut élevé en MDCCCXCVI. a la mémoire de Pasteur par la piété de sa veuve et de ses enfants. Charles Louis Girault composa Varchitecture et la décoration; il dirigea les travaux. Luc Olivier Merson dessina les figures de la coupole. Auguste Guilbert Martin exécuta les mosaiques.” In the mosaics are representations of fowls, cattle, sheep, and dogs, indicating Pasteur’s researches on chicken cholera and attenuation of virus, on anthrax, on c/ave/ée or sheep pox, and on rabies. There are also beautiful designs of hops, vines, and mulberry trees with silkworms and moths, illustrating respec- tively his researches on the so-called diseases of beer and wine and on the silkworm disease. Pasteur was a devout Roman Catholic, and the religious side of his character is indicated in the mosaics by angelic figures of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Science, and, above the altar, by the figure of a dove descending, representing the Holy Spirit, and on either side the Greek letters A and 9. At the top of the cupola, light is admitted through slabs of oriental onyx. Such is the magnificent resting-place of Louis Pasteur, and it was a happy idea that this tomb should be placed where his successors carry on his great work, and where students from all parts of the world may be reminded of the example he set of a life of untiring devotion to science and humanity. NOTES. THE new Session of Parliament began on Tuesday. From the forecast of legislative business contained in the Queen’s Speech, it appears that the most stringent measures are being taken for the eradication of plague at Bombay and Karachi. Against this declaration attention may very well be called to foreign com- plaints of English apathy in the matter. Prof. Drasche, of Vienna, member of the Supreme Sanitary Council, complains that England has not shown the least interest in adopting any code of regulations for dealing with the plague and confining it within narrow limits ; and the Paris press are protesting against our carelessness and neglect of effective precautionary measures. Another item in the Queen’s Speech refers to education. A measure for the promotion of primary education will be brought NO. 1421, VOL. 55] in; and, if time permits, further proposals for educational legislation will be considered. A Bill for the establishment of a Board of Agriculture in Ireland will also be introduced. Pror. Dr. PAUL HARZER, Director of the Observatory at Gotha, has been appointed Director of the Observatory at Kiel, and professor of astronomy in the University there, in succession to the late Prof. Kriiger. The Gotha Observatory was founded at the beginning of thiscentury, and has numbered among its directors Encke, Hansen, Kriiger, Seeliger, and Becker, THE German Emperor and Empress visited the Polytechnic Institute at Charlottenberg on Tuesday in last week, and were present at a lecture delivered by Prof. Linde on the ‘‘ Lique- faction of Air.” His Majesty conferred upon Prof, Linde membership of the Second Class of the Order of the Crown. DuRING the nine months which have elapsed since the last public announcement, considerable progress has been made with the work of the Huxley Memorial Committee. The full- sized model for the statue, on which Mr. Onslow Ford, R.A., is engaged, is well advanced, and will shortly be completed ; and the Trustees of the British Museum of Natural History, at South Kensington, have accepted the offer of the statue itself, which will be executed in marble, and ultimately placed in the central hall of that institution, near the statue of Darwin. The design for the Royal College of Science medal has been obtained by prize competition among persons resident in Great Britain and Ireland, and the selection has fallen upon the design of Mr. L. Bowcher, who has produced a highly successful work of art, and is now engaged upon the dies. The amount promised and received is now about 2900/., over 600/. having been subscribed since progress was last reported in the public press. Subscrip- tion has been largely promoted by local institutions and scien- tific societies in various parts of the world. Bristol, Leeds, Leicester, Adelaide, Sydney, New Zealand, ‘and Calcutta have been conspicuous by their aid ; British Guiana, Cairo, the East Indies, and Mauritius have contributed ; and welcome support has been received from the United States of America, from France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland, Scandinavia, Italy, Portugal, Russia, and Servia, from Mexico and Peru, and from Arabia and Japan. Aid is expected from other centres, both at home and abroad ; and the nature of any additional memorial yet to be decided upon must largely depend upon the amount still to be subscribed. In con- sideration of the world-wide support which the memorial has received, it is hoped that it may be possible to secure a form of memorial in which persons of all nationalities shall participate. Donations may be sent to the Treasurer, Sir J. Lubbock, or the bankers, Messrs. Robarts, Lubbock, and Co. (15 Lombard Street, E.C.), or to the Hon. Secretary, Prof. G. B. Howes (Royal College of Science, South Kensington, S.W.). Tue New York Academy ot Medicine will celebrate the jubilee of its foundation on January 29. Sir W. Martin Conway will describe his expedition across Spitzbergen, on Monday next, January 25, at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society. Ir is with great regret that we announce the death on Sunday morning, January 10, of Kristian Bahnson, the distinguished ethnologist, of Copenhagen. He had accomplished much, and gave promise of valuable work in the future. THE Z%es correspondent at Teheran reports that a severe earthquake occurred at the island of Kishm, in the Persian Gulf, on January 11, causing enormous loss of life. January-21, 1897] THE University of Catana has been presented with the Island of Cyclops, off the coast of Sicily, by Signor Gravina. The island is only a kilometre in circumference, but its configuration is peculiar, and the centre is about one hundred metres above sea- level. It is proposed to construct upon the island a laboratory for investigations in zoology and pisciculture. THE scientific expedition organised by the German Govern- ment to study the economic and industrial conditions and possi- bilities in the Far East will probably start from Bremen on January 27, on board the North German Lloyd steamer Sachsen. The nature and scope of the investigations to be undertaken have been discussed and settled at a recent meeting at the Ministry of the Interior. Ar the twenty-fourth annual dinner of the Old Students of the Royal School of Mines, to take place on Tuesday, January 26, at 7 p.m., at the Criterion, the chairman will be Dr. T. K. Rose. Profs. Judd, Perry, Riicker, Tilden, Howes, Farmer, Roberts-Austen, and Le Neve Foster have promised to be present ; and amongst other guests may be mentioned Sir G. G. Stokes, Bart., Sir Frederick Abel, Bart., Mr. Windsor Richards ( President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers), and Dr. Hicks (President of the Geological Society). ON the 28th inst. Prof. James A. Ewing will commence, at the Society of Arts, a course of six Howard Lectures on ‘‘ The Mechanical Production of Cold.’”” The Howard Lectures were founded on a bequest by Thomas Howard, in 1872, who left a sum of money for a prize to the author of a treatise on ‘* Motive Power or its Applications.” The lectures are given at inter- vals, as the accumulations of the fund permit, and are afterwards published in book form. Courses have been delivered by Sir William Anderson, on ‘‘The Conversion of Heat into Useful Work,” and by Prof. Unwin, on ‘‘ The Development and Trans- mission of Power.” Tue Franklin Institute of Philadelphia announces the award of the following John Scott Legacy Medals and Premiums :— William S. Burroughs, of St. Louis, for his calculating machine ; Emile Berliner, of Washington, for his gramophone ;- Edward Brown, of Philadelphia, for improvements in pyrometers ; Dr. W. C. Rontgen, for his investigation of a new kind of rays ; Dr. Elisha Gray, for his telautograph ; Pedro G. Salom and Henry G. Morris, of Philadelphia, for their automobile vehicle. The Elliott-Cresson Medal has been awarded to Hamilton Y. Castner, of Oldbury, for his electrolytic process for caustic and bleach. THE International Exposition to be held at Brussels this year will comprise a Science Section divided into seven classes, viz. mathematics and astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology and geography, biology, anthropology and bibliography. Various advantages are offered to exhibitors, among them being space free of charge, and reduction of rates for the transport of the exhibits. In connection with this Exposition, the Belgium Government olfers prizes, amounting in the aggregate to twenty thousand francs, for the best solutions of a number of scientific problems, a list of which can be obtained from M. Van Overloop, 17 rue de la Presse, Bruxelles. Objects and memoirs in- tended for competition or exhibition should be sent in before the middle of April. WE regret to record the death of Dr. F. J. Mouat, formerly Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica, at Calcutta, and Chemical Examiner to the Government of India. He was a Fellow of a number of British learned Societies, and member of the Senate of Calcutta University. We also have to announce the deaths of Dr. W. Deecke, of Muhlhausen, one of the foremost authorities upon ancient Etruria and the NO. 1421, VOL. 55| NATURE | Dr. Theodore G. Wormley, 277 Etruscans; General Francis A. Walker, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Prof. W. H. Pancoast, President. of the Medico-Chirurgical College in Philadelphia : Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology in the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. F. Buka, Professor of Geometry in the Technical High School at Charlottenburg ; and Dr. Josef von Gerlach, Professor of Anatomy in the University of Erlangen. FOLLOWING the example of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Society of Civil Engineers of France has built itself a mag- nificent house, which was opened with great ceremony, on January 14, by the President of the French Republic. A large number of guests were present at the soirée, including representatives of the various French technical societies. The only English society represented was the Iron and Steel Institute, who sent Prof. Roberts-Austen. The new building, which is situated in the Rue Blanche, Paris, was designed by M. F. Delmas, and was erected in 262 days. It comprises in the basement engine- rooms and store-rooms, on the ground floor the meeting-room, on the first floor reception-rooms for the members, on the second floor the secretary’s offices and the council-room, and on the third floor the library. Access to the various floors is obtained by means of an electric lift. The meeting-room contains seats for 500 persons, and the floor is so arranged that it may be horizontal for receptions, or inclined so as to convert the room into an amphitheatre for the meetings. The floor weighs thirty tons, and its transformation from a horizontal to an inclined posi- tion is effected with great rapidity by means of hydraulic machinery. IN commemoration of Jenner’s discovery of the benefits of vaccination, a special meeting of the Russian National Health Society was held at St. Petersburg a few days ago, a large and distinguished company being present. A report of the meeting, and a description of the exhibition held in connection with it, appears in the current number of the Brzt7sh Medical Journal. The opening speech was made by the Grand Duke Paul, the Honorary President of the Society ; and addresses in praise of Jenner and his work were delivered by Dr. Kudrin, the acting President ; Prof. Lukianoff, the Director of the Imperial (Oldenburg) Institute of Experimental Medicine; and Dr. Kormillo. The results were announced of the competition for the prizes, which, it will be remembered, the Russian National Health Society offered for the best work on vaccination. Thirty-two essays were received, in various languages. The Society’s gold medal and 1000 roubles, which had been originally offered, was not awarded. A gold medal was given to Dr. Layer, of Bordeaux, for his essay in French, ‘A la mémoire d’Edouard Jenner” ; a gold medal to Dr. Miller, the Chief Physician to the Moscow Foundling Hospital ; a small gold medal to Dr. Glagolef; and silver medals to Dr. Delobel, and M. Kazet, veterinary surgeon. A SPECIAL telegram to the Dazly Chronicle announces that Mr. Fitzgerald and Zurbriggen, the Swiss guide, began to climb Mount Aconcagua, in the Andes, on Christmas Day. Ata height of 21,000 feet, Gussfeldt’s card, dated March 1883, was found in a tin box. The explorers had to descend to the valley for three days, but a second attempt was begun on December 30, and an altitude of 22,500 feet was reached on January 2. A third attempt toget to the top of Aconcagua was commenced a week later. The avéfe between the peaks, at a height of 23,000 feet, was reached on January 14. Mr. Fitzgerald then had to turn back, but Zurbriggen reached the summit, which is over 24,000 feet high. This is the greatest altitude yet attained by mountaineers. The following item of climbing history is abridged from an article in the Chronicle :—‘‘ The serious business began with De Saussure, and has been going on ever since. He wa 278 NATURE [JANUARY 21, 1897 soon followed by Humboldt, who climbed Chimborazo (19,000 feet) in 1802. The next climber to set foot on that mountain was Mr. Whymper, in the year 1880. The Jungfrau was first ascended in 1811, and the Finsteraarhorn in 1812. Swiss peaks have fallen one after the other—the Wetterhorn in 1854, Monte Rosa in 1855, and the Matterhorn in 1865. Mr. Freshfield scored the first great victory when he climbed Elbruz (18,526 feet) in 1868 ; but long before that Gerard had climbed to 19,410 feet on Porgyul in 1818. The highest climbs of later years have been those of Sir Martin Conway, who climbed Pioneer Peak in the Himalayas in 1892, and of Mr. Mummery and Mr. Hastings, who climbed to 21,000 feet on Nanga-Parbat. Dr. Gregory reached to about 16,000 feet on Mount Kenya in Central Africa (20,000 feet high), and Hans Meyer reached to 16,830 feet on Kilima N’jaro. In Asia there are four colossal mountains which still defy all efforts. Mount Everest (29,000 feet) still lies far beyond the reach of man. Dapsang (28,700) is almost equally inaccessible. Ta- garma (25,800) and Khan-Tengri (24,000) have yet to be scaled. Similarly, in Africa, the highest mountain is still a virgin; and though Mount Cook (12,349) has been climbed in New Zealand, Charles Louis (20,000) still remains unascended in New Guinea, and seems likely to remain so.” A TouCcH of real winter has been experienced over the British Islands during the last week, and the thermometer has in many places registered a lower reading than on any previous occasion since winter set in. Towards the close of last week, and especially on Friday and Saturday, snow fell very generally at many of the English stations, and on Saturday night there was a fairly heavy fall in the metropolis. The snow quickly dis- appeared from the more crowded parts of London, but it remained unthawed in the suburbs on Tuesday morning. The therniometer in the screen at night has registered 10° or 12° of frost in many parts of Great Britain, while the exposed thermometer, on the grass, has fallen several degrees lower. The type of weather over our Islands has become anticyclonic ; and if these con- ditions continue, a spell of settled cold weather will be experienced. THE two young naturalists of the University of Cambridge (Mr. J. Graham Kerr and Mr. J. S. Budgett), who left England in August last for the Chaco Boreal of Paraguay, in quest of specimens of the American Lung-fish (Lefidostren paradoxa), appear to have been very successful. Letters recently received from Mr. Kerr inform us that on arriving on the Upper Paraguay they found that there had been a mission station lately established in the Chaco, near the very spot where Lepidosiren was said to be most abundant. On arriving there the travellers were entertained on roast Lefzdosiren for supper the very first evening, and found that this queer fish was very common in the surrounding swamps. A large series of specimens and eggs in every stage of development has been obtained, and Messrs. Kerr and Budgett will shortly return home with their collection in order to work out the results, which promise to be of no little interest. A REUTER correspondent at St. Petersburg reports the arrival there of two Danish officers, MM. Oloufsen and Philipsen, on their return from a journey of exploration to the Pamir country, where they reached places hitherto untrodden by Europeans. They have brought back with them over 30c photographs of places they have visited and types they have met. During their travels they met, among others, tribes who are still fire- worshippers and totally uncivilised in their mode of life. It is said that the men of these tribes and even their animals are of very small size, the bulls and cows being no larger than a European foal, the donkeys about the size of a large dog, and NO. 1421, VOL. 55] The other the sheep about as large as a'small poodle. The use of money is unknown to them, and their only trade consists in the barter- ing of furs. Women are bought at the rate of five or six cows or fifteen sheep apiece. These natives are very timid, and on the approach of strangers take to flight. MM. Philipsen and Oloufsen have secured numerous scientific collections, which they intend presenting to the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen, and have also made interesting meteorological observations. In the course of their voyage they occasionally reached a height of 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. THE annual meeting of the Institution of Electrical Engineers was held on Thursday last, and Sir Henry Mance, C.I.E., suc- ceeded Dr. Hopkinson as President. The Institution has been in existence twenty-five years, and it now has three thousand mem- bers. Founded originally by electricians and telegraph men, it has adapted itself to modern requirements, with the result that it is now the oldest and largest society of electrical engineers in the world. In the course of his presidential address, Sir Henry Mance, who has been actively connected with submarine tele- graphy for the best part of his life, said that the earliest record of a subaqueous line is that of the experiment made by Baron Schilling, who, in 1812, exploded mines across the river Neva, using wire insulated with india-rubber. The earliest record at Somerset House of any submarine telegraph company is dated June 16, 1846, when the late Jacob Brett and Alexander Prince obtained a renewal of their provisional certificate of registration for the General Submarine and Oceanic Telegraph Company. The first concession connected with international submarine telegraphy was also granted to Jacob Brett in 1847, so that this year we may fairly be said to have reached the jubilee of the inception of international telegraphy. Sir Henry Mance said he had come to the conclusion that to no one individual could fairly be granted the credit of the inception and development of the submarine cable ; the work was the work of many. A DETERMINATION of the velocity of a flight of ducks, obtained by triangulation, was made at the Blue: Hill Meteoro- logical Observatory on December 8, and is described in Sezence by Mr. Helm Clayton, While engaged with Mr, S. P. Fer- gusson in measuring clouds, a number of ducks passed across the base-line, which is 2590°3 metres (8496 feet) in length. The observers succeeded in obtaining a simultaneous set of measure- ments on the apex of the flock, and one or two independent subsequent observations, and from these data the height of flights, as well as the velocity, was calculated. The height was 958 — feet above the lower station, which is situated in the yalley of the Neponset River, above which the ducks were flying. The velocity of flight calculated from this measurement of height, and from the angular velocity measured at the ends of the base- line is 47°S miles an hour. The wind was very light, having a velocity of only two miles an hour according to the automatic record made at Blue Hill Observatory, 615 feet above the valley station. The direction of the wind was from the north, and the ducks were flying from the north-east. A PAPER on “‘ The Monier System of Construction”’ was read by Mr. Walter Beer, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, on January 15. The system originated in the attempts of a Parisian florist, named Monier, to obtain large vessels of a material more durable than wood and lighter than concrete. The principle of the system is the combination of Portland-cement concrete with iron or steel insuch a manner as to developin the same material the high resistance, to compression and binding of the former, and the great tensile strength of the latter. It has been found that in such a combination the good qualities of both materials are retained, and no chemical action occurs between the iron and the moisture in the concrete. The latter adheres firmly to the January 21, 1897] smooth surface of the metal; and the coefficients of expansion of the two constituents are for all practical purposes identical. The economy of the system in the construction of girders and arches is considerable, owing to the great strength and compact- ness obtained, and. further, the material is absolutely fire-proof. Large spans may be used for floors, and the small amount of head-room required is a factor often of great value. The system can also be used in situations where brick and stone would be impossible. Ir is well known that air-currents containing either drops of water or fine dust in suspension give rise to electrification when- ever they impinge on a solid obstacle. M. P. de Heen, guided by the view that electricity, independently of all luminous phe- nomena, can produce photographic impressions, has tried the experiment of allowing a current of air, laden with Lycopodium powder, to fall on a sensitive plate, and the photograph thus obtained is reproduced in the Azd/eézn of the Belgian Academy. With an uncovered plate, a feeble but distinct impression was obtained after one and a half hours, but by using a covered plate a much more powerful impression was produced. The most remarkable feature is that where the covering has been broken away dark ramifications are seen extending some dis- tance into the covered portion, and these appear to follow the directions in which electricity has been propagated along the surface of the plate. In this connection attention may well be directed to the experiments described on p. 269 of this number of NATURE. THE relative transparency of the alkaline metals to Rontgen rays, forms the subject of a note by Prof. C. Marangoni in the December number of the A¢é2 det Lincez. The author draws the following conclusions: (1) The most transparent metal is lithium, and its transparency does not increase with the thick- relative to potassium would suggest that the transparency for these rays is a function of the atomic weight as well as of the | density. Ir is satisfactory to note that local fishery authorities are becoming increasingly interested in the scientific study of sea fisheries. The Northumberland Sea Fisheries Committee carried out in the summer of 1896 a series of trawling excursions in the bays of its district for the purpose of examining their condition and their productiveness, and a report on the results, drawn up by Mr. Alex. Meek, has been published. Mr. Meek is attached to the Durham College of Science at Newcastle-on- Tyne, and the more deliberate studies of the material collected were carried on in that institution. The report contains interesting details concerning the animals captured in trawl and tow-net, the pelagic eggs, and the food of the fishes. THE latest instalment of the ‘‘ Account of the Crustacea of Norway with short descriptions and figures ofall the species,” which Prof. G. O, Sars is publishing, forms the commencement of vol. ii., and of the description of the Isopoda. The general remarks on the Order only occupy three pages. The classifica- tion employed is that adopted by the author in 1882, the Order being divided into six tribes according to the characters of the first pair of legs, of the last pair of appendages (uropoda), and of the five pairs in front of the last (pleopoda). The first tribe, Chelifera, is distinguished by the fact that in its members the legs of the first pair are cheliform, that is, have prehensile claws. Twenty-six species in this tribe are de- scribed, and these are figured on sixteen autograph plates. In the last number of the Records of the Geological Survey of India, there is recorded a discovery by Dr. J. W. Evans, which adds another to the long list of geological resemblances between the peninsula and South Africa, and is also of some NO. 1421, VOL. 55 | NATURE ness ; (2) the anomaly of the greater transparency of sodium | valuable *work,jandsdesls wath the /Etypndcez: 279 economic importance. This is the sedimentary nature of the gold-bearing rocks of Mysore, Dr. Evans having proved that what had been regarded as a quartz vein is in reality a quartzite. THE following are among the lectures to be delivered at the Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Road, during February :— February 2, Mr. H. Bernard, on ‘‘ Scorpions and their Rela- tions”; February 9, Mr. R. A. Gregory, on ‘ Photography of the Heavens”’; February 23, Dr. J. W. Waghorn, ‘‘X and other Rays of Light.” THE fiftieth annual general meeting ot the Institution of Mechanical Engineers will be held on Thursday and Friday, February 4 and 5. On each occasion the chair will be take by the President, Mr. E. Windsor Richards. “Fourth Report to the Alloys Research Committee,” by Prof, W. C. Roberts-Austen, C.B., F.R.S. (Thursday) ; ‘‘ Partially Immersed Screw-Propellers for Canal Boats ; and the influence of Section of Waterway,” by Mr. Henry Barcroft (Friday) ; “* Mechanical Propulsion on Canals,” by Mr. Leslie S. Robinson, of London (Friday). THE first number for the current year of the Bzologisches Centralb/att contains the commencement of an important article, by Dr. T. Bokorny, on the organic nutrition of green plants, and its importance in nature. NuMBER I of vol. xxxii. of the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is devoted to contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Ilarvard University, of interest to students of the flora of the United States. Part xvil. of Dr. R. Braithwaite’s ‘‘ British Moss-Flora” has just been received. It commences Section 8 of this very The two re- maining families of Pleurocarpous mosses will be described in future parts. . We have received the Part for December 1896 of the Agricul- tural Students’ Gazette, edited by students at the Royal Agricul- tural College, Cirencester. It contains papers on coffee-planting in British Central Africa ; on clearing and preparing forest-land for cane in Queensland ; and on experiments on permanent grass on the Lydney Park Estate, Gloucestershire. Mr. STEPHEN MARRIOTT has sent us a little book of his, entitled ‘‘To Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Back” (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.). Though primarily of interest to intending emigrants, it contains much information worth reading ; and, in view of the visit of the British Association to Canada this year, should find readers in the scientific world. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two-Patas Monkeys (Cercopithecus patas, 5 2) from West Africa, presented by Mr. W. Loy ; a Prairie Marmot (Cynomys ludovicianus) from North America, presented by Mr. W. Hewlett ; two Kestrels (7zznculus alaudarius), British, presented by Miss Fanny D’Aeth; a Greater Black-backed Gull (Zarus marznus), British, presented by Mr. W. Theobald ; a Pardine Lizard (Acanthodactylus pardus), a Scutellated Lizard (Acanthodactylus scutellatus) feom Biskra, Algeria, presented by Mr. H. B. Hewetson; two Indian Pythons (Python molurus) from India, three West African Pythons (Python sebe), deposited. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Comet PERRINE 1896, DECEMBER 8.—In this column for December 31, 1896, we referred to the striking similarity between the elements of the comet discovered by Mr. Perrine on December 8, and those of the Biela comet. Dr. F. Risten- part finds, however (str. Nachr., No. 3396), that the resem- 280 NATURE [ JANUARY 21, 1897 blance between these two comets is greater than was at first supposed, the origin of the unsatisfactory large differences for the mean places having been found out. The elliptic elements, which he has now calculated, give us less reason, then, to doubt the probability of a connection between these two comets. Dr. Ristenpart compares his elements with those of comet Biela at the time of its appearance in 1852, but suggests that more observations must be used in the investigation before an accurate value of the eccentricity, and therefore of the period, can be obtained. The comparison is as follows :— Comet Perrine 1896. Comet Biela 1852. 7 Nov. 24°7433 B.M.T. ° ‘ “ ° ’ w 163 57 30 5) 223 17 Q 246 24 7°2/1897'0 245 51 2 13 50 4I°I 12 33 log g 0°046412 9°9348 loge 9843395 9°8784 Zi 3676 37526 U 7047 years 6°62 years DouBLeE Star MEASuRES.—Mr. R. G. Aitken communi- cates to the Astv, WMachr., No. 3395-6, his measurements of double stars during 1895-6 with the 12-inch and 36-inch equatorial telescopes of the Lick Observatory. The majority of the measures were made with the former instrument, but occasionally the 36-inch was used for any crucial test. The selection of objects was restricted ; no special search was made for new doubles, and great care was taken to determine the proper quadrant when two stars of nearly equal magnitude were being observed. In the micrometric measurements published, Mr. Aitken gives double weight for observations made with the 36-inch ;'the position angle is the mean of four or more settings, and the distance that of three double-distances. The following are some of his remarks on interesting doubles and questionable doubles :— O= 65 (Mag. 6°5, 7’0).—Certainly a physical pair, and the plane of the orbit appears to be in the-line of sight. Further measures are needed at short intervals. H VI to1 6 Tauri (Mag. 4'0, 9°0).—Distance appears to be slowly increasing. = 634 (Mag. 5°0, 8+).—Rectilinear motion. Stars are moving in nearly opposite diréctions. Distance in 1834 was 34”, in 1896, 14°75. H 1222.—Examined this star with the 36-inch powers to 1000. Star apparently single (1896°475). Conditions good, ‘‘ Strongly suspected close double” by H. Looked for by 8 in 1876 without success. Probably a mistake on the part of H. OX 269 (Mag. 6°5, 7°0).—Companion of this rapid binary has completed more than one revolution since the measures of OS. From measures down to 1891, 6 finds a period of 48-4 years. = 2026 (Mag. 8'9, 9:0).—Undoubted binary. Angular motion should now become more rapid. OZ 342. 72 Ophiuchi.—With 36-inch powers Apparently single (1896°488). Powers to 2600. certainty of elongation ” (1896°513). Measured as a close pair by O3 and others, but B has always found it single in the last twenty years. Probably the companion is an illusion. B 989 x Pegasi (Mag. 5°0, 5+).—Shortest period of any known binary 11°37 years. THE CANALS OF MArs.—We have received a communica- tion from Herr M. Teoperberg, of the Hague, in which he submits an explanation of the formation and doubling of the canals on Mars. The idea which he suggests is one that will scarcely recommend itself to astronomers, for, indeed, ove assumption cannot reasonably be admitted. The writer sup- poses a periodical downfall of snow to be the principal agent, taking the undoubted bands as the crests of anticlinals, the bases of which may be veiled from the observer by increase of absorption. Such a range, he says, presenting itself as a narrow band, will be doubled if the higher part of the crest be covered with snow. With the advance of the season the snow-covering will extend downwards on the slopes of the ridge, and its margin will at last dip into those strata which escape our observation: the bands will then be lost for a time, reappearing by the inverse process at the next change of season. As another instance of such combinations, he says, NO. 1421, VOL. 55] 1600, oe No “fa synclinal, filled up in winter with snow extending also, but in thinner layers, over the bordering ranges, will present a double band as soon as these more exposed ranges are laid bare by the melting of the snow in summer. They will then change into a single band when the central thicker mass of snow has melted away and replaced either by the dry valley ground or by a drowned 7ha/weg, these recalling the canals prop. dict., differ- ing, however, therefrom by a probably high situation and by the elevated ranges on the sides.’’ Sufficient, however, has been quoted to show that the writer must assume in his hypothesis innumerable ranges of mountains, the highest peaks of which must be singularly placed to give the effect of straight lines or arcs. It is true that horizontal sections of mountains become more simplified the greater the elevation, and that gaps of considerable magnitude would escape observation, but even then the mountainous conditions on Mars would be very extraordinary. If such were the case, the ‘‘flashings” would be very much more numerous than they are, and the colour phenomena would probably be different from what observations tell us. The hypothesis of ‘‘ vegetation’ seems still to be the most satisfactory explanation for these curious canal-like markings, although even this cannot satisfy all the observed phenomena. THE CLASSIFICATION OF MADREPORARIA. At present the classification of Madreporarian corals is ad- mitted to be in an unsatisfactory condition. =. «seen The Classification of Madreporaria. (///ustrated.) By Dr. Maria M. Ogilvie 5, Ge og 2D The Position and Work of the Central Technical Colleges. - .. . SiMe be oe ule 284 University and Educational Intelligence ..... 286 Societies and Academmesmemesys) 15 + - ») . «| seaeeon Diaryiof, Societies | aeEPpESier) © su. +... « up eeeeeoo Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... 288 THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1897. DARWIN AND DARWINISM. Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection. By Edward B. Poulton, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., &c., Hope Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford. Pp. 224. (London, Paris, and Melbourne : Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1896.) FTER the one-volume “Life and Letters” by Francis Darwin, and the admirable little book by maT URE Grant Allen in the “English Worthies” series, there | seemed to be little room for another English work upon the same subject; yet the present small volume is markedly original, and while following pretty: closely the general lines of the “ Life and Letters,” introduces much - new matter, and gives a fuller account of what may be termed the critical points of Darwin’s theories than are | to be found in any of the works here referred to. It is written in a thoroughly sympathetic, though impartial, | spirit; and without introducing any actual criticism, either of the views of Darwin or of his opponents (which would have been manifestly out of place in a popular work), it yet makes clear the differences of opinion that now exist astosome of Darwin’s most cherished theories, and, while briefly stating the main facts and hypotheses on both sides, leaves the reader in no doubt, both as to the exact nature and importance of the opposing views and the kind of evidence that is required in order to decide which is most in accordance with the facts of nature. The first seven chapters deal with Darwin’s life down to the year 1856, the facts of which are so widely known that they call for no special notice. Though much con- densed, they supply all the information needed by the general reader; and we will only quote the following estimate of character as due to heredity, which is very suggestive : “Tt appears probable that Charles Darwin’s unique power was largely due to inheritance of the imagination of his grandfather, combined with the acute observation of his father. Although he possessed an even larger share of both these qualities than his predecessors, it is probable that he owed more to their co-operation than to the high degree of their development.” While believing this estimate to be generally correct, it appears to the present writer that two other important factors have been usually overlooked—the solitude of the five years’ voyage and the persistent ill-health. During a very large portion of the five years*with the Beagle, Darwin must have been practically alone and thrown on his own mental resources, not only on the ship when all the officers would be engaged on their duties, but during his numerous land-journeys and excursions on shore; and this mental solitude of an active mind, furnished continually with new and interesting facts on which to exercise the imaginative and reasoning powers, led to the formation of those original and suggestive ideas which were the foundation of his greatness. Hardly less important was the almost continuous ill- health, which, while not preventing work or shortening life, obliged him to live in the country, free from the dis- NO. 1422, VOL. 55 | tractions of society, and where his active mind could only be satisfied by continual study and experiment. Without the solitude of the voyage the fundamental idea of natural selection might never have been attained ; with vigorous health that wonderful series of experimental observations in the quiet and solitude of Down, without which the “Origin of Species” would have lost much of its con- vincing power, would almost certainly not have been made. Chapters viii. to xii. are devoted to the relations be- tween Darwin and the present writer, about which nothing need be here said, except that they contain some new matter, and while too flattering to myself, appear to be quite accurate as to the facts. The next six chapters are devoted to a sketch of the writing and publication of the “ Origin,” and the influence of Darwin upon his more eminent friends and corre- spondents ; and of these chapters the most original and important is the eighteenth, on the “ Influence of Darwin upon Huxley.” Prof. Poulton here points out the mis- conceptions prevalent as to Huxley’s exact views, show- ing that the one and only point on which he considered the theory to fail in logical completeness was the absence of proof of infertility arising among the most divergent races of domestic animals, a difficulty which still exists, but which may possibly be set at rest by systematic and long-continued experiment. This difficulty, however, applies equally to all other theories; while, if the argument of the present writer is sound—that, under certain conditions which are frequently present, the variations in fertility which undoubtedly occur will be accumulated by natural selection, we not only have the general occurrence of infertility between allied species explained, but we also see why such infertility does not arise among varieties due to man’s selection, since he has never attempted to produce it. A more thorough examination of this problem seems, therefore, to be called for. Chapters xix. and xx. are devoted to an interesting exposition of the various misconceptions and misrepre- sentations of the theory of natural selection, which caused so much trouble and annoyance to Darwin, misconcep- tions which are still prevalent, as shown by Lord Salis- bury’s recent address, and by passages in Prof. Cope’s last book (see NATURE, vol. liii. p. 554). These chapters are therefore very opportune, and may do something to show the public that a large proportion of Darwin’s critics have not taken the trouble to understand the theory to which they take exception. The next two chapters are perhaps the most original and important in the volume, since they contain a very careful summary of Darwin’s celebrated theory of Pangenesis. To most of the readers of this work these chapters will be entirely new, and will give them in a very readable form some idea of the exceedingly varied and complex phenomena of “inheritance” which the theory was formed to explain. Among these are sexual and asexual reproduction, the complex phenomena of variability and inheritance, the diversity of embryonic changes during development of allied groups, the phenomena of graft-hybrids, the reproduction of lost parts, the sterility of hybrids, reversion to ancestral forms, and many others. Besides these there are the oO 290 NATURE [JANUARY 28, 1897 doubtful phenomena of the inheritance of the effects of use and disuse and of other acquired modifications of the individual by external conditions, which Darwin accepted as a fact, though he remarked upon it: ‘““ Nothing in the whole circuit of physiology is more wonderful.” Every one who reads this account of Pangenesis will feel admiration for its ingenuity, and surprise at the completeness with which it can be made to explain all the varied phenomena of inheritance, though some of these explanations seem more verbal than real. Readers will also understand the fundamental difference between this theory and that of Weismann ; and will see, that in order to decide which best explains the whole series of phenomena, the inheritance or non-inheritance of acquired characters, as a matter of fact, must first be settled. The difficulty of conceiving the actual operation of the theory of Pangenesis may be best illustrated by an ex- ample, Taking a bird, such as a peacock, the theory implies that not only every cell and fibre of bone, muscle, skin, and all internal organs gives off gemmules which all find their way into every one of the cells constituting the sperm or reproductive fluid, but that every one of the feathers also sends gemmules from each of the cells that build up its wonderfully complex structure, not only in the adult stage, but in the condition they assume in the young and adolescent birds ; and further, that every detail of varying colour of the barbs of these feathers send off their gemmules, and that all this inconceivable number of gemmules must travel through the whole structure of the quill, and through all the tissues of the body, till they reach the reproductive organs, and every one of these gemmules must reach all or most of the sperm-cells, failing which there would bea corresponding deficiency in the offspring. But as important deficiencies of feathers, or of colour on the various feathers, which produce the beautiful patterns and ornaments of a bird’s plumage only rarely occur, we must assume that the passage of the millions of gemmules from the ends of the feathers of a peacock’s train through the whole length of the shaft, and then to the sperm-cells, is almost always successfully accomplished. In addition to the enormous difficulty, on any theory, of conceiving the processes of growth and development of the complex parts of living organisms, we have, on this theory, an equal or greater difficulty in the reverse process, by which the gemmules from every cell get back again to the sperm and germ cells. Without asserting that this process is impossible or inconceivable, it is well to endeavour to realise what it really is and its almost incredible complexity. Prof. Poulton gives a brief account of the experiments made by Mr. Galton and the late Mr. Romanes to test the theory of Pangenesis, by the transfusion of blood and the transplantation of skin, from one variety of animal to another, and then breeding from the modified indi- viduals ; but in no case was any effect produced on the characters of the offspring. Though, perhaps, not quite conclusive, these experiments indicate that there is no such continuous transference of gemmules as the theory requires. The remaining three chapters deal with the descent of man and sexual selection, the various botanical works, NO. 1422, VOL. 55] and a series of hitherto unpublished letters to Prof. Meldola, chiefly interesting as illustrating Darwin’s kind- ness to all students of natural history, and the amount of trouble he took to be of use to them. On the whole, Prof. Poulton is to be congratulated on the production of so interesting a book, which in a wonderfully limited space gives a connected account of Darwin’s life and work, and especially of some portions of his theories which have been almost neglected by other writers. A good print,.from a photograph, of Darwin’s statue in the Natural History Museum, forms. the frontispiece of the volume. ALFRED R. WALLACE. LIFE OF BRIAN HOUGHTON HODGSON. Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson, British Resident at the Court of Nepal. By Sir William Wilson Hunter, K.C.S.1., M.A., LL.D. Pp. 389, 8vo. (London: John Murray, 1896.) N this charming volume Sir William Hunter has.com- piled a worthy memorial of one of the most famous of our Indian civilians, one of the very few who have been able to rise above the details of their daily work, and to take a real intellectual interest in the history or the science of the strange people and lands in which their life is cast. Born in 1809, young Hodgson, who had influential relatives, was in 1816 offered a nomination to the East India Company’s service, and entered Hailey- bury College, where all the civilians were then trained. Malthus was then Professor of Political Economy in the college, and happened to be an old college friend of an intimate friend of the Hodgsons. Advantage was taken of this to introduce the new scholar, and Malthus not only made him his guest during the first session, but remained throughout the lad’s college residence his con- stant friend. Henry Walter had also just joined the college as Professor of Chemistry and Natural History, and Sir James Mackintosh became Professor of Law two years afterwards. No doubt the future scholar and collector owed very much to the teaching of Malthus and Walter, and to the personal friendship of the former ; though the traces of their influence on any other of the collegians of the time are not conspicuous. In December 1817 Hodgson passed out of Haileybury as gold medallist and head of his term, and sailed in the following year, round the Cape, to Calcutta. Sir Charles D’Oyly, the Controller of Customs, a connection of Hodgson’s family, and a man of much artistic and literary culture, welcomed him, and made his house his home. Not only were the D’Oylys leaders in Calcutta society, but Sir Charles had only lately brought out a book on the antiquities of Dacca. And it was through the influence of Lady D’Oyly, a near connection of the Governor General's, that young Hodgson was shortly appointed assistant to the Commissioner of Kumaun—one of those appointments in the hills, then very few in number, reckoned among the prizes of the Service. Kumaun had only just been taken from Nepal by the English ; and the duties of the new Assistant consisted chiefly in helping to make a revenue settlement in the new province. The fine air of those lofty valleys soon January 28, 1897 } NATURE 291 restored his health, which had seriously suffered in Calcutta. Both his duties and his sport brought him into close contact with the people. But he was not to remain there long. In 1820 the Assistant-Resident at the Court of Nepal died, and Hodgson succeeded to the post. Two years afterwards he returned for a short time to the Secretariat in Calcutta, but in 1825 he was re- appointed to the Assistant-Residentship in Kathmandu. In 1833 he became the Resident, and remained in that appointment until he left the Service in 1843. The daily duties of such a Resident at an independent Court are, in quiet times, not onerous. But now and again, when in the never-ceasing struggles Bi ctace intrigue the anti-English feeling, naturally always exist- ing, comes to the front, the position of Resident becomes suddenly of importance ; his work becomes all-absorbing, | and constant demands are made upon his judgment, his tact, and even occasionally upon his personal bravery. Sir William Hunter is an excellent guide through the intricacies of the palace cabals, and sets out the dismal story of the deposition, exile, or murder of suc- cessive nominal rulers, and of the rise to power of the real rulers, the mayors of the palace, three out of four of whom came also to a violent end. Throughout these crises it was acknowledged on all hands (with one exception) that Hodgson conducted the necessary negotiations with wisdom, tact, and courage beyond praise. But that exception was the Governor General. When he was convinced, at last, that the Resident was acting less on the orders given than on his own view of the position, Lord Ellenborough dismissed him from his post, and offered him a minor appointment in Simla. This the sensitive spirit of Mr. Hodgson could not brook, and he resigned the Service in 1843. During his long service at Kathmandu the Resident had never lost an opportunity of adding to his wide knowledge of the history of the zoology of Nepal and Tibet. And when he was thus forced out of the Service, his name was already known and honoured throughout the world. Nepal had been for centuries an asylum for the Buddhism which had died out in its original home in the valley of the Ganges. There and there alone are to be found those Sanskrit Buddhist MSS. on which the Buddhism, not only of Nepal itself, but of Tibet and China, of Japan and the Korea, is based. No less than 423 of these otherwise inaccessible records of the Buddhist move- ment were either bought or copied by Hodgson, not for himself, but in order that, with a generosity as unequalled as was his intellectual ardour, they might be presented either to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, or to similar | learned bodies in England and France. So far as it was possible for one, not himself a Sanskrit scholar, to discuss or elucidate the problems of the history of the ancient faith of Buddhism, he endeavoured to do so, and spared neither trouble nor expense in gathering from the panics | of the Nepal capital such knowledge as they possessed. This he communicated, from his solitary outpost in the hills, to the Asiatic Society of Bengal ; and these results of his researches in what was then an almost unworked field aroused the enthusiastic appreciation of scholars throughout the world. He had hoped that the MSS. he presented would enable Sanskrit scholars to carry on, NO. 1422, VOL. 55] from the original sources, the researches he had thus begun from the mouths of living witnesses. In only one instance were his hopes realised. The MSS. he sent to Paris lured Eugéne Burnouf from his other pursuits, and led him to devote his genius and scholarship to those studies in early Buddhism which really laid the founda- tion of all we now know on the subject. (His first great work on Buddhism is dedicated to Hodgson.) Nearly half a century elapsed before even a catalogue appeared of the Hodgson MSS. in Calcutta, and that is an inaccurate and unsatisfactory work. The much better catalogue, entirely trustworthy, so far as it goes, of the Hodgson MSS. in the Royal Asiatic Society, had appeared a few years before. But no English scholar had worked at them. It is only in the last few years that they are beginning to be a little utilised, to be appreciated at their right value. Foreign scholars have devoted themselves to the work; and notably M. Senart in Paris has taken up, in a masterly manner, the work left unfinished by the premature death of Burnouf. So year after year the gratitude of historical students will go out in increasing measure to the enlightened generosity of the scholar who has provided for their use the largest body of original documents on Buddhism which, up to his time, had ever been gathered together either in Asia or in-Europe—documents whose very existence had been previously unknown. When he left the service, Hodgson, after a short stay in England, settled in Darjiling, and began then to take up seriously a quite different branch of historical inquiry in which he had also been always interested. This was the very complicated question of the non-Aryan races of the Himalayan valleys. He contributed numerous papers on the language, religion, customs, and social condition of these tribes to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. His work in this field of inquiry was not only that of a bold pioneer, who laid down with admirable judgment the right method of inquiry, but has also remained in most instances till to-day the best that has been done, and, with regard to almost all the tribes with which he dealt, it is the foundation of all subsequent work. As year by year the importance of the non-Aryan element in all questions relating, not only to the physique, but also to the history of the religious and social ideas of the Indian peoples, becomes more and more recognised, the value also of this branch of Hodgson’s researches has been more and more appreciated. It was fully acknowledged at the time by those most competent to judge, and he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Ethnological Society—a distinction then shared, amongst Englishmen, only by Darwin, Layard, and Rawlinson. Meanwhile, during the whole time of his residence in India, Hodgson never lost his interest in what was then called natural history. He wrote no less than eighty papers for scientific societies (mostly for the Bengal Asiatic Society) on the Himalayan mammals, and contri- buted more than any one else, except only Blyth and Jerdon, to our knowledge of the birds of India. Though his opportunities were confined to two of the smaller districts, he added fully a hundred good new species to the Avi-fauna of British India. “He trained Indian 292 artists,” says Hume (whose joint work with Marshall on the “Game Birds of India” is dedicated to Hodgson), “to paint birds with extreme accuracy from a scientific point of view; and under his careful supervision admir- able large scale pictures were produced, not only of all ~ these new species, but also of several hundred others, and in many cases of their nests and eggs also. These were continually accompanied by exact, life-size, pencil draw- ings of the bills, nasal orifices, legs, feet, and claws (the scutellation of the torso and toes being reproduced with photographic accuracy and minuteness), and of the arrangement of the feathers in crest, wing, and tails.” Unrivalled as a collector, Hodgson’s generosity with his specimens and drawings was equally unrivalled, and practically the whole of them were given to public libraries or scientific societies. : We would not have the appreciation which his bio- activity diminished by a single word. It is only strange that the marked absence of anything of the kind in other civilians should not have seemed to Sir William Hunter to call for any limitation of that exuberant optimism with which he regards the ways and works of every official (except Lord Ellenborough) that he has to mention. No doubt the results of the system of Indian government have been, from a-material point of view, encouraging. The members of the Service have developed administra- tive qualities of a high order. But is there nothing at all that is lacking? Is not intellectual alertness sometimes smothered undera mass of detail, and any really scholarly or scientific knowledge tabooed or discouraged as waste of time? And is not the best executive ability apt to strike cold when it wants the charm of intellectual sym- pathy? Nothing is more evident in this book than the way in which Brian Houghton Hodgson’s wide know- ledge and intellectual sympathy helped him in his official work, unless indeed it be the degree in which, in those qualities, he stood alone. We need not wonder that he received from the Indian Government none of those titular honours that were bestowed on many of his contemporaries, now forgotten. The biography is delightfully and lucidly written, and enriched by contributions from specialists in the various subjects dealt With in Hodgson’s works. The Charm of the narrative is such that the reader will probably find it only too short, And a word of acknowledgment must be given to the beauty of the illustrations, especially of the striking picture taken by Mrs. Hedgson, to whom the work is dedicated. OUR BOOK SHELF. Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, with an Intro- duction on Blowpipe Analysis. By G. J. Brush. Revised and enlarged by S. L. Penfield. Pp. vi + 208. (New York; Wiley. London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) THE manual of the veteran mineralogist, and present Director of the Sheffield Scientific School at New Haven, has been in constant use since 1874, and has passed through thirteen editions. The present volume is the beginning of a new and revised edition which has been NO. 1422, VOL. 55] NABORE & Se | actio [ JANuARY 28, 1897 undertaken by Prof. Penfield. The determinative tables, originally based upon von Kobell’s “ Tafeln zur Bestim- mung der Mineralien,” remain as they were in the thirteenth edition, but they are now preceded by four chapters on the qualitative analysis of minerals, which have been in great part re-written by Prof. Penfield. These chapters are, as might be expected from this able mineralogist, entirely excellent. The description of the apparatus and methods employed is most simple and clear, and is rendered attractive by numerous good illus- trations, which are in large part new. The book abounds in practical hints of the greatest value to a beginner. The course consists of a series of simple experiments so arranged as to illustrate the re- of the various elements, and many of these are designed to illustrate the dficu/ties which attend their use, and the risk of drawing erroneous conclusions, ¢.g. “The mistake is sometimes made of testing carbonates with acids which are too concentrated, as illustrated by the following experiment,” &c. ; or again, “In order to grapher has lavished upon his many-sided intellectual | S2OW that there is sometimes danger of overlooking a | small quantity of a carbonate, test as follows.’ The rarer elements are treated, as well as those which the student is more likely to encounter, and due regard is paid to newly-discovered reactions. Thus mention is made of the method of testing recommended by Haamel, in which the material is heated in the oxidising flame after being moistened with hydriodic acid, or tincture of iodine, as suggested by Wheeler and Luedeking ; and it is recommended that a plaster of Paris tablet should be used to collect the coloured sublimates produced. It is perhaps unfortunate that this method does not find a place in the summary of blowpipe and chemical reactions, which constitutes Chapter iv. The fundamental principles of qualitative analysis (e.g. the nature of the flame, and the action of charcoal) are more fully explained than in the preceding editions ; and for these and other reasons, the volume is a more satis- factory handbook for an elementary student than any with which we are acquainted. The new edition is to be completed by the revision of the determinative tables, and Prof. Penfield promises to add ‘to these a chapter on crystallography and the physical properties of minerals. It is, we think, to be regretted that the publishers have brought out the new edition in an incomplete state. Grundriss der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der Séugethiere. By Dr. Oscar Schultze. Erste Halfte. Pp. 177. (Leipzig: Engelmann, 1896.) THIS work, which is a revision of Prof. Koelliker’s book, is intended especially for students and_ practitioners. Although Dr. Schultze writes his descriptions of the various developmental processes in a concise manner, avoiding controverted and purely theoretical points as far as possible, still he has introduced into his book all the more recent important observations on mammalian embryology. The work appears to be throughout in all points quite up to date.. The well-chosen figures, which are numerous and nicely reproduced, are all taken from mammalian embryos, and it will doubtless be a satisfac- tion to a student of human embryology to find such illustrations instead of the oft-repeated figures of fowl, reptile, and even invertebrate embryos common in text- books on human development. Our present knowledge of the early stages of mammalian embryos quite justifies the omission of such figures in an account of mammalian development. Dr. Schultze has succeeded in making his history of the embryology of man and mammals hang well together. As the work is sure to be extensively used, it is to be hoped that an English translation will shortly be forthcoming. The second part is promised at the end of this year. January 28, 1897] NATURE -..< “ 293 LETTERS TO THE ELVITOR. (The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice is taken of anonymous communications.) The Oyster Question. Pror. THORPE’S allusion to myself in connection with oysters and their ways in a recent’ number of NaTuRE (p. 106) has reminded me that I also have something to say on the subject, a propos of the ‘Yellow Book” issued by the Local Govern- ment Board. First, I wish to state that several references to my work, made in that and other recent publications on oysters and disease} ought rather to be to the work of my colleague Prof. Boyce, or to our joint work. In conjunction with Prof. Boyce, I have published three notes on the subject, and the bacteriological parts of these have, naturally, been contributed by my colleague. The first note was read (and circulated) at the Ipswich meeting of the British Association in September 1895, the second was brought before _ the Liverpool Biological Society in January 1896, and was pub- lished that same month in the Annual Report of the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Laboratory for 1895, while the third was read (by Prof. Boyce) to Section I at the Liverpool meeting of the British Association last September, and reprints have since been circu- lated. The points that we believe we have demonstrated (I do not say that they were all new when announced—some were known, others suspected, some denied; but I think we have given definiteness to all) are as follows :— (1) The beneficial effect of free change of water round the oysters. (2) The deleterious effect of keeping the oysters in stagnant water. (3) The considerable toleration of sewage shown by the oyster, and its power of absorbing large quantities of faecal matter. (4) The great increase (e.g. from 10 colonies to 17,000 per sample) in the bacterial contents of the pallial cavity and of the rectum when the oyster is laid down in close proximity to the mouth of a drain. (5) The presence of more bacteria in the pallial cavity than in the alimentary canal of the oyster. (6) The fact that the typhoid bacillus does not flourish in sea twater. There is no initial or subsequent multiplication ; on the contrary, it seems to die off very rapidly as time in- creases after inoculation. ‘ (7) The fact that the typhoid bacillus does not multiply in the stomach or tissues of the oyster. (8) The presence of a “‘ pale green” disease, characterised by a leucocytosis, in certain oysters. (9) The fact that the dark blue-green colour of the Marennes oysters has nothing to do with copper. (10) The fact that perfectly fresh oysters contain fewer bacteria than those that have been stored or kept in shops. (11) The enormous number of the common colon bacillus present in very many oysters obtained from shops. (12) The possibility of getting rid of bacterial infection by placing the oyster in a stream of running water. There is a great diminution or total disappearance of the B. typhosus under these circumstances in from one to seven days. Perhaps it is on the last of these conclusions that Prof. Thorpe has founded his remark, that the oyster has confided to us its pre- ference for clean water. Whatever it may frefer, Dr. Bulstrode has abundantly demonstrated in his report, that the oyster is not always found in clean water; and the practical conclusion of all these investigations and reports ought to be the enforcement of the two sanitary measures which Prof. Boyce and I recommended a year ago, viz. ‘‘(1) the strict examination of all grounds upon which oysters are grown or bedded, so as to ensure their freedom from sewage, and (2) if practicable, the use of “ dégorgeoirs” in which the oysters should be placed for a short time before they are sent to the consumer” ? (“‘ Rep. Lanc. Sea-Fish. Lab.” 1895, p. 72). 1 This letter was written before the Christmas vacation, but has been de- layed by examination and other engagements. 2 Probably the most satisfactory method for all concerned—producers, customers, and sanitary authorities—would be to have all oyster beds, parks, layings and ponds inspected and “ licensed,"’ and to have no oysters ex- posed for sale except such as come from a certified locality. NO. 1422, VOL. 55] ; common with the dark blue-green of yl am interested to see that Dr. Bulstrode (in the Local Government Board Report) independently corroborates our discovery of a pale green disease in some relaid oysters in this country. This is especially important, since Dr. Carazzi, of Spezia (whose results differ from those of most other investi« gators of molluscan structure and physiology), in a recently published paper, has doubted the existence of this green disease —probably becausé he has never met with it. He has drawn his conclusions mainly from the normal green Marennes oyster. We distinctly stated that’ the pale green disease had nothing in the ‘‘huitres de Marennes,” and that we regarded the latter as being healthy and normal. Ii is evident, then, that there are several distinct kinds of greenness in oysters. All recent investigators are agreed (except, possibly, Dr. Carazzi—I cannot venture to answer for him) that the green colour of the Marennes oyster has nothing to do with copper. Prof. Boyce and I have shown, and Dr. Bulstrode supports it, that the green of the (¢.g. Fleetwood) re- laid American oyster is due to a disease or leucocytosis,, while now Prof. Thorpe tells us that (as was originally supposed, and then doubted) the greenness of the Falmouth oyster is really due to copper. W. A. HERDMAN, Liverpool, January 9, 1897. P.S.—In connection with the correspondence which has taken place in NaTuRE, since Prof. Thorpe’s article, I am glad to be able to add my testimony to that of Dr. Cartwright Wood and others as to the purity and healthy state of the Pyfleet oyster. I have visited the locality, have seen the oysters dredged up, and have examined (both biologically and gastronomically) many specimens, with entirely satisfactory results. The Symbols of Applied Algebra. I am glad to see that attention is being forcibly drawn to the value and importance of considering the symbols in physical equations as primarily denoting quantities, and not mere numerical multiples of some unincluded standards. The latter mode of considering them, though often practically convenient, is entirely subsidiary, and a deduction from the primary equa- tions between the quantities themselves. The equation w = mg is a special case of Newton’s second law ; it represents a fact of nature, and has nothing to do with systems of units. It ds true in any units :—e.¢. 981 dynes = I gramme weight = I gramme-mass x 32°18 ft./(sec.)”. The curious discussion about so simple an equation is kept up by those who wish to make all equations numerical only. Todo this they must have a system of standards or units which them- selves satisfy the equation. The numerical coefficients will then also satisfy the same equation, and the standards or units may be cancelled or omitted. The metric system has acquired the desired units by the invention of the dyne; and to do the same for the British system requires one of three alternatives :— (1) To take as unit of mass 32°18 Ibs. or (say) a ‘‘ perry,” instead of 1 lb. ; (2) to take (32°18 ft. /(sec. )”) as unit acceleration ; or (3) to employ a special unit of force, based directly upon Newton's second law, and upon the pound, the foot, and the second. Any of these conventions will serve: they are only needed for arithmetical interpretation of the equation, and, of them, the last is, on the whole, the simplest for general application, be- sides being in accordance with the universally adopted metric convention. ALFRED LODGE. Coopers Hill, January 18. as connecting the D weight, volume, and specific gravity of a body. Does he seriously suggest that this is ‘‘independent of every system of units”? Surely it requires that the unit. of weight should be the weight of unit volume of the standard substance. Would he give this formula to a student who measured forces in poundals ? ny bt The formula neatly illustrates the objection to the poundal. The C.G.S. system is theoretically perfect; the system in which the pound is the unit of force is, no doubt, theoretically objectionable, but is practically extensively used. Pror. LopGE gives the formula s = 294 4 Ji\ rs WI OM Sg am [ JANUARY 28, 1897 The “* poundal” system is equally objectionable theoretically / ( witness Prof. Lodge’s formula s = >) and is not in practical z use. Then why introduce it? C. S, JACKSON. Conductorless X-Ray Bulbs and Tubes, In October 1896 (NATURE, vol. liv. p. 594), a description was given by me of an exhausted bulb used in conjunction with a Tesla coil which gave X-rays and its photographic effects. Since these experiments I have found other phenomena, which throw some light on the relative positions of the con- ductor carrying the oscillations and the greenish fluorescence within the bulb or tube. The relationship is shown in the following diagrams :— (1) A B is the conductor, with its axis parallel with ox, carrying the oscillating current of the Tesla secondary coil ; SS the exhausted sphere, F D Ea ring of greenish fluorescence, the plane of the ring being at right angles to the axis of the conductor AB. The X-ray effects were strongest at D, a point in OY furthest from the conductor AB. The limits of the position of the edges of the fluorescence were easily traced by means of a minute fluorescent screen, placed at the end of a vulcanite tube, furnished with a cup-shaped end to cover the eye. Fic. 1. When the sphere was rolled, or moved parallel with itself along the length of the conductor, the plane of the glow-ring, DE, kept its original position and moved perpendicular to the conductor. I have not been able to obtain the effects from an oretnaty induction coil giving an 8 cm. spark only with the Tesla coil. An exhausted tube was next placed within an open coil carry- ing the Tesla oscillations ; the following beautiful effects were produced. AB, exhausted tube ; CCC, the spiral conductor; DDD, the glow in the form of a spiral within the tube. When the glass tube was about 4 mm. internal diameter, and the conductor, a gutta-percha covered copper wire, touched the glass, the spiral glow was very bright, and the glass became warm. Fic. 2. If a cross section be made through the tube and wire at right angles to the axis of the tube, a point in the glow is situated 180° from a point in the conductor, the section of the axis, the central point, being taken as the origin. The Tesla spark in air was 5 mm. long, and the coil formed a part of the spark circuit. Oxford, January 14. FREDERICK J. SMITH. Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates. IN reply to the request of Mr. J. I’Anson for a reference to any former observations on the interesting effects described in your current number, he will find in the B.A. Report for 1888, and more fully in the Phzlosophical Magazine for December of that year, an account of the phenomenon as observed by the present writer, using cut-out patterns of tinfoil as conductors. This action of electrified conductors in contact with the photo- NO. 1422, VOL. 55] grap}yic film was subsequently employed in a refined way by Rey. 1°. J. Smith, in making very beautiful and interesting prints from electrotype and other printing blocks. His results were shown at a conversazione of the Royal Society on May 10, 1893. My own paper was chiefly occupied with a description of the figures produced by allowing sparks from an induction coil to play in various ways over photographic plates; and now that induction coils have become so much more widely distributed, it seems worth while to again draw attention to the exceedingly beautiful and interesting effects easily produced in this way. A very fine set of prints from similar spark traces was exhibited by Mr. A. A. C. Swinton, at the Royal Society’s conversazione cal 1892. J. Brown. Belfast, January 22. The Problem of the Sense Qualities. (1) In his very friendly notice of my ‘‘ Outline of Psychology * (NaruRE, December 10, 1896), Mr. W. E. Johnson points out what he takes to be a fallacy underlying the calculation of the number of possible sensation qualities in that and other text- books. I believe with Mr. Johnson that the qualitative series is in many cases (not all: cf taste, e.g.) continuous. But I do not think that this makes the calculation of distinguishable qualities fallacious. Mr. Johnson's argument is briefly as follows :—Let A BC D be stimuli of the same physical continuum (e.g., wave-lehgths), whose values are such that the sense qualities corresponding to A and D are just noticeably different. Then we have :— Stimulus Bec ee sae A B Cc D Sensation ag ao wae a [4] [e] ad; and the syllogism runs :— a is not d, bis a, “.@ is not d. But by hypothesis, @ is 4, being indistinguishable from it. Hence to make difference = distinguishableness in calculation leads to a logical fallacy. If now it were a case of diversity in logical predicate zs. identity in experience, the psychologist would be found to decide in favour of experience. But I think that the whole syllogism is erroneous. Asa matter of fact, going from left to right, we have the series :— Stimulus ae ae a0 A B (C D Sensation ua a ond a a a ad and, going from right to left, the series : Stimulus A ras aS A B (E) D Sensation ber a ae a a th d from which the only conclusions are :— Some a is not d, Someaisd,... z.é., two particular propositions. It is of the very essence of the just noticeable difference that it is cognised under certam conditions, and not under all. So far, then, the fallacy turns out to be imaginary. There are no sensations 4 and c, qualitatively distinct from a@ ord. Nor can there be, whatever value of stimulus be taken as starting- point for the determination. An observer working with stimuli BCODE.... would get the sensation series d6e7m... which would be qualitatively indistinguishable from the series EAU oe a Calculation of qualities by arithmetical progression pre- supposes, of course, a constancy (found as in tones, or calculated as in colours) of the adsolute difference limen. Weber's law holds only of sensation intensities, which I expressly decline to calculate (p. 70). There is one qualitative series in which a uniformity resembling Weber’s law obtains: the black-white series. But this series isin many respects anomalous, its qualities seeming to have the function of visual intensity ; and neither its physiology nor its psychology is at present very satisfactory. (For the calculation of the number of brightness qualities, see Prof. K6nig’s paper, Ebbinghaus’ Zed/schrift, vol. viii. pp. 377 ff.) (2) Mr. Johnson further objects to my analysis of the process word January 28, 1897 ] NATURE 295 of comparison. If I had said only what he quotes me as saying, his criticism would have been justified. As it is, I say (in the same context) ;— ““Verbal association and judgment are, in themselves, com- paratively simple processes ; but when the word associated or predicated is a fully formed concept, we realise that the sim- plicity of form is deceptive, that much mental elaboration lies behind.” “Likeness” and “difference” are concepts, and have con- ceptual significance. I devote a section to the formation of con- cepts in general (pp. 294 ff.). It is not, however, the duty of Psychology, but of Anthropological Psychology, to show the genesis of particular concepts (pp. 292, 300). I was concerned simply with the process of comparison as introspection reveals it in the adult mind, not with its logical or genetic aspects. : E. B. TITCHENER. (1) As regards the difficulty involved in counting sensation qualities, the point of difference between Prof. Titchener and myself is subtle, but philosophically interesting. we may both admit that the question cannot be settled by considerations of purely formal logic. In fact, Prof. Titchener’s two premisses logically lead to the conclusion that ‘*One sensation a zs not the same as another sensa- tion a, although the two are, ex Ayfothest, indistinguish- able.” The question between us is as to the interpretation of the relation ‘*not the same as”’ in this connection. My conten- tion is that the ove and the o/her sensation differ—not merely numerically or extrinsically—but qualitatively or intrinsically. Since the one sensation a is distinguishable from @, and the other sensation @ is not distinguishable from @, it seems to me that this difference between them cannot be referred to merely extrinsic conditions, but must depend on a sensationally qualitative differ- ence in the sensation-qualities themselves. (2) If I have unintentionally misrepresented Prof. Titchener’s views on the process of comparison, I should be glad to take this opportunity of making amendment by quoting a passage from p. 299, which seems to me sound :—‘‘ In every association two ideas are brought into connection. When the connection itself has become the object of attention, when, z.ec. we have formed an idea of connection, as distinct from the ideas which are connected, we speak of it as a ve/afton.” If this passage is applied to the relation of likeness or difference apprehended in the process of comparison, I have no ground of dispute with Prof. Titchener. Only in this case I fail to see how any sig- nificance or importance can be attached to the phrase ‘‘ verbal association ” employed in describing the process of comparison. W. E. JOHNSON. Durham Degrees in Science, AMONG the official notices of the University of Durham, I | find it recorded that, on Tuesday, December 15, six gentlemen received the degree 6f Master in Science 4y vole of Convocation. The degree of Master in Science has in the past been purely a merit degree. previously taken the degree of Bachelor in Science, who were of, at least, two years’ standing, and who succeeded in passing an additional examination in some branch of one of the scientific subjects professed at the University. The degree was, in fact, until to-day, an authoritative statement that the holder was not only a specialist in his particular subject, but also that he had received that sound University training in science and general knowledge of which the Bachelor in Science degree is a proof. This has now been changed. The degree has been granted merely ‘‘by vote of Convocation” for no specified cause. Before December 15, it was evidence of merit of a particular kind. Now itis not. Apart from other considerations, this is a great hardship upon many other graduates in science. Grouped together in the list of Masters in Science are those who have gained the honour by their scientific attainments, and those who have received it for non-specified reasons by vote of Convocation. Such a radical change in the nature of a degree deserves public notice, and this must be my apology for troubling you with this letter. X. January 1897. NO. 1422, VOL. 55] I think | It was conferred only upon those who had | NOTE ON METHOD SUGGESTED FOR MEASURING VAPOUR PRESSURES. HE distillation of vapour from one of the vertical tubes to the other, referred to at the end of Opera- tion No, 4, in my communication published in last week’s NATURE (p. 373), may be wholly got quit of by the following simplified mode of procedure. _ Operate first on one only of the liquids until it is got into equilibrium, with its upper level at any convenient marked point in its glass tube, and nothing but its own —> dwny bi ----- - - e - fa a de dt ee oe ead fase a vapour between this surface and the closed stopcock immediately above it ; the upper-neck stopcock over the bottle for this liquid being also closed. Operate similarly on the other liquid ; and close both the air-pump stopcocks, so that now we have all the stopcocks closed. Open now very gradually the upper-neck stopcocks of the two bottles. While doing so, prevent the liquid from rising in either tube above the marked point by working the air-pump and very slightly opening the lower air-pump stopcock. When both the upper-neck 1 See NATURE, Pp. 274. 2 96 WaALORE [JANUARY 28, 1897 stopcocks are wide open, any adjustment that is con- sidered desirable for the level of the liquid standing higher than the other in its glass tube, may be deliberately made by drawing out or letting in a little air through the lower air-pump stopcock. Either or both liquids may be thoroughly stirred at any time to ensure homogeneousness by alternately exhaust- ing and letting in air to the bottle or bottles by means of the air-pump and the lower air-pump stopcock, the upper three stopcocks being kept closed. Operation No. 6 of my article on the subject, in last week’s NATURE (p. 274), must be performed as often as is found necessary. Every one of the stopcocks must be kept closed except when it is open for operation or observation. The metal tube connecting the upper necks of the two bottles must be long enough, or of fine enough bore, to prevent diffusion of vapour to any sensible extent from either bottle to the other during the time of an observ- ation. It ought to be kept at a temperature somewhat higher than that of the bottles, to prevent any liquid from condensing as dew on its inner surface. KELVIN. Glasgow, January 23. THE GRAVITATION CONSTANT AND THE MEAN DENSITY OF THE EARTH. ips the year 1884, Prof. Dr. Franz Richarz and Dr. Otto Krigar-Menzel commenced a series of experi- ments having for their object an accurate determination of the values for the constant of gravitation and the earth’s mean density. The work divided itself naturally into two parts, and the results of the first series of weighings were communicated to the Berlin Academy of Sciences in March 1893. Since that time the second series has been concluded, and the main results of the whole investigation are summed up briefly in the same society's S7/zunegsberichte for November 1896, the authors leaving the publication of the full account, containing the details of the measurements, for a future period. The instrument with which the measurements were made was a kind of double-balance having two pans on each side of the beam, one above the other, connected in the vertical direction by a thin rod 226 centimetres long. The point of this arrangement was that the acceleration due to gravity on the two lower pans was greater than that on the upper one, in consequence of the difference of level. The first day’s weighing consisted in de- termining the difference in weight of two practically equal spheres, one being placed in the upper pan on one side of the arm of the balance, and the other in the lower pan on the opposite side. Gauss’ system of double weighing was employed throughout, the masses being changed from one side to the other. The measured difference was therefore due to two sources—to the inequality of the masses weighed, and to the difference of the force of gravity. The procedure for the second day was to change the positions of the masses being weighed ; this consisted in placing the sphere that was in the upper pan in the lower one on the same side of the arm, and in putting that on the other side of the beam in the upper pan: a second series of weighings was then made. Such a series of measurements as these was included in the work recorded in the first publication. It was found that the measured difference was not the same on the two days, for although the difference in weight of the masses always remained the same, the difference in the value of gravity, due to the virtual displacement of the masses, altered its sign. By sub- tracting these differences for each day’s work, the mass- difference was entirely eliminated, and there only re- mained that between the two values of gravity due to the two heights of the scale-pan. NO. 1422, VOL. 55] In the second part of the work, for obtaining the mean density of the earth, a large cubic block of lead, having a mass of 100,000 kilograms, was used. This was sup- ported firmly on massive pillars under the upper and above the lower scale-pans, the connecting-rods of the latter passing through holes in the block. The presence of this great attracting mass had the effect of apparently increasing and decreasing the value of gravity acting on the spheres in the pans according to their position—that is, according as they were in an upper ora lower pan. In the system of arrangement adopted—namely, that of placing the spheres in an upper and lower pan on op- posite sides of the fulcrum—the acceleration of gravity in the upward direction was lessened by double the amount of the attraction of this great mass of lead. By connect- ing to two days’ weighings, instead of double the dimi- nution of the value of gravity with the height, the result was lessened by four times the attraction of the block of lead. A combination of the results obtained, both with and without the leaden cube, gave the fourfold attraction of the leaden cube free from the variations of gravity. Very elaborate precautions were taken to eliminate effects of air currents, changes of temperature, &c., and these seem to have been fairly overcome both practically and theoretically. Itis also needless to state that the number of weighings made was very considerable. The value thus finally deduced for the constant of gravitation was G = (Gib85)-F 0°01) 1055 ———— gr. sec.* Using this value, the mean density of the earth obtained was as follows :— = Yee : gr. A = (5°505 + 0009) aa This value, as will be seen from a perusal of the following table, falls between those found by Poynting and Boys :— Mean density of Observer. Method. edith: Cavendish Torsion balance 5°45 Reich... Re 5°49 and 5°58 Baily © <.. eae a ” 5°67 Cornu and Baill at oF 5°56 and 5°50 Ph. von Jolly Long-arm balance... 5 °692 J. Wilsing Pendulum apparatus 5°594 The same with elimina- tion of known sources > 5°577 of error cor J. H. Poynting... Balance «=» StaoRe - a {Improved torsion \ _, C. V. Boys ee Tance j; 5°5279 Richarz d Krigar- Sai itedeiel ane is a | Double balance 57505 - TUBES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF RONTGEN wal VAS. ANY and various are the forms of the bulbs and tubes employed for the production of Rontgen rays, as may be seen from the designs that are repre- sented in the accompanying illustration from La Nadure. Different experimenters favour different tubes, and believe that the forms they use possess advantages over all others. Up to the present, however, it may be said that three processes are utilised in the production of Réntgen rays. There is (1) the old form of Crookes’ tube, in which the kathode rays impinge directly upon the glass or screen in front of the kathode ; (2) the form of tube in which the kathode rays fall upon, and are reflected by the anode ; and (3) the tubes in which both direct and reflected rays are utilised. In the accompanying illustration, the first “January 28, 1897 | “method is exemplified by Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 26, 28, 32 ; the second system, by the adoption of which instantaneous Réntgen photo- graphy became possible, is adopted in the tubes numbered 5, 8, 9, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30; and the third principle is illustrated by Nos. 19, 22, 31. The Crookes’ tube, represented by No. 1, is very well known, and is still used for Réntgen photography on the continent. represents a form of tube used when the movement of the kathode stream by a magnet is desired, so that the rays can be made to impinge upon different parts of the glass. In No. 3, the concave kathode is brought very near to the glass, so that its focus is really outside. No. 4 shows a tube with a kathode which can be revolved in a plane at right angles to its own face. No. 5 has two kathodes, and the rays from them are reflected from a platinum anode. In No. 6 the anode is formed of an aluminium disc, which is traversed by the kathode rays ; but the advantages of this form are not very clear. Two kathode streams are utilised in No. 7. The form of tube which workers in this country findygives the best results, is represented in No. 8, and is known as the “focus” tube, or tube of Jackson pattern. In this the kathode rays fall upon, and are reflected by, a platinum mirror which forms the anode. No. 9 has two anodes, one of NATURE 297 is constructed so that the platinum cone which forms the anode, reflects the rays from four kathodes placed around a circumference, and kept in action by as many coils. A tube, useful for showing the place of origin of active rays, is shown in No. 26. The next (No. 27) has two anodes and two kathodes ; the two kathode streams are | reflected from the anodes, and, meeting one another, are No. 2 | given additional power. No. 28 resembles No. ro, but it has the defect that it rapidly becomes heated. In No. 29 the kathode is formed of an annular aluminium plate, the rays from which strike upon the central platinum them a hollow platinum cone which reflects the kathode rays. The tube shown in No. 10 is especially suitable for use with currents of high frequency ; it is uni-polar, and has an external anode. No. 11 has pointed poles, either of which may be the kathode. The tube No. 12 has a platinum kathode, covered on its convex side by a glass insulator so as to reduce the loss of radiation. No. 13 is found to give good effects on fluorescent screens. No. 14 is for use with currents of high fre- quency, and has only one pole in the tube. No. 15 is a useful form of tube, one of its advantages being that two photographs can be taken at the same time by the reflection of the rays from the kathode on either side. In the tube represented by No. 16, a circular disc forms the kathode, and at its centre is set a hollow cone of platinum as an anode. No. 17 represents a form of tube for the invest- igation of the action of kathode rays upon a substance. The end of the cylinder is made so that substances can be introduced into the tube. Another kathodic cylinder is shown in No. 18 ; the kathode is situated at the place usually occupied by the anode, the latter pole being at the top. No. 19 combines the actions of both the’ direct and reflected rays. The kathode passes through a concave anode of platinum, and all the rays emitted by it are utilised either directly or after reflection. A cylinder employed at the commencement of _work with kathode rays is shown in No. 20; a good point about it is that the poles are some distance apart, so there is little fear of sparking outside the tube. A cylinder with an interchange- able window opposite, the kathode is represented in “No. 21. A tube with two anodes (No. 22) is designed ‘on the principle of the reflection of the kathode rays, the kathode being placed centrally inside a reflecting anode. Another bi-anodic form is the large bulb shown in No. 23. The next figure (No. 24) has slips of aluminium as poles, and either of them may form the kathode. No. 25 NO. 1422, VOL. 55 | |_ Fic. 1.—Korms of tube used for the production of kathode and X-rays. 1, 2, Crookes’ tube ; 3, Séguy tube ; 4, Wood tube ; 5, Séguy tube; 6, Chabaud and Hurmuzescu tube; 7, Séguy tube; 8, “Focus” tube; 9, Séguy tube; fo, d’Arsonyal tube 5 11, Séguy tube; 12, Puluj tube; 13, Séguy tube; rq, d Arsonval tube; 15, Le Roux tube; 16, 17, 18, Séguy tubes; 19, Rufz tube; 20, Crookes’ tube ; 21, 22, 23, Séguy tubes; 24, Rontgen tube; 25, Brunet-Séguy tube ; 26, 27, Le Roux tubes ; 28, Colardeau tube; 29, Séguy tube; 30, Colardeau tube; 31, Séguy tube; 32, Réntgen tube. Se cone and are concentrated to a point by reflection. No. 30 is designed to show the effect of the reflection of kathode rays in a space as small as possible. The tube has an electrode of palladium. The tube No. 31 1s very good for use with fluorescent screens, the kathode rays being reflected from a large anodic surface, with the result that the phosphorescent area of the glass is exceptionally great. The.tube shown in No. 32 represents the first form used by Prof. Ro6ntgen. 298 NATURE [JANuARY 28, 1897 RUSSIAN OBSERVATIONS OF THE CORONA OF AUGUST 4, 1896. I HAVE for many years been a reader of your honour- able and interesting journal of science, NATURE. | beg you to accept for it the accompanying picture of the solar corona, as I had the opportunity to see it on August 9, 1896, in Sii-Kavuopio (on the Upper Muanio, in Lappania), where I went last summer as a member of the Lappanian Solar Eclipse Expedition of the Russian Astronomical Society. ’ This photograph is the reproduction of a drawing care- fully made by myself on the same scale for the Astro- nomical Society, and in which I tried to combine all the details of ten corona-photographs, which our expedition were successful in obtaining, the instruments used being— - A 7-inch refractor (object-glass “ Merz”). A 4inch camera (object-glass ‘“ Ross”). A 2-inch camera (object-glass “ Steinheil”). Combined with the pictures obtained by these is the general impression of the corona, as seen with the eyes, during fine and calm weather and very transparent air. NICOLAS KAULBARS, Lieutenant-General, and Chief of Staff of the Finland Military District. NOTES. Ar the last meeting of the Chemical Society it was announced that Mr. J. J. Tustin had made a donation of one thousand guineas to the Research Fund of the Society. M. Friuor has been elected a member of the Section of Anatomy and Zoology of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession to the late M. Sappey. THE Paris Academy of Sciences has been invited to send re- presentatives to the International Congress of Naval Engineers and Architects, to be held in London next July. Efforts are being made to ensure that the forthcoming meeting in London NO. 1422, VOL. 55] shall be as brilliant and generous in hospitality as the last one held in Paris. THe German Emperor is always ready to recognise deserving He has just conferred the Order of the Crown on Dr. Hauchecorne, the Director of the Prussian Geological Survey and of the Berlin School of Mines, and the Order of the Red Eagle on Dr. Hampe, the eminent Professor of Chemistry at the Clausthal School of Mines, and on Dr. Loretz, of the Prussian Geological Survey. work in science. Pror. CHARLES D. WatLcorTt, Director of the United States Geological Survey, reports to the Secretary of the Interior the existence of an enormous gold belt in Alaska. An expedition sent out by the Survey in May last, investigated the valley of the Yukon River, from the British boundary to the mouth of the river. All the well-known placer deposits were examined, and the origin of the gold in them was found to be the quartz veins along the head-waters of the various streams entering the The length of the gold belt in Alaska is 300 miles, entering that territory near the mouth of Forty-Mile Creek, and Yukon, extending westward along the Yukon valley at the Ramparts. M. FAYE, whose contributions to astronomy and meteorology are of world-wide renown, was elected a Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences in January, 1847. In honour of his jubilee, at the meeting of the Academy on Monday, M. Chatin, the new President, delivered an eloquent tribute to a life devoted to the advancement of science, and enumerated his most notable achievements. At the close he presented M. Faye with a gold medal representing the astronomer’s effigy surrounded by an inscription affirming the pride of his colleagues in his friendship, and their admiration for his work. We learn from the 7%wes that at a dinner at the Grand Hotel on Monday evening, pre- sided over by M. Jannsen, M. Faye received from General Billot, Minister of War, the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, bestowed upon him by special decree of the President M. Rambaud, Minister of Education, was also present, and among those who spoke were M. Loewy, Director of the Paris Observatory, and General Toulza, of the Ecole of the Republic. January 28, 1897] NATURE 299 Polytechnique. M. Faye’s numerous friends and pupils at this school offered him a group in bronze. M. Faye was the favourite pupil of Arago, and is now eighty-three years of age. _Inconnection withthe International Committee of Aeronautics, the second ascent of sounding balloons will take place on Monday next, February 1, at If a.m., local time, at each station parti- cipating in the work. The balloons are fitted with instruments for registering temperature and altitude, and have an ascending force more than five times greater than that due to the total weight. Any one who should happen to witness the descent of one of the balloons should carefully look after the records, and send them to the office of the derophile, 14 rue des grands Carrieres, Paris. Ir will be of interest to botanists and zoologists throughout the world, to learn that a biological survey of Alabama has been organised and put into operation. The survey will be carried on under the auspices of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, and will be manned by the specialists engaged at that institution in the various lines of biological investigation. It will have for its object the study, in field and laboratory, of all plants and animals occurring in the State, and of the various conditions affecting them. The work will be done systematically and thoroughly, and all the results published. Ina region so interesting and little worked as this portion of the Southern United States, careful and extended research will be sure to yield results of the greatest value. Large quantities of material in all groups of plants, and of animals (especially insects) will be col- lected and properly prepared. In connection with the survey there has been founded an Exchange Bureau, from which will be distributed all duplicate material. Any one desiring to correspond relative to specimens, literature, or the work of the survey, should address, ‘‘ Alabama Biological Survey, Auburn, Alabama.” At the General Horticultural Exhibition to be held in Hamburg from May to September in the present year, there will be a scientific department, managed by a committee, of which Dr. Zacharias and Dr. Klebahn are members. Ex- hibitions are invited and prizes offered in the following special subjects: (1) Diseases of cultivated plants produced by mechanical causes, or by conditions of atmosphere or soil; (2) animal and vegetable enemies of horticulture and fruit-growing; (3) animal and vegetable friends of horticulture ; (4) abnormalities and sports ; (5) comparative experiments on manures ; (6) wild ancestral forms of cultivated plants ; (7) living exotic useful plants in pots ; (8) collections of the most important exotic useful plants (dried specimens), or of prepara- tions from them ; (9) collections of plants, or parts of plants, from morphological or biological points of view; (10) results of scientific experiments on pollination ; (11) scientific aid to horticulture—implements, tables, models, &c. intended exhibits should be sent to the Director of the Botanic Garden, Hamburg, before March 1. MM. Cornu has been elected President of the Botanical Society of France for the current year. Tue Annual Meeting of the German Botanical Association will be held this year in Frankfurt-a-Main, commencing on September 22, A BorantcaL Museum has been established at Weimar, at the sole cost of Prof. Haussknecht. It is designed to be ‘‘a Central Institution for investigations in systematic botany,” and will be under the control of the Thuringian Botanical Union. A VIOLENT earthquake is reported to have occurred in the district of Delvino, in Epirus. Several villages are stated to have been destroyed, and it is feared that there has been serious loss of life. NO. 1422, VOL. 55 | Information of | | THE death is announced of Mr. T. Gwyn Elger, well known by his numerous contributions to selenography, both in the form of drawings and notes of the principal features of the lunar sur- face. Mr. Elger became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1871, and was in his sixtieth year at the time of his death. WE notice with regret the announcement of the death of Dr- Edward Ballard, author of many papers and works on medical and scientific subjects. Dr. Ballard was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1889. He was eminently distinguished as an investigator of causes of disease, and as a promoter of scientific sanitary administration. Among numerous other works, he pub- lished a valuable paper ‘* On the influence of weather and season on public health, based on the statistical study of 272,000 cases of sickness (1857-68).” He was also the author of many im- portant reports to the Local Government Board on particular outbreaks of disease, local, or more or less general. Towarpbs the end of last year, George Daniel Eduard Weyer, the Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at the Kiel University, passed away. Prof. Weyer was a great favourite among the students, and was as well known among the officers of the Merchant Service of Germany as he was among those of the Royal Navy. Onaccount of his astronomical) calling, he was familiarly known as ‘‘alte Seni,” and every one loved him—from Admiral to Lieutenant—for nearly all of then had been his pupils at some time or other, and this was how they expressed their familiarity for their old teacher. A brief sum- mary of the positions Prof. Weyer held during his lifetime will serve, perhaps, to show how he eventually became so closely connected with the Navy. Born at Hamburg in the year 1818, he spent four years (1839-43) at the Hamburg Observatory. For the next two years he studied astronomy and mathematics in Berlin, From 1847-50 he was assistant at the Hamburg Observatory, and teacher at the School of Navigation in con- nection with the observatory. When the School for Naval Cadets was established in Kiel, Weyer accepted a position there. In 1852 he was a ‘‘Privatdocent” at the University, and was made ‘‘ Ordentliche” Professor in 1869. His connection with the Navy may be said to have now begun. In 1864 he was the Examiner in Navigation for the Prussian Navy, and lectured for | more than twenty years at the Marine-Akademie in Kiel. Weyer was the author of many works, most of which related to nautical astronomy, and his aim throughout was directed to the improvement of the methods of determination of position at sea. His death will be felt by all his friends and pupils, for he was widely known, and last, but not least, by nautical science, which loses a faithful student. ‘* Mein Sohn, nichts in der Welt ist unbedeutend, Das erste aber und Hauptsachlichste Beim allem ird'schen Ding ist Ort und Stunde.” a (Seni in Wallenstein's Tod, 1. Part.) For the last month (says the 7%es) the Colonial Office, the Natal and Cape Governments, and the Board of Agriculture have been in communication as to the best means of preventing the cattle plague in South Africa from spreading into either Natal or the Cape Colony. Various inquiries have been made as to what steps should be taken, and on Thursday last, at the Board of Agriculture, a special conference of heads of depart- ments concerned was held to consult together on the subject. The chief officials concerned of the Board of Agriculture and the Colonial Office met the Agents-General of Natal and the Cape Colonyand other Cape authorities. Further meetings will be held on the subject, and it is contemplated that the Govern- ment will sanction every effort to save the colonies of Natal and the Cape from rinderpest. SINCE the plague was officially recognised in the Bombay mortality returns on September 26, and despite the decrease in 300 x NATURE [JANUARY 28, 1897 the population, 9835 deaths have occurred in excess of the These are attributed by the Continental Governments are average for the last five years. Times of India to the plague. showing great activity in regard to precautionary measures. The Austrian Academy of Science has decided to despatch three medical men to Bombay to study the circumstances connected with the prevailing epidemic. A special sanitary mission, sent by the Medical Board and accompanied by the French delegate, has left Suez for the quarantine stations on the coast of the Sinai Peninsula, in order to determine what measures are neces- sary to assure the immunity of Egypt from contagion. The Times correspondent at St. Petersburg states that the Russian newspapers continue to complain of the British Govern- ment for delaying to take measures against the spread of the plague. ‘To secure the safety of Russia’s Asiatic possessions, the Minister of the Interior has issued instructions for the opening of fourteen stations of medical observation along the land frontiers of Persia, Afghanistan, and Chinese Kashgar. = 137°93 5 soluble starch in 2°5 to 4°5 per cent. solutions has, at 15°5°, [a], = 202'0°.—On the relation of the specific rotatory and cupric reducing powers of the products of starch-hydrolysis by diastase, by H. T. Brown, G. H. Morris, and J. H. Millar. The authors have established a definite relation between the specific rotation and the cupric reducing power of the products of starch-hydrolysis by diastase, which holds within very narrow limits.—The action of hydrogen peroxide and other oxidising agents on cobaltous salts in presence of alkali bicarbonates, by R. G. Durrant. Cobaltous solutions are turned green by hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorite, bromine, chlorine, or ozone in presence of alkali bicarbonates ; the green colour is dependent on the production of a cobaltic salt and on the presence of carbonic anhydride.—Electrical conductivity of diethylam- monium chloride in aqueous alcohol, by J. Walker and F. J. Hambly.—Formation of substituted oxytriazoles from phenyl- semicarbazide, by G. Young and H. Annable. Substituted oxytriazoles are obtained when mixtures of phenylsemicarbazide with benzaldehyde, meta- or para-nitrobenzaldehyde. metatoluic aldehyde, terephthalic aldehyde, or cinnamic aldehyde are oxidised, — a-Bromocamphorsulpholactone, by C. Revis and F. S. Kipping. Under certain conditions an a-bromocamphor- sulpholactone, Cy )HygBrSOs, is formed during the sulphonation of a-bromocamphor.—Dimethylketohexamethylene, by F. S. Kipping.—The localisation of deliquescence in chloral hydrate crystals, by W. J. Pope. Great differences have been observed between the speeds of deliquescence of the various forms present on crystals of chloral hydrate.—Enantiomorphism, by W. J. Pope and F. S. Kipping. A preponderance of either right- or left-handed crystals of sodium chlorate is deposited on crystallis- ing the material from aqueous solutions containing various optically actiye substances. Linnean Society, December 17, 1896.—Dr. A. Giinther. F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Messrs. James Green and J. H. Gardiner exhibited a series of sciagraphs of British batra- chians and reptiles in which the details of the skeleton were very January 28, 1897] NATURE 311 sharply defined, and its relation to the external outline well shown. These sciagraphs, as well as those of a series of mollusca also exhibited, were taken with a Crookes’ tube of the ordinary focus pattern actuated by a powerful induction-coil giving $-inch sparks, and the prints in every case were made from untouched negatives. Prof. Howes offered some remarks on the series of batrachians and reptiles, and Mr. B. B. Woodward commented upon the details of structure which were made apparent in the sciagraphs of mollusca.—Mr. J. E. Harting exhibited a supposed hybrid between the common brown hare (Zepus témédus) and the Irish hare (Lepzs varzabilis) recently obtained in Carnarvon- shire, where the latter species had been introduced in 1878. He compared the specimen in question with examples of both the above-named species, and contrasted their distinguishing pecu- liarities, pointing out the intermediate characters exhibited by the supposed hybrid. His remarks were criticised by the President, who thought that too much stress should not be laid upon external appearance and colour; that the question of hybridity should rather be determined by comparing the relative measurements of the leg-bones; and that the Irish hare should be compared in detail with the hare of Southern Europe (Z. mertdionalis or mediterraneus). Prof. Howes drew attention to Nathusius’s observations upon the Peyer’s patches of the leporines, and pointed to the necessity for examination of the viscera. Mr. Barrett Hamilton, who was present as a visitor, was inclined to regard the supposed hybrid asan example of the ordinary brown hare turhing white in winter, hitherto unnoticed in this country. Mr. Thomas Christy inquired what position the so-called Belgian hare or leporine occupied in relation to the question of hybridity ; and was answered that the popular notion of that animal being a hybrid between hare and rabbit was fallacious, since it was nothing more than an over- grown tame rabbit coloured like a hare.—Mr. B. B. Woodward gave a demonstration, illustrated with lantern-slides, of M. F. Bernard’s researches into the development of the hinge of bivalve shells.—On behalf of Dr. A. J. Ewart, a paper was read in continuation of one previously communicated by him and entitled ‘‘ Further Observations on Assimilatory Inhibition.” — Mr. W. C. Worsdell gave the chief facts of a paper dealing with the development of the ovule of CAréstzsonza, a genus of the Orobanchez. Referring to Prof. Koch’s detailed account of the development of the ovule of Ovobanche he remarked that Christzsonia as a parasitic plant was of such interest and differed so much in its vegetative structure from Ovobanche, that it seemed to be worth while to record the facts of its embryological development. A brief description of the vegetative parts of the plant was then given. ment of the embryo-sac and the embryo. This was shown to follow essentially the same lines as in Orodanche. Finally, it was pointed out that in a great many plants the vegetative and the reproductive organs have not always, by any means, a parallel development. A striking instance of this was to be seen in Christésonta. The paper was criticised by Dr. D. IH. Scott, who testified to the importance and interest of some of the facts established —On behalf of Dr. L. O. Howard, entomologist to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a paper was read on the Chalcididze of the Island of Grenada, West Indies. This paper, communicated by Mr. F. D. Godman, F.R.S , dealt with the Chalcididze collected by Mr. H. H. Smith, under the auspices of the British Association Committee for investigating the fauna and flora of the West Indian Islands. The collection consisted of from 600 to 700 specimens, and comprised six new genera and seventy-two new species, which were described. The geo- graphical relationships of the group were discussed. Geological Society, January 6.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—On the structure of the skull of a Pliosaur, by C. W. Andrews. The paper deals with a specimen of the Plesiosaurian known as Péosauryus ferox, Sauvage, ob- tained by Mr. A. N. Leeds from the Oxford clay near Peter- borough, and now in the British Museum, and perhaps the finest Pliosaur skull known. The author gavea detailed descrip- tion of the skull which formed the subject of the paper.—On the Pembroke earthquakes of August 1892, and November 1893, by Dr. Charles Davison. In the part of the paper referring to the origin of these earthquakes and their connection with faults, the author pointed out the possible value of the study of earthquakes in supplementing geological surveys. For more than fifty years prior to the earthquakes of 1892-93, there appear to have been no slips of importance along the fault-system of the area. After this prolonged interval of repose, the earlier NO. 1422, VOL. 55 | The author also described the develop- | movements took place’ along transverse (north and _ south) faults, and the later along longitudinal (east and west) ones. The three faults of the latter series, which the author connected with the disturbances, lie successively one to the north of the other, as if the abrupt displacement of a rock-mass over one thrust-plane impelled the advance of those immediately below. There can be little doubt that the fault-slips of 1892 affected the conditions of stress along the neighbouring transverse fault, so that the displacements along it occurred earlier than they might otherwise have done. In the discussion that followed the read- ing of the paper, the President said that the author’s inquiries into the relationship between earthquakes and faults were of great interest. It was well known that the older rocks in Pem- brokeshire have been much crushed and broken, and that thrust- faults of great magnitude occurred there. The Rev. J. F. Blake remarked upon the apparent absence of any signs of disturbance on the surface. If these earthquakes were due to slips, it was strange that none of them should yield this evidence. In the cases previously described by the author the principal evidence was the association with well-known faults, which might be lines of fresh dislocation ; but in the present instance faults had to be hypothecated. Though, therefore, the speaker believed the theory to be the true one, the evidence for it appeared extremely weak.—Changes of level in the Bermuda Islands, by Prof. Ralph S. Tarr. The author gave a summary of previous writings bear- ing upon the geology of the Bermudas; but his own researches point to a rather more complicated series of changes than those: which have been inferred by other writers. The formation of the ‘“‘base-rock” or ‘* beach-rock” occurred at some period which cannot be accurately ascertained at present, owing to the fragmentary nature of the included fossils. It may have been formed in Pleistocene or even late Tertiary times. After its formation it was converted into a dense limestone and then eroded, probably by subaerial agents, and finally attacked by the waves at an elevation of at least fifteen feet above present sea-level ; during this stage it was covered by beach-deposits of pebbles and shells, which were accumulated in a period so recent that the contained fossils are of the same species as the organisms living in the neighbouring sea. Then followed an uplift, during which land-shells lived on the beach-deposits ; but these were soon covered by blown sand —the principal accumula- tions of the islands, and the outline of the islands was perfected by the action of the winds. This was done at an elevation which was at one time certainly as much as 40 or 50 feet above present sea-level. The author adduced evidence of a depression since this accumulation, causing land to disappear and the out- line of the area to become very irregular; and he proves that these changes cannot be accounted for solely by erosion, as some have maintained. There are indications that the land is at present quiescent. It appears, then, that most of the work of construction of the Bermudas has been done in recent times (see NATURE, vol. liv. p. 101.) Paris. Academy of Sciences, January 18.—M. A. Chatin in the chair.— Researches on helium, by M. Berthelot. Helium, in contact with mercury and benzene, is slowly absorbed during the prolonged action of the silent discharge. After the sparking has proceeded for some time, a fine orange glow appears, sufficiently bright to be visible in daylight, which examined with the spectroscope under ordinary atmospheric pressure shows the characteristic lines of helium and mercury, together with some hydrocarbon bands. At a red heat the resinous compound breaks up, reforming helium.—Remarks on the specific heats of the elementary gases, and on their atomic constitution, by M. Berthelot. In a vésamdé of the results obtained for the specific heats of the elementary gases, it is shown that these fall into. four groups, comprising the monatomic gases, helium, argon, and mercury, diatomic gases other than the halogens, the halogens, and tetratomic gases such as phosphorus and arsenic.—Methods for comparing, with the aid of the electric spark, the times of oscillations of two regulated pendulums of nearly equal period, by M. G. Lippmann. The two pendulums are twice photo- graphed by the sparks from a jar discharge at a known interval of time, and the exact phase of oscillation of each pendulum measured micrometrically upon the negative. The accuracy of the method is much higher than the method of coincidences. -—- Classification of the chemical elements, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran.—M, Potain presented a series of radiographs on behalf of M. Serbanesco, of subjects affected by gout or chronic NATURE [January 28, 1897 rheumatism.—M. H. Lechappe gave further details of his apparatus for producing acetylene. —On an instrument for indi- cating ascending or descending movements in aerostats, by M. Aug. Coret.—New nebule discovered at the Observatory of Paris, by M. G. Bigourdan.—Observations of the Perrine comet (1896, December 8) made at the Toulouse Observatory with the Brunner equatorial, by M. F. Rossard.—On the first integrals of differential systems, by M. P. Painleve.—On the poles of uniform functions of several independent variables, by M. Antonne.—On Taylor’s series, by M. Eugene Fabry.—On the integration of the equation Pulde = Pula? — 2, by M. Le Roux. The law of transparency of gases for the X-rays, by M. L. Benoist. Experiments on sulphurous acid, methyl chloride, and air show that the absorption is proportional to the density of the gas employed.—On the velocity of reduction of chromic acid by phosphorous acid, by M. G. Viard. The velocity of the reaction is given by dx/d¢ = K (4 — x), where x is the quantity of chromic acid reduced at the time ¢ and 4 the initial quantity. —Action of hydrogen sulphide and hydrogen selenide upon phosphoryl trichloride, by M. A. Besson. With hydrogen sulphide in the cold the oxysulphide P,O,S; is formed in small quantity ; at 100° the oxychlorosulphide P,O,SC\, is also found. The latter forms a colourless liquid distilling at 104° under a pressure of 10 mm. of mercury. Dry hydrogen selenide with excess of phosphoryl chloride gives HCl, P,Ses5, and an oily liquid which gives with water metaphosphoric and hydrochloric acids. —On some salts and some derivatives of dinitro-orthocresol, by M. P. Cazeneuve. The potassium, ammonium, barium and calcium salts are described, also the acetyl and amido-derivatives. —Action of ethoxalyl chloride upon pseudocumene and mesitylene, by M. E. Bouveault. The reactions were carried out in presence of aluminium chloride, and follow the normal course. —On the diminution of the nitrogenous material in wheat from the department of the Nord, by M. Ballard.—On the influence of the section of the spinal medulla, in the cervical region, upon the repletion of the heart paralysed by electrifica- tion, by MM. J. L. Prevost and C. Radzikowski.—Influence of temperature and food upon the respiratory quotient of the moulds, by M. C. Gerber, The spores of Sterigmatocystes nigra were cultivated in Raulin’s fluid, in which the only organic substance present was tartaric, malic, or citric acids, either alone or with saccharose in the proportions met with in fruit. The ratios of CO, : Oy found were, 1°68 for citric acid, 1°76 for malic acid, and 2°47 for tartaric acid. The results are parallel to those obtained from fruits. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, January 28. Roya. Society, at 4.30.—On the Capacity and Residual Charge of Di- electrics as affected by Temperature and Time: Dr. J. Hopkinson, F.R.S and E. Wilson.—On the Electrical Resistivity of Electrolytic Bismuth at Low Temperatures and in Magnetic Fields: Prof. Dewar, F.R.S., and Prof. Fleming, F.R.S.—On the Selective Conductivity exhibited by certain Polarising Substances : Prof. J. C. Bose. Roya InsTITUTION, at 3.—Some Secrets of Crystals: BRS. Society oF Arts, at 8.—The Mechanical Production of Cold: Prof. James A. Ewing, F.R.S. InsTiITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Electrical Interlocking, the Block, and Mechanical Signals on Railw. ays: F. T. Hollins. FRIDAY, January 29. Royac INstTiTuTIoN, at 9.—The Polarisation of the Electric Ray: Prof. J. C. Bose. InstituTION OF Civit ENGINEERS, at 8.—An Experimental Investigation of the Efficiency of a Pelton Waterwheel : S. Henry Barraclough. SUNDAY, January 31. Sunvavy Lecture SociEry, at 4.—Ancient and Modern Views of Fire : Dr. C. W. Kimmins. MONDAY, Fesruary 1. Society or Arts, at 8.—Material and Design in Pottery ;: Wm. Burton. Society or CHEMICAL INDUusTRY, at 8. VicroriA INSTITUTE, at 4.30.—Paper by Dr. J. D. Macdonald, F.R.S. TUESDAY, FExBRvuaRY 2. nore INSTITUTION, at 3.—Animal Electricity: RS Prof. H. A. Miers, Prof. A. D. Waller, ZooLocicaL Society, at 8.30.—General Account of his Expedition to the North Pacific: G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton.—A Catalogue of the Rep- tiles and Batrachians of Celebes, with special reference to the Collections made by Drs. P. and F. Sarasin in 1893-96: G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S.— Further Contributions to the Knowledge of the Phytophagous Coleoptera of Africa, including Madagascar: Martin Jacoby. InstrruTioN oF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.—The Diversion of the Periyar: Colonel J. Pennycuick, R.E.—Cold Storage at the London and Indian Docks : H. F. Donaldson. MINERALOGICAL Sociery, at 8.—On Altaite from Burma: Prof. Henry Louis.—On_ Nemalite from Afghanistan: F. R. Mallet.—Chemical Analysis of Derbylite: G. T. Prior.—Homogeneous Structures and Circular Polarisation : William Barlow. . 1422, VOL. 55] WEDNESDAY, Fesrvary 3. Geotoeicat Sociery, at 8.—The Sub-genera Petalograptus and Cephalo- graptus: Miss G. L. Elles.—On some Superficial Deposits in Cutch : Rey. J. F. Blake.—Coal—A New Explanation of its Formation or the Phenomena of a New Fossil Plant considered with reference to the Origin, Composition, and Formation of Coal Beds : W. S. Gresley. ENTOMOLOGICAL Society, at 8.—On Obscure and Little-known Micro- lepidoptera from the Collection of Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson: Mr. Tutt.— Seasonal Dimorphism in African Butterflies: Dr. A. G. Butler. Society oF Pusiic ANALysTs, at 8.—The Composition of Meat Extracts and similar Products: Otto Hehner.—The Distillation of Formaldehyde from Aqueous Solution: Norman Leonard, Harry M. Smith, and H. Droop Richmond.—Some Analyses of Water from an Oyster Fishery ; Remarks on Formaldehyde : Charles E. Cassal. THURSDAY, FEsruary 4. Rovat Society, at 4 30.—The following ‘Papers will probably be read :— On the Condition in which Fats are absorbed from the Intestine: B. Moore and D. P. Rockwood.—The Gaseous Constituents of certain Mineral Substances and Natural Waters: Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and Morris W. Travers.—Some Experiments on Helium: Morris wW. Trayers.—On the Gases inclosed in Crystalline Rocks and Minerals: Prof. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S.—On Lunar Periodicities in Earthquake Frequency : Prof. C. G. Knott. Roya I[NsTiTUTION, at 3.—Some Secrets of Crystals: Prof. H. A. Miers, F-R.S. Society or Arts, at 8.—The Mechanical Production of Cold : Prof. James A. Ewing, F.R.S. LINNEAN SOCIETY, at 8.—A Revision of the Tribe Nauclew (Nat. Ord. Rubiaciez) : Dr. G. D. Haviland.—A Contribution to the History of New Zealand Echinoderms: H. Farquhar. ™ CuHemicat Society, at 8.—The Oxidation of Nitrogen: Lord Rayleigh.— Researches in the Stilbene Series, I.: Dr. J. J. Sudborough.—Diortho- substituted Benzoic Acids, III. ; Hydrolysis of Substituted Benzamides : Dr. J. J. Sudborough, Perey G. Jackson, L. L. Lloyd.—Apparatus for Steam Distillation: Dr. F. E. Matthews.—Oxidation of Sulphurous Acid by Potassium Permanganate : T. S. Dymond, F. Hughes. INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, at 7.30.—Fourth Report to the Alloy Research Committee: ,Prof. W. C. Robert-Austen, C.B., F.R.S. Camera Cius, at 8.15.—Flying Machines and Automatic Guns: Hiram Maxim. CONTENTS. PAGE Darwin and Darwinism. By Dr. Alfred R. Wallace, HERS. ES Sc ASI Life of Brian Houghton Hodgson Ammer Sc 3 EO) Our Book Shelf: — : Brush: ‘‘ Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, with an Introduction on Blowpipe Analysis” . . 292 Schultze: ‘‘ Grundriss der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der Saugethiere” ..... . 292 Letters to the Editor:— The Oyster Question.—Prof. W. A. Herdman, HORS) fom 293 The Symbols of Applied ‘Algebra. —Prof. Alfred Lodge; C.S. Jackson .. 293 Conductorless X-Ray Bulbs and Tubes, (With ‘Dia- grams, )—Rev. Frederick J. Smith, F.R.S. . . 294 Patterns produced by Charged | Conductors on Sensitive Plates.—J. Brown .. . 294 The Problem of the Sense Qualities. — Prof. iy de) Titchener; W.E.Johnson......... 204 Durham Degrees in Science.—X. . . . .. ~~. . 205 Note on Method suggested for Measuring Vapour Pressures, (///ustrated.) By Lord Kelvin, G:C.V.0), F-RoSaeane 5 295 The Gravitation Constant and the Mean ‘Density of the Earth . . 296 Tubes for the Production ‘of Rontgen Rays. (MMus- trated.) .. . 5 296 Russian Observations ‘of the Corona of “August 9, 1896. (J//ustrated.) By Baron Nicolas Kaulbars, Tieutenant-Generalaememens |. +. ; ek 2 eS Notes ... REI oS Geo ets Our Astronomical “Column :— Oxygen in thejSumueetems os. |) Cen The Polar Cap of Mars a 303 The Question of Carbon in Bright ‘Line “Stars. (Zilustrated.) By J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S. 304 The Saving of Vanishing Knowledge. By Prof. A. C. Haddon ==. = . Ag @esOs Sir Martin Conway’s Crossing of Spitzbergen pic Is maiden University and Educational Intelligence .... . 307 Scientific Serials 4 ac Ec 8 ok he eis Societies and ‘Academies of OMe aM. cogs boebetee) Diary of SocieticSieeeee es » 10,5 = 191 » ” ” ” 15 ys — 92 2 3 33 eS)! fe = 115} ” 2 mins. Afterwards steady. Thus the difference between the rays-zero and the metallic zero is in this case — 93 scale divisions, or | — 0°66 of a volt. [Sensibility of electrometer 140 divs. per volt.] This deviation from the metallic zero was not stopped by placing an aluminium screen over the window of the lead cylinder ; on the other hand, it was stopped if a lead screen was used. If a positive or a negative charge was given to the insulated metal and the Réntgen rays were | shone through the aluminium cylinder surrounding it, the discharge went on till the rays-zero was reached ; only then was the electrometer reading steady. In the following table, Column II. gives the potential differences of the rays-zero from the metallic zero for twelve different metals insulated within the unpolished aluminium cylinder as described above. gives the differences for two of the same metals in the NO. 1424 VOL. 55] [FEBRUARY IT, 1897 interior, but with the surrounding aluminium cylinder altered by its inner surface being polished by emery paper. : Il. III. Insulated metal. Magnesium tape —0°671 of a volt Amalgamated zine —0°66 ;, 5, Polished aluminium SIOTAGS: 55... 55 Polished zinc PeETOrSAS 5, Unpolished aluminium EO:340 5, 55 +0°35 ofa volt Polished lead SIORZRT 55 55 Polished copper ORN29) 55 55 Polished iron nail - +o'r82 ,, ,, Palladium wire ORGS. 55° 55 Gold wire +0'204 ,, 5: +0°930 of a volt Carbon ... EORA20 4) 55 It is to be noted that the preceding experiments tell us insufficiently as to what would happen had we shone the rays on an insulated metal surrounded by an absolutely identical metallicsurface con- nected to sheaths. Another experiment towards answer- ing this question will be described in a later part of our paper. The preceding results of the action of Réntgen rays are very similar to, and wholly in accordance with, the results found by Mr. Erskine Murray, and de- scribed by him in a com- munication to the Royal Society of London, March 19, 1896. They are analogous to those found for ultra-violet light by Righi (Rend. R. Acc. dei Lincet, 1888, 1889) ; Hallwachs ( Wedemann’s Annalen, 34, 1888) ; Elster and Geitel (Wiedemann’s Annalen. 38, 41, 1888); Branly (Comptes rendus, 1888, 1890), and others. We have also made some experiments with ultra-violet light, in which this similarity is further brought out. The'method we have employed is that of Righi. A cage of brass wire gauze was made and connected Inside it the insulated metal was placed on a block of paraffin, and connected to the insulated terminal of the electrometer by a thin copper wire protected Lad Sheaths ol € Atoms fxr er ‘Mekal Dise Foo SSSR Sc = DIAGRAM 2. against inductive effects. The light from an arc lamp was then shone through the gauze so as to fall on the insulated metal perpendicular to its surfaces (see Diagram 2). The experiments were of the same nature as those with the Réntgen rays, except that wire gauze letting through the ultra-violet light was substituted for the non- perforated aluminium cylinder transparent to the Rontgen rays. The insulated metal disc was 2 cms. distant from the gauze of brass wire. The steady electrometer read- | ings after the two pairs of quadrants were insulated and Column III. | the ultra-violet light shining (which we shall hereafter refer to as the w/tra-violet-light-zero) was observed. FEBRUARY 11, 1897 | NATURE 345 The insulated metal was afterwards charged positively, and then negatively. The rate of discharge was ob- served till the ultra-violet-light-zero was reached. With polished zinc as the insulated metal the following results were obtained. The insulation was first tested. When no ultra-violet light was used it was found that the electrometer reading remained the same whether the two pairs of quadrants were in metallic connection or not. With the ultra- violet light shining the reading with the quadrants in metallic connection was the same as before, the readings with the quadrants disconnected were :— Januaey 14th, 3h. 41m. p.m. 25 sc. divs. from metallic zero after rs ees, = 45 ” ” ” 3° ” — 59 33 » of 45 — 67 D 35 aa I min. = 80 ” ” ” Tay > - 89 » » » 25, - 99 ” ” 2 eae) = TOT ” 4 55 "Afterwards ste: ady. [Sensibility of electrometer, 140 sc. divs. per volt. ] The difference thus found, between the metallic zero and the ultra-violet-light-zero, is —1or1 or —o'72 of a volt. 3h. 47m, Zine charged positively to 219 scale divisions from the metallic zero, Reading from metallic zero with ultra- violet light shining. — Time. | first 4 cms. | as not to illuminate either directly. tell us what would happen if an insulated metal, shone on by ultra-violet light, were surrounded by a metal of precisely the same quality of surface connected to sheaths. So far we have mentioned only experiments in which the rays, whether Roéntgen or ultra-violet, fell perpen- dicularly on the insulated metal. We have also made some experiments with the rays going parallel to the metal surfaces. For this purpose a cardboard box 46 cms. long, 19 cms. square (see Diagram 3), lined, in the first instance, with tinfoil, connected to sheaths, was used. Inside this box an insulated disc of oxidised copper of 10 cms. diameter was supported in such a way as to allow of its being fixed at different distances from the tinfoil-coated end-wall of the box facing it. The distance between the disc and the tinfoil was at The arc lamp was distant about 20 cms. from the box. The light from it shone through a slit in | the tinfoil covering the side of the box perpendicular to the surface of the oxidised copper. The slit was 4 cms. long, 1 cm. broad. Its length was first placed parallel to the copper surface, so that the light admitted by it shone in the space between the two metals in such a way It was found (1) that the ultra-violet-light-zero did not deviate from the Wecteo meter. +12 after 15 secs. + 64. 0m “Fi » 39 55 + 23 ee oD » 45 » — Igstar ees ” I min = Obs ie es ” 1} ” = 7 Ogu =e as = O35) ues ait Pe 25) >> —100 ... ae om 3e — 103 4 55 is onch ere Afterwards steady. 3h. 55m. Zine charged negatively to 238 scale divisions from metallic zero :— —177 sc. divs. from metallic zero after 15 secs. — 149 ” ” ” 30 ” — 132 ” ” ” 45 2 —124 rr) an) 3g I min. — 113 ” ” ” 2 55 —iIil ” ” ” 3 Afterwards steady. The following table shows the steady potential differences in the electrometer due to the conductive effect of ultra-violet light in our apparatus between the brass wire gauze and plates of various other metals. Insulated metal :— Polished zinc —o'75 of a volt. Polished aluminium —0'66 rf German silver ... —O 19 a Gilded brass +0°04 ny Polished copper preva: oe Oxidised copper 4 TOS ss The copper was oxidised by being held in a Bunsen flame. In the case of polished zinc, polished aluminium, polished copper, and oxidised copper, both positive and | negative charges were discharged at the same rate, if we reckon the charge of the insulated metal from its ultra-_ The rates of reaching the ultra-violet- | | violet-light-zero was found to depend on the distance violet-light-zero. light-zero were not observed for gilded brass and German silv Sie, It must again be noticed that our experiments do not | NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | DIAGRAM 3. metallic zero when the sheet of light passed between the two metals ; (2) that a negative charge given to the in- sulated oxidised copper was not discharged ; and (3) that a positive charge was removed very slowly—about four scale divisions per minute from a charge of 197 scale divisions from the metallic zero. When the length of the slit was placed perpendicular to the surface, so that a small portion of both metals, as well as the intervening air, was illuminated, it was found that the reading deviated about +1 scale division per minute from the metallic zero. The oxidised copper was charged positively ; and negatively. Discharge took place at about four scale divisions per minute, from a charge of +202 scale divisions ; and three scale divisions per minute from a charge of —246 scale divisions: the charge reckoned from the metallic zero in each case. The slit was then so arranged as to allow the light to shine on the oxidised copper alone. In this case the deflection went towards an _ ultra-violet-light-zero at about +6 sc. divs. per minute; and both positive and negative charges were discharged, the negative much more quickly than the positive. The ultra-violet light was now shone between the oxidised copper and the disinsulated tinfoil wall opposite to it, parallel to their surfaces so as to illuminate both. The difference between the metallic zero and the ultra- between the two surfaces. This will be seen from the following table :— NATURE [FeBruary I1, 1897 346 Distance Time required Ultra-violet- between to come to Jan. 28. light-zero. surfaces. steady reading. fsc. divs. from) : : 12.20p.m. + 15° metallic zero | 4°3 cms. 4 mins. 2.0 55 +134 ” ” 3°90 45 9 4 2.10 ,, +121 “e er 2-0 us Sua 2.20 45 +102 oS Bs TeO 56 Ses 2.40 4, + 86 - = 0:6 “45 Seco 2.50 ;, am 169 ” ” 40 » IO 55 3-0 35 aP UO 5p » Se Ss 3-20 5, +199 ? ) 770 55 5 ” > (Sensibility of electrometer 140 sc. divs. per volt. ] The fact that in experiments (2) and (6) a longer time was required before a steady reading was obtained, probably depended on the way the light fell on the sur- faces and on variations in intensity of the light. In this table we see that the steady electrometer reading (which we have called the ultra-violet-light-zero) is largely influenced by the distance between the plates, being greater the greater the distance. This isa very remarkable result. It was first discovered by Righi, and very clearly described in papers of his to which we have referred. It may be contrasted with the non-difference of electrometer readings for different distances between the plates in a volta-zinc-copper and single fluid cell. Added February 6. [We have also made an exactly similar series of experiments with Rontgen rays. The same insulated oxidised copper plate was placed inside the same tinfoil box, and the Réntgen rays shone in between the two metals so as to shine on both. The following results were obtained with the oxidised copper at different distances. February 5, 11.30 a.m. Rayszero: Distance between surfaces. +23°5 sc. divs. from metallic zero I‘2 cms. +250 ” 2 23 se 272 yy ae eo) ” ” ” woe 5 Oman + 23'0 ” ” ” : (GRO) =, We next removed the oxidised copper plate, and sub- stituted a polished zinc disc. With it we obtained the following results. Distance between Rays-zero. < A surfaces. —82sc. divs. from metallic zero ar i CL: a 79 ” ” ” I 5 ” = 81 ” 22 ” 3 O 45 — 90 ” ” oe) 79 45 — 90 ” ” ? 7 5 ” 7 we 56 The steady reading of the rays-zero was very nearly reached in each case in about 15 secs., but the observa- tion was continued for one or two minutes till we found the reading steady. Thus we see that, as previously found by Mr. Erskine Murray, the rays-zero is independent, or nearly inde- pendent, of the distance between the opposed metallic surfaces. ] Towards realising the case of an insulated metal sur- rounded by metal of identical surface-quality connected to sheaths, we covered over the oxidised copper with tinfoil. The tinfoil wall facing it was very rough, and not so well polished. The insulated tinfoil was 4 cms. distant from the end of the box to which its surface was parallel. When the ultra-violet light fell on the insulated metal alone through a slit, the ultra-violet-light-zero was + 53 scale divisions from the metallic zero. A charge given to it, whether positive or negative, was discharged slowly. After making these experiments, we again ob- served the difference of zeros, and found that now the ultra-violet-light reading was at the end of the first four minutes +2 scale divisions from the metallic zero ; at the end of the next four minutes it was — 8 scale divisions from it. When the ultra-violet light fell on the disinsulated NO. 1424, VOL. 55] metal and not on the insulated, the insulated when charged retained its charge. With the light shining on both through a window 7 cms. broad, 13 cms. high, both positive and negative charges given to the insulated metal were discharged, and the ultra-violet-light-zero deviated from the metallic zero by — 152 scale divisions. This difference was reduced to about — 30 scale divisions when the experiments were repeated after the apparatus had been left to itself for a night. To make similar experiments with the Roéntgen rays, it was found necessary to cover the window near the lamp with tinfoil gauze connected to sheaths, and the window on the opposite side was covered with non- perforated tinfoil. In this way direct electrostatic induction was avoided. We had also a thin sheet aluminium window between the tinfoil gauze and the Rontgen lamp. When the Réntgen rays fell on both insulated and disinsulated metal the rays-zero was —5 scale divisions from the metallic zero, and both positive and negative charges fell to this zero in a few seconds. With the rays shining only on the insulated metal the same small difference of zeros was obtained, and both positive and negative charges fell to the rays-zero, though much more slowly than before—in about four minutes. With the Réntgen rays shining on the insulated tinfoil through the disinsulated tinfoil gauze, the rays-zero was —g scale divisions from the metallic zero, and both positive and negative charges were removed in about a minute. On substituting an aluminium gauze for the tinfoil gauze, and sending rays through it on the insulated tinfoil, the rays-zero was + 25 scale divisions from the metallic zero. Added February 6. With a polished zinc disc as the insulated metal, and with the same windows to the tin- foil box, the Réntgen rays were shed in between the insulated zinc and the opposite wall of tinfoil from a slit in a lead screen outside. This slit was 4 cms. long by Icm. broad. The distance between the two metals was 7 cms. . The rays illuminated only part of the air space between the two, and also a part of the tinfoil covering the two windows. The following are some of the results obtained :— [Sensibility of electrometer 140 sc. divs. per volt. ] February 5, 1897. Zinc charged negatively to 285 scale divisions from the metallic zero. Reading from metallic zero with Rontgen lamp acting :-— Time — 276 scale divisions after I min. — 265 rr, "6 as a aes = 255 Se eo — 243 ” oun One » 4 — 22 99 eee ase 73) Sees — 214 - a an AO ae a 184 8 a” g we ies a Discharge still continued. The zinc was then discharged by metallic connection. The readings, with the Rontgen light shining, and the two pairs of electrometer quadrants again disconnected, were :— — 4 sc. divs. from metallic zero after 4 min. = 1S ” ”? ” Ik ” — 41 ” »” ” 23 ” = Sey} ” ” 2 3h ” — 61 ” ” 2” 43 ” = 67 ” ” 3 55 ” SOS) ” oe ” 6s ” SS ” ” oe} 7 ” The difference between the rays-zero and the metallic zero is thus found to be —71 sc. divs., or —0'5 of a volt. Immediately after this experiment, we removed the lead window and allowed the Réntgen light to shine on both FEBRuARY II, 1897 | metals, still 7 cms. apart. We then found the difference of zeros to be — 89 sc. divs., or — 0°64 of a volt; but instead of seven minutes, scarcely a quarter of a minute was taken to reach the rays-zero after the metallic con- nection was broken. These results are substantially in accordance with Erskine Murray’s §§ 9 of his paper already referred to. KELVIN. J. C. BEATTIE. SMOLUCHOWSKI DE SMOLAN. THE EFFECT OF THE NATURE OF LIGHT EMITTED BY A SUBSTANCE. 1 consequence of my measurements of Kerr's mag- neto-optical phenomena, the thought occurred to me whether the period of the light emitted by a flame might be altered when the flame was acted upon by magnetic force. It has turned out that such an action really occurs. I introduced into an oxyhydrogen flame, placed between the poles of a Ruhmkorff’s electro- magnet, a filament of asbestos soaked in common salt. ‘The light of the flame was examined with a Rowland’s grating. Whenever the circuit was closed both D lines were seen to widen. Since one might attribute the widening to the known effects of the magnetic field upon the flame, which would cause an alteration in the density and temperature of the sodium vapour, I had resort to a method of experimen- tation which is much more free from objection. Sodium was strongly heated in a tube of biscuit porce- lain, such as Pringsheim used in his interesting inves- tigations upon the radiations of gases. The tube was closed at both ends by plane parallel glass plates, whose effective area was 1cm, The tube was placed horizontally between the poles, at right angles to the lines of force. The light of an arc lamp was sent through. The absorption spectrum showed both D lines. The tube was continuously rotated round its axis to avoid temperature variations. Excitation of the magnet caused immediate widening of the lines. It thus appears very probable that the period of sodium light is altered in the magnetic field. It is remarkable that Faraday, as early as 1862, had made the first recorded experiment in this direction, with the incomplete resources of that period, but with a negative result (Maxwell, “ Collected Works,” vol. ii. p. 790). It has been already stated what, in general, was the origin of my own research on the magnetisation of the lines in the spectrum. The possibility of an alteration of period was first suggested to me by the consideration of the accelerating and retarding forces between the atoms and Maxwell's molecular vortices ; later came an example suggested by Lord Kelvin, of the combination of a quickly rotating system and a double pendulum. However, a true explanation appears to me to be afforded by the theory of electric phenomena propounded by Prof. Lorentz. In this theory, it is considered that, in all bodies, there occur small molecular elements charged with electricity, and that all electrical processes are to be referred to the equilibrium or motion of these “ions.” It seems to me that in the magnetic field the forces directly acting on the ions suffice for the explanation of the phenomena. Prof. Lorentz, to whom I communicated my idea, was good enough to show me how the motion of the ions might be calculated, and further suggested that if my application of the theory be correct there would follow these further consequences : that the light from the edges of the widened lines should be circularly polarised when the directioniof vision lay along the lines of force ; further, that the magnitude of the effect would lead to the deter- 1 Translated by Arthur Stanton from the Proceedings of the Physical Society of Berlin, NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | NATURE MAGNETISATION ON | 347 mination of the ratio of the electric charge the ion bears. to its mass. We may designate the ratio e/7. I have since found by means of a quarter-wave length plate and an analyser, that the edges of the magnetically-widened lines are really circularly polarised when the line of sight coincides in direction with the lines of force. An alto- gether rough measurement gives 10’ as the order of magnitude of the ratio e/#z when e¢ is expressed in electro- magnetic units. On the contrary, if one looks at the flame ina direction at right angles to the lines or force, then the edges of the broadened sodium lines appear plane polarised, in accord- ance with theory. Thus there is here direct evidence of the existence of ions. This investigation was conducted in the Physical In- stitute of Leyden University, and will shortly appear in the “ Communications of the Leyden University.” I return my best thanks to Prof. K. Onnes for the in- terest he has shown in my work. P. ZEEMAN. Amsterdam. NOTES. THE Council of the Royal Society have invited Prof. C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., Professor of Physiology in University College, Liverpool, to deliver the Croonian Lecture on April 1, the subject being ‘* The Spinal Cord and Reflex Actions.” TuESDAY’s Gazette contains the formal intimation that the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom has been granted to Sir Joseph Lister, Baronet, President of the Royal Society, by the title of Baron Lister, of Lyme Regis, in the county of Dorset. Pror. Dr. RuDOLF VIRCHOW has been elected president of the German Anthropological Society for the year 1897. Ir is expected that Prof. Barnard will attend the meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society to-morrow, February 12, to receive the gold medal which has been awarded him for his numerous contributions to astronomy. Sir Robert Ball has been nominated as the new president of the Society. THE Council of the Royal Meteorological Society have arranged to hold, from March 16 to 19, in commemoration: of the diamond jubilee of H.M. the Queen, an exhibition of meteorological instruments in use in 1837 and in £897, and of diagrams, drawings, and photographs illustrative of the advances which have been made. Tue Government of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope has undertaken an investigation of the marine fauna of the South African coast, with reference both to economic value and scientific interest. A small marine station will probably be erected on False Bay, and a suitable steam vessel of about 150 tons is now being built for this purpose. It is confidently hoped that results of some scientific value may be obtained from the exploration of this little-known coast, and more especially of the Agulhas Bank. We are requested to state that the services of specialists are invited to work up the material that may be procured, under the following arrangements. Specimens will be forwarded as procured, and, on receipt of manuscript and drawings, each piece of work will be published without delay in a uniform style, so as to form ultimately a complete record of the Cape marine fauna. Authors’ copies will be forwarded as soon as published, and a certain circulation will be guaranteed. No money remuneration is offered, but duplicate specimens may be retained by the authors. Unique specimens it is intended) to be handed over to the South African Museum in Cape Town. Further information will be supplied to those interested in th work, on application to J. D. F. Gilchrist, Marine Biologist to. Cape Government Agricultural Department, Cape Town. 348 NAGURLE [Fepruary 11, 1897 On Wednesday evening, February 3, the Leathersellers’ Company entertained at a Court dinner a considerable number of representatives of the colonies and dependencies of the j empire, including Sir Donald Smith (High Commissioner for Canada), Sir Saul Samuel (Agent-General for New South Wales), and many others. The company also included many of the scientific friends of the Master, Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., himself one of the foremost of British chemists, and popularly known as the discoverer of ‘‘mauve,”’ the first of the colours derived from coal-tar. The Leathersellers’ Company, like others of the great guilds of London, are now devoting part of their revenues to promoting scientific education with a view especially to its application to industrial pursuits; and, recognising the im- portance not only of elementary instruction, but the cultivation of the highest branches of scientific work, they have recently established a research scholarship, of the value of £150 a year, in connection with the Central Technical College of the City and Guilds of London Institute (see p. 332). THE late M. James Lloyd, of Nantes, author of the “* Flore de YOuest de la France,” who died in May last, has bequeathed his fortune and his collections ‘to the town of Angers. The latter consist chiefly of a herbarium and a botanical library, which are to be housed in a special building, and funds are left for their maintenance, and for the payment of a curator, who is to be selected by the Mayor of Angers from a list of three candidates to be nominated by the President of the Botanical Society of France. The names of candidates are to be sent to the President of the Society, 84 Rue de Grenelle, Paris, by March 15, and the post is to be conferred ‘‘en dehors de toute considération de grades universitaires,” on ‘‘un botaniste humble, ami de la nature, voué au progrés de la science que jai aimée et cultivée.”. Tue Vienna Academy of Sciences has (says the Zavcet) employed a portion of the Treit] Fund in sending a commission, composed of Dr. Hermann Miiller, Dr. Ghon, Dr. Albrecht, and Dr. Péch, to investigate the nature of the bubonic disease now prevailing in India. The members of the expedition have just left Trieste, and will remain at Bombay for three or four months. The Treitl Fund is so called after the late Herr Treitl, a Vienna citizen, who bequeathed to the Academy all his fortune, amounting to about £100,000. IN view of the increasing interest now being taken in the sub- ject of aerial navigation, it has been decided to endeavour to place the Aeronautical Society on a more useful footing. The Council propose, should sufficient support be given, to greatly increase the scope of the Society ; to issue a journal at least quarterly, containing not only reports of meetings of the Society, but original articles, reprints, and records of all that is going on at home and abroad in the subject of aeronautics, and all news likely to be of interest to members ; to hold frequent meetings for the reading and discussion of papers and exhibition of models ; to collect a library of books and periodicals for reference of members ; and, if possible, to procure the use of a room as library and museum. The Hon. Secretary of the Society is Captain B. Baden-Powell. WE regret to announce the deaths of the following men of science :—Heinrich Gatke, the ornithologist, whose observa- tions on bird-migration for fifty years are published in his ‘* Heligoland as an Ornithological Observatory”; Prof. Franz Baur, professor of forestry in Munich University ; Dr. August Streng, professor of mineralogy in the University of Giessen ; Dr. E. A. B. Lundgren, professor of geology in the University of Lund; A. A. van Bemmelen, director of the Zoological Gardens at Rotterdam, and for many years president of the Netherlands Zoological Society; Dr. Hermann v. Nordlinger, formerly professor of forestry in the University of Tiibingen ; NO. 1424, VOL. 55] Dr. Salvatore Trinchese, professor of comparative anatomy and comparative embryology in the University of Naples, and the author of many valuable works in general biology ; and Galileo Ferraris, the well-known electrician, of Turin. FIFTY years spent in scientific investigation is a period worth commemorating. We therefore offer our congratulations to Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., upon the attainment of his jubilee as contributor to the advancement of natural knowledge. From the Sheffield Daily Telegraph we learn that a few evenings ago Dr. Sorby inaugurated his year of office, as President of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, by giving an address upon a half-a-century spent in scientific work. In this interval he has published more than one hundred papers, which have made for the progress of science. Fis first papers were on animal and vegetable chemistry ; the earliest being published in 1847. Very soon afterwards his attention was specially directed to the structures produced by currents during the deposition of stratified rocks, and to the conclusions to be derived from them. In 1849 he prepared what were the first transparent microscopical sections of rocks, and his first paper on thin microscopical structures was published in 1850, in which most of the modern methods were first adopted. That was followed by numerous papers on the structure of rocks and minerals, or on chemical or physical questions connected with them. From the study of the microscopical structure of rocks, he was led to that of meteorites and meteoric iron. In order to throw light on that subject he commenced, in 1842, the microscopical study of iron and steel by new methods and new illuminators. In order to assist in the study of meteorites, Dr. Sorby invented, in 1865, the direct-vision spec- trum microscope, and various accessory apparatus. The appli- cation of those instruments led to the study of the colouring matters of animals, plants and minerals, and to the publication of about forty papers connected with almost every department of science. Dr. Sorby has also advanced many other branches of knowledge, his researches on marine organisms, and in con- nection with the archzeology of natural history, being especially noteworthy. Nearly thirty years back the value of his work was recognised by the presentation of the Wollaston gold medal from the Geological Society. A quarter of a century ago the Dutch Academy of Sciences made him the first recipient of the Boerhaave gold medal, which is only awarded once in twenty years. Two years afterwards—in 1874—the Royal Society awarded him a Royal medal. Then followed the honorary degree of LL.D., conferred upon him by Oxford University. Dr. Sorby’s services to science have thus been recognised by various authorities, and we trust he may still live long to add to the researches which have enriched the store- house of knowledge. THE annual general meeting of the Society for the Protection of Birds will be held on Tuesday, February 23, at the West- minster Palace Hotel. The Earl of Stamford will occupy the chair. THE Weekly Weather Report, issued by the Meteorological Office, states that for the week ending the 6th inst. the rainfall was much in excess of the mean over England and the south of Ireland, the fall being in most cases three and four times as great as the average value. Over Scotland and the north of Ireland the amount was less than normal. In most parts of England the rainfall since the beginning of the year is about an inch above the average, while in the north and west of Scotland the de- ficiency is about four inches. THE Rendiconti del Reale Istituto Lombardo announces the award of the following prizes :—One of the five Cagnola prizes ot 2500 lire, and a gold medal, of value 500 lire, to Dr. Andrea Fesruary 11, 1897] NATURE 349 Giulio Rossi, of Padua, for his essay on methods of registering the phases of two alternating currents. The Brambilla prize of 1500 lire and a gold medal are awarded to Prof. Carlo Figini, for his improvements in the weaving industry ; and rewards, of §00 lire each, to Signor Sala Salvatore and Signor Scartazzi Antonio. The Fossati prize of 2000 lire is awarded to Prof. Angelo Mosso, of Turin, for his essay on the temperature of the brain. For the Tommasoni prize for an account of the life of Leonardo da Vinci, rewards of 1000 lire each have been awarded to Signor Nino Smiraglia Scognamiglio and Prof. G. B. De Toni. A number of other prizes have been unawarded. For the coming year, the Reale Istituto Lombardo offers the following prizes, which are open to competitors of all nation- alities, on condition that the essays are written in Italian, French, or Latin. The prize of the Institution of 1200 lire, for experiments confirming Maxwell’s theory of dielectric stresses ; six Cagnola prizes of 2500 lire, each accompanied by a gold medal of 500 lire, for essays on various selected subjects, mostly medical ; one Brambilla prize, for improvements in some in- dustry in Lombardy ; one Secco-Comneno prize of $64 lire, for an essay on uremia ; and prizes founded by the brothers Giacomo and Filippo Ciani, for popular Italian literary works. A num- ber of other prizes are also announced in the Rezdzcontz of the Institution, both for competition in 1897 and later years; but many of these are exclusively open to Italians. A full account of the conditions attaching to the various competitions is given in the journal in question. AT the ninth annual meeting of the American Physiological Society, held in Boston and Cambridge, December 29 and 30, 1896, Prof. W. H. Howell proposed the following resolution regarding the work of the late Prof. H. Newell Martin :—‘‘ The members of the American Physiological Society have heard with profound regret of the death of Prof. H. Neweli Martin. In commemoration of his distinguished services, the Society adopts and places upon its official record the following expression of its appreciation and esteem. In the death of Prof. Martin, the Society has lost a member to whom it owes an especial debt of gratitude. He was actively concerned in its foundation and organisation, and during the critical period of its early history he gave much time and thought to its interests. He served for six years as its secretary and treasurer, and strove always with enthusiasm to make a successful beginning of an enterprise which he believed would foster the spirit of scientific research in physiology, and bring its active workers into stimu- lating fellowship. For its present prosperous condition, and its prospects of future usefulness, the Society feels that it is largely indebted to his wisdom and energy. In a broader field his influence upon the science of physiology has been deeply felt. His own splendid contributions to experimental physiology will have an enduring value, while the stimulus given by him to others has been, and will continue to be, an influential factor in the development of physiological instruction and research in this country. As an investigator and teacher he was dis- tinguished, not only by his originality and ability, but by many noble traits of character. His modesty, his genuine interest in all kinds of biological work, his steady insistence upon the highest ideals of scientific inquiry, his chivalrous conception of the credit due to his fellow-workers, and the generous sympathy and affection always felt and shown by him for the work of younger investigators, are some of the qualities which will endear his memory to those who were so fortunate as to be brought into intimate association with him as teacher or as friend.” Prof. H. P. Bowditch, in seconding the resolution, said :— “* Probably few of the younger members of the Society are aware of the great debt which we owe to Dr. Martin for establishing the high standard which the Society has always NO. 1424, VOL. 55]. maintained with regard to the qualifications of the members. It was always Dr. Martin’s contention that a candidate for admis- sion to our ranks should be required to demonstrate his power to enlarge the bounds of our chosen science, and not merely to display an interest in the subject and an ability to teach text- book physiology to medical students. To his wise counsel in this matter the present prosperity of the Society is, I think, largely to be attributed. I trust that the resolution will be adopted, and placed upon the records of the Society,” The resolution was unanimously adopted. THE manna sent to the Israelites on their journey out of Egypt to the Holy Land is regarded as identical with an edible lichen in Kerner and Oliver’s ‘‘ Natural History of Plants”; and the older view that it was the sap of a tamarisk, exuded under the influence of a parasite, is held to be without foundation. Mr. M. J. Teesdale reviews the subject in the February number of Sczence Gossip, and the evidence he brings forward is opposed to the conclusion to which reference has been made. He shows that an exudation from the twigs of the tamarisk (Zaszarziz gallica) has more points of resemblance with the manna of the Israelites than either the edible lichen or the sweet gums exuded by leguminous shrubs, such as d/hag? maurorum or A. desertorum—both known to the Arabs as camel’s-thorn. HERR K. Roper gives, in a dissertation presented for a Leipzig degree, the results of an investigation as to the polar limit of true forest-land, as distinguished from tundra. The boundary line reaches its highest latitude in the old world in the Taimyr peninsula (724° N.), runs eastward to the Tschuktschee peninsula, and there bends rapidly to the southward. On the west coast of America it begins near the Arctic circle, and goes gradually northwards to the Mackenzie delta, where it attains its highest latitude in about 69° N. The most southerly point is in 57 N. lat., on the East Main River, and from thence the limit crosses Labrador, Greenland and Iceland, in a direction trending towards the North Cape. WE have received the third of the Arbetten aus dem Geo- graphischen Institut der Universitat Bern, edited by Prof. Briickner, consisting of an exhaustive discussion, by Dr. Hermann Walser, of the surface changes which have taken place in the canton of Ziirich since the middle of the seventeenth century. Dr. Walser takes, as his starting point, the topo- graphical map of J. C. Gyger, published in 1667, and traces the subsequent topographical history of the district by reference to an immense number of papers and maps to the present time. He finds that geological and human agencies have combined during the last 240 years to greatly diminish the number and size of lakes in the canton, that the amount of deforestation has been trifling, and that the area occupied by vineyards has steadily increased. THE spell of warm weather in the United States, from July 28 to August last, is stated by Prof. H. A. Hazen, in the A/onthly Weather Review, to have covered a larger area, and given ab- normally high temperatures for a greater number of consecutive days than ever before recorded. A sOLAR halo, with two mock-suns, and a rainbow overhead, was seen by Mr. J. W. Scholes, Huddersfield, at about 12.30 p.m. on January 29. The mock-suns and the rainbow only lasted a few minutes, but the white solar halo remained visible for nearly half an hour. Ir will be remembered that, some years ago, experiments on rain-making were carried on in Texas. Ina short brochure, Dr. W. Hentschel suggests a plan of artificially producing rain, based on the well-known effects of statical electricity in promoting the formation of drops. The suggestion is to 359° NATURE [FEBRUARY II, 1897 reverse Franklin’s historic kite experiment, and instead of draw- ing electricity from the clouds, to electrify a balloon by means ofa conducting cable connected witha dynamo, In this way, the writer maintains, the rainfall can be increased, or, possibly, even decreased, at pleasure. IN an article entitled “‘ Fog Possibilities,” Mr. A. McAdie, in Harper's Monthly Magazine for January, refers to the possibility of dispelling fog from crowded thoroughfares. The experiments of Aitken and others have shown the close relation- ship between fog, cloud, or haze, and the number of dust particles in the air. If we can remove the dust from the air, we remove the nuclei of condensation. Dr. Lodge has pointed out various methods by which this can be effected in laboratory experiments, the most successful of which is electrification. The author considers that by this means the fog can probably be dissipated and the air clarified. The supply of fog may be such that there would be little appreciable diminution, but as a rule the fog is localised and has well-marked limits. AN important series of experiments on the absorption of ultra- violet light by crystals, has been conducted at Geneva by M. V. Agafonoff, of St. Petersburg (Archives des Sczences physiques et naturelles, iv. 2). Among the 100 different crystalline substances observed, only two were found to exhibit differences of absorption according to the direction of polarisation of the light ; these were tourmaline and hemimellitic acid, which gave different absorp- tion spectra for the ordinary and extraordinary rays of a doubly- refracting prism. Isolated absorption bands are rare, and were only found in the seven following substances ; sulphate of mag- nesium, sulphate of ammonium and nickel, ammoniacal alum, nitrate of nickel, nitrate of potassium, dithionate of barium, and anthraquinone. The thickness of the section seems to have very little influence on the limit of wave-length at which absorp- tion commences. The powerful absorption of organic, as com- pared with inorganic compounds, suggests that highly complex molecules are more absorbent of ultra-violet light than simple molecules; and, if this be the case, the property may afford a test of the relative complexity of different compounds. From Mr. William Barlow we have received a reprint of his important communication to the J/neralogical Magazine, en- titled ‘* On Homogeneous Structures and the Symmetrical Par- titioning of them, with Application to Crystals.” The author gives a new definition of homogeneous structure, and describes a method of realising, in a concrete form, the kind of repetition in space which constitutes homogeneity of structure. The total number of types, all of which can be represented in this way, is 230, this being the number of typical point systems described by Federow and Schonflies, derived by their extension of Sohncke’s methods. These all fall into the thirty-two classes of crystalline symmetry. The author gives reasons for reject- ng Fedorow’s arguments in support of his recent attempt to select from among the types of homogeneous structure those which are possible for crystals, and he shows the possibility of so classifying all the conceivable ways of symmetrically par- titioning all the types of homogeneous structure as to avoid all reference to the nature of the cell faces. Among the reasons for undertaking this classification, the chief one is the relation of symmetrical partitioning to certain stereo-chemical and other facts. THE latest evidence as to the occurrence of Man in the Glacial Period has just appeared in the American Geologist (vol. xviii. p. 302), where Dr. E. W. Claypole records the finding of a grooved stone axe at a depth of 22 feet in the drift of North-central Ohio. The axe, which was partially im- bedded in boulder clay, lay in a bed of coarse gravel 1 foot in thickness ; above this was a bed of silt, 13 feet in thickness, NO. 1424, VOL. 55] and very tough below ; interbedded in this were streaks of sand ; finally, there were superimposed 8 feet of clay. Dr. Claypole regards these beds as having been ‘“ the deposits of the torrents of water and the still pools which characterise the flow from the front of a glacier in a flat country” ; he supports his statement by a description of the district, and he also enters into the dona fides of the discoverer of the implement. The axe was made of a hard, banded green slate, but it was oxidised throughout, owing to the sulphureous character of the water in the gravel ; the concentric lines of colour (limonite stains), parallel to the contour of the implement, prove that the change has taken place since it was fashioned by its Neolithic maker, and the rotten state of the stone shows that it must have been imbedded in the gravel fora very longtime. It is always a difficult matter to sift the evidence of such finds, but this one appears to be worthy of the critical examination of American geologists and archeeOlogists. FossiL bones of the Pleistocene age have been brought to the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia from Port Kennedy, Montgomery County, Pa. The fossil deposit seems almost un- limited ; and while it contains no complete skeletons, it is, in many respects, the richest ever discovered. Bones form fully one-third of the material in the giant fissure, but most of them are so crushed and distorted as to be of no value. About forty distinct varieties of animals have been found in the mass. PRESIDENT Davip S. JoRDAN, of Leland Stanford Junior University, Commissioner to investigate the condition of the fur seal, recommends, in his report to the;Secretary of the Treasury, that the open season for the killing of females be abolished, to keep the Pribilof herd intact. He estimates the number of seals killed last summer as 440,000, About 27,000 pups died of starvation, and pelagic sealing caused the death of about 30,000. Since pelagic sealing began, more than 600,000 fur seals have been taken in the North Pacific and in Bering Sea, taking into account only those whose skins were brought to market. Many more were shot or speared, and lost. The number reported means the death of 400,000 females, the starving of 300,000 pups, and the destruction of 400,000 pups unborn. THE January number of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Scéence contains only two memoirs, both of which are more than usually suggestive and interesting. Miss Lily Huie describes the results of a very precise and systematic investiga- tion of the changes which take place in the protoplasm and nucleus of the gland-cells in the tentacles of the sun-dew Drosera rotundifolia, after the feeding of the leaf with pieces of white of egg. The first effect of the contact of the food appears to be the discharge of secretion from the gland cells. The secretion is formed at the expense of the basophile cytoplasm, which is stained by alkaline stains. The nucleus produces new cytoplasm of the same kind, by absorbing nutriment, converting it, and then ‘‘excreting” it. In this process the nuclear chromation takes the form of V-shaped chromosomes, and the nucleolus grows smaller and almost disappears. The nuclear chromation increases in bulk. Thus the changes which occur resemble those to which so much attention has been directed in mitosis or the division of the cell, and the conclusion is drawn that these changes indicate great activity in the nuclear organs, and are not exclusively characteristic of cell-division. THE second paper in the January Q. /. JZ. S. is by Messrs. J. T. Wilson and J. P. Hill, of the University of Sydney, New South Wales, on the development and succession of the teeth in the marsupial Perame/es, and in other marsupials. It is well known that only one tooth, the last of the pre- molars, is observed to be shed and replaced by a successor in Fesruary II, 1897] NATURE 351 these mammals; and the view once generally accepted was that the other teeth corresponded not to the milk-teeth, but to the permanent teeth of higher mammals. The absence of milk- teeth, with the one exception, in marsupials has been regarded as indicating, not that they have disappeared in the evolution of these animals, but that they first arose in the later evolution of the higher mammals. Other views, however, have been main- tained, namely, on the one hand, that the temporary dentition has been lost by the marsupials; and, on the other hand, that the existing anterior teeth are in reality milk-teeth whose suc- cessors have ceased to appear. Certain traces of teeth in the jaws of the embryo, precursors of the permanent teeth, have been explained as ‘‘prelacteal teeth” by those who advocate the latter view. In this memoir the authors claim to have proved that there is a complete series of these prelacteal teeth or their papillz, and that they in reality represent the series of milk-teeth in the higher mammals. Thus the peculiarity of the marsupial dentition is that the temporary or milk teeth have become, with the exception of the last premolar, rudimentary, and the permanent teeth are completely developed before the young animal is weaned. THE Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, publishes a somewhat bulky ‘‘ History of the Tobacco Industry in Virginia from 1860-1894,” by Dr. B. W. Arnold. Dr. VY. Fario has sent us a copy of his guide to the hunting and fishing collection in the Swiss National Exposition of 1896. The volume contains some interesting information on the fishes of Switzerland. By the not very happy term ‘“ phenological,” recent botanical writers speak of phenomena connected with the flowering of plants and other seasonal characters. The American botanist, Prof. L. H. Bailey, sends us a useful paper of “Instructions for taking Phenological Observations.” In the concluding part of Dr. Bokorny’s paper in the Bzo/o- gisches Centraiblatt, on the nutrition of green plants, he sums up in favour of the view that the first product of assimilation in green plants is formic aldehyde, from which are afterwards formed either albuminoids by the action of ammonia, or carbo- hydrates by condensation. Green fresh-water organisms play a very important part in the purification of running water by the oxidation of organic substances in suspension, THE first number of vol. iv. of the Bzd/etzn of the Labor- atories of Natural History of the State University of Iowa contains papers about equally distributed between zoology and phytology :—On Plymouth hydroids, by C. C. Nutting ; on the mollusks and brachiopods of the Bahama Expedition, by W. H. Dall ; on the hymenoptera of the Bahama Expedition, by W. H. Ashmead; on the puff-balls of Eastern Iowa, by T. H. Macbride and Norra Allen ; on new species of tropical fungi, by J. B. Ellis and P. M. Everhart ; and others. PROVINCIAL museums are following the lead of the Nationa] History Museum in issuing interesting and instructive handbooks on their collections, instead of mere catalogues of specimens. An admirable handbook of this character, referring to the minera- logical and geological sections of the Royal Museum of the County Borough of Salford, has been prepared by Mr. Herbert Bolton, who also re-arranged and named the collections. His little guide will arouse the interest of casual visitors, and will also greatly aid and encourage the study of geology. A GENERAL meeting of the members of the Federated Insti- tution of Mining Engineers will be held on Wednesday, February 17, at Manchester. The following papers will be read, or taken as read :—Railway nationalisation in relation to the coal trade, by Mr. A. Clement Edwards; the cost and NO. 1424, VOL. 55] efficiency of safety explosives as compared with gunpowder, by Mr. Henry Hall; description of various types of ropeways, and remarks as to their proper selection, by Mr. W. Carrington ; determination of fire-damp in French collieries, by Mr. J. Coquillion; appliances for winding water, by Mr. Wm. Galloway ; the detection and estimation of carbon monoxide in air by the flame-cap test, by Prof. F. Clowes; the Lake Superior iron ore region, by Mr. Horace V, Winchell. THE January number of Azmmel und Erde is devoted to several articles of general interest. Dr. Hecker, of Potsdam, describes how the small movements of the earth’s surface are detected and measured. Two diagrams show clearly the details and general construction of the horizontal-pendulum, the in- strument invented by von Rebeur-Paschwitz ; while the repro- ductions from the actual photographic records explain for themselves the continual state of vibrations that is always occurring, and the occasional disturbances of larger amount. Dr. Zenker describes the extraordinary cold climate of Werchojansk (Siberia). The temperatures for each month, as obtained from the mean values up to the present time, are in degrees Centigrade— Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. Sia -45'8 33°30 — 13 2°0 126 July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Noy. Dec. 15°6 10.2 26 —148 -398 - 48-0 Prof. Dr. Fritz Frech concludes his series ofarticles on ‘* Coral- reefs, and their share in the structure of the Earth’s Crust.” This series, we may remark, has been illustrated very profusely. ‘* Kine Kulturbewegung in der Naturwissenschaft ” is the title ofa more brief article by Dr. Hallervorden, in Konigsberg. In his concluding sentences he asks, ‘* Why has Kant been for- gotten? Ihn, den Schépfer sittlicher Personlichkeit ! Why has his house in K6nigsberg been long ago destroyed? Was it not like Goethe's, a relic of the nation—the nation ?—of mankind, I ought to have said.” Tue Zi-ka-wei Observatory, near Shanghai, has published a discussion of the disastrous typhoon which occurred in the Eastern Seas between July 22-25, 1896, in which the German gunboat Z/t/s was lost in the neighbourhood of the south-east Shantung promontory. This storm had first passed in the immediate neighbourhood of Shanghai, and the Rev. L. Froc has been able to collate a large amount of observations, both from ships which rode through the typhoon, and from land stations, which plainly show the extent and behaviour of the disturbance ; and he has accompanied these observations with remarks which will be of practical use for the guidance of navi- gators. The storm took an unusual track, but was otherwise of regular constitution ; the wind attained hurricane force, which was continued at some places for at least twelve hours. It is satisfactory to note that warning of its approach was given both by the Manila and Hong Kong Observatories, and that con- sequently two vessels, the Pekin and the Yarra, remained in port at Shanghai, and thereby in all probability avoided serious damage. We may mention that Dr. Doberck has also published an independent account of this storm in the Hong Kong Govern- ment Gazette. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Patas Monkey (Cercopithecus patas) from West Africa, presented by Mr. A. F. Breysig; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinzcus, 9) from India, presented by Mr. E. James; an Egyptian Monitor (Varanus niloticus) from the Transvaal, presented by Mr. D. E. Erasmus; a Red-eyed Ground Finch (2ipilo erythropthalmus) from North America, deposited ; a Tantalus Monkey (Cercopithecus tantalus, 3 ?) from West Africa, a Black-headed Lemur (Lemar brunneus, 6 ) from Madagascar, purchased. Soe NATURE [ FEBRUARY II, 1897 OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. THE PERIOD OF ROTATION OF JUPITER’s SpoTs.—Herr A, A. Nyland communicates to Astronomischen Nachrichten (No. 3401) his observations of Jupiter's markings, made at Utrecht with a refractor of 26 cm., and of focal length 320 cm. The object he had in view was to determine the period of rotation of this planet in different Jovian latitudes, and to accomplish this he observed the transits of eleven different spots across the smaller axis of the planet’s disc. The results, as regards two spots, a and #, is given in the following tables, in which the second column shows the number of rotations, and the third the time of rotation. Sfot a. Period of 1895-6. No. Rotations. Rotation. Wy ia Nov. 23—Dec. 10 on 41 9 55 23°7 Dec. 10—Feb. 11 a EEC 32°0 Feb. 11—Mar. 10 08 68 eee 35°5 Mar. 10—Apr. 25 III 32°1 Spot b. Period of 1895-6. No. Rotations. Rotation. oe as Nov. 18—Dec. 22 82 330 9 55 28°5 Dec. 22—Feb. 8 116 Bo 34 6 Feb. 8—Mar. 13 a0 82 34°7 Mar. 13—Apr. 2 104 38°2 It will be noticed that the spot 4 appeared to have a longer period of rotation than a, the former transiting after the latter according to the formula th. 45m. 1s. + 7°2s. x (¢ — 1. Jan. 1896 in days). Observations of the ‘‘red spot” gave no indications of a diminution in the time of rotation. In the case of the other spots, it was found that they were too variable in their nature for such a determination to be made, as some split up into two and sometimes three parts, while others varied in their bril- liancy and became hard to identify. THE SPECTRUM OF ¢ Puppis.—A Harvard College Observa- tory Circular (No. 16) contains some additional information to that which we gave in this column on November 26 of last year, concerning the spectrum of the star ¢ Puppis. It was at first suggested that the second series of rhythmical lines was due to some unknown element, but it has now been concluded that such is not the case. A further investigation has shown that this series is very closely allied to that of hydrogen, and is probably due to that substance under conditions of temperature or pres- sure as yet unknown. A slightly modified form of Balmer’s formula, namely, i a 304672 n*— 16 gives the wave-lengths of the lines of hydrogen if for 2 the even integers 6, 8, 10, 12, &c., be substituted. If in this formula the odd integers 5, 7, 9, 11, &c., be inserted for, then the wave-lengths represent the second series of lines in ¢ Puppis. The following brief table shows in the first column the value of 7, in the second the computed wave-lengths by the above formula, and in the third the mean of two series of measured values. n Computed. Observed Mean. 5 10128'1 oe — 7 - 5413°9 eee = 9 5 45436 an — II aan 4201°7 Set 4200°4 13 Kes 4027°4 4026°8 15 des 3925'2 3924'°8 17 =o 3859°8 3858°7 19 538 3815 2 3815°9 21 ees 3783"4 3783 "4 Comparing the spectrum of ¢ Puppis with other stellar spectra, the four lines between Hy and H8 have probable wave-lengths of 4472, 4544, 4633, and 4688. The first is a prominent Orion star line, while the second is well-marked, and is the line com- puted above when x=9. All these four lines appear in 29 Canis Majoris, and three lines of the above series are measur- able in the photograph of this star. NO. 1424, VOL. 55] THE SpPecrRroscopic BINARY a! GEMINORUM.—In the current January number of the Astrophysical Journal, Herrn. A. Belopolsky gives the results of his investigation of thirty-two spectrograms which he has obtained of the binary star a! Geminorum. This star required one hour's exposure, and a comparison with the spectrum of hydrogen was photographed at half-time. Using all the available data, Herrn. Belopolsky determined a series of values for the velocity in the line of sight, and after correction for the sun, found a periodic change, having a period of about 2°9 to 3‘o days. In the table which he gives, showing the velocity relative to the sun, he found that the curve of velocities satisfied either the first nine points (taken in January and February of 1896), with the exception of the eighth or the remaining twenty-four points, and that a single curve could not be drawn that would satisfy all the observ- ations. This discrepancy, he remarks, suggested that the 2°91 days’ period could not be used throughout the whole time covered by the observations. Applying a correction to the abscissee for these dates, and drawing a fresh curve, he com- puted another series of velocities from the new elements. Even then slight discrepancies existed for these points, which, as he says, ‘‘cannot be explained with certainty at present.” A possible cause is suggested in the rapid motion of the line of apsides in the direction of the orbital motion of the star, as was shown in Duner’s analogous investigation of y Cygni, in which a disturbing force, due to a flattening of the central body, exists. NANSEN'S ARCTIC EXPEDITION. A MEETING of the Royal Geographical Society was held on the evening of Monday, February 8, in the Albert Hall, when Dr. Fridtjof Nansen gave an account of the pre- liminary results of his great drift-journey in the Ayam across the Polar area, and his sledge expedition northward. The Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, and almost all the veteran British Arctic officers were present, while the great hall was crowded with the Fellows of the Society and their friends. Selections of Norwegian national music were played on the organ as the audience was arriving, and the appearance of Dr. Nansen and his companion, Lieut. Scott Hansen, on the plat- form was received with the greatest enthusiasm. Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., President of the Society, intre- duced Dr, Nansen in a few words, and the explorer then addressed the meeting. During the address a large selection of photographs was shown by thelantern ona 40-foot screen ; some of the pictures were taken by moonlight dering the Arctic winter, and were extremely impressive, others were coloured re- productions of Dr. Nansen’s sketches, including some fine sun- set and aurora effects. Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock pro- posed, and Admiral Sir George Nares seconded, a vote of thanks for the address, in which they expressed their unqualified ad- miration of the manner in which Dr. Nansen had conducted his unique expedition. The Prince of Wales, as Vice-Patron of the Royal Geographical Society, then presented Dr. Nansen with the special gold medal of the Society, bearing the bust of the recipient on one side, and a representation of the Ava on the other. A copy of the medal in silver was presented to Lieut. Scott Hansen, and copies will be sent to the other members of the scientific staff of the 7a, while bronze re- plicas are given to the other members of the expedition. In thanking the Society for the medal, Dr. Nansen said that he had succeeded only by following the labours of his predecessors, the British Arctic officers, for whose heroism and resourcefulness he had the highest respect and admiration. A large part of the address was necessarily occupied by de- scribing the incidents of the journey already published im NATURE (vol. liv. p. 374). The following is a summary of the preliminary scientific results obtained by Dr. Nansen, and referred to during his address :— Our expedition was intended to be purely a sea-expedition, the object of which was to drift with the drift-ice and keep clear of all land, so that we thought ourselves fortunate in avoiding the discovery of any extensive land. After passing through the Kara Sea the Fram skirted the north of Asia from the east of the Yenesei estuary to longitude 115° E. near the mouth of the Olenek. Off the western Taimyr peninsula an archipelago of small islands was encountered, through which it was difficult to find a passage ; these I have named Nordenskiold Islands, after FEBRUARY II, 1897 | NATURE Jao the man who showed us the way along the coast of Asia. It is difficult to distinguish mainland from island in passing along the coast, the map of which has been considerably altered by the observations on our voyage. The coast of the whole of the Chelyuskin peninsula northwards is very low, but inland we ob- served mountain ridges partly covered with snow, and _ probably some small glaciers. Without doubt the most important geo- graphical discovery of the expedition was that concerning the polar basin itself. Formerly it had been supposed to be a com- paratively shallow sea, a view in which I had concurred. We found that the sea in 79° N., north of the new Siberian Islands, suddenly became deeper than 100 fathoms, sank to depths of | | many polar explorers have believed to cover the polar area, 1800 to 2000 fathoms, and such great depths were found con- tinuously by the /vam during her entire drift north-west and west as far as the north of Spitzbergen. The polar basin thus appears to be a deep sea, forming a continuation northwards and eastwards of the depression in the North Atlantic Ocean. This deep sea probably extends further east than the New Siberian islands, as the Yeazrzet/e found the depth increasing every time the drift carried her to the northward. I think we can safely say that little or no land can lie on the Asiatic side of the pole, as in the sledge-journey north of the Fram’s route we found the ice drifting with greater freedom than further south, which would not likely be the case if there was much Jand to restrict the movement. There is, on the other hand, a probability of the existence of land to a considerable extent on the American side of the pole, where islands, and islands of some importance, may be expected to be found north of the boundary known at present. A closer examination of these parts we must hope will be undertaken in the not too distant future. The drift of the “ram showed that a deep sea lay along the north of Franz Josef Land, proving that that land has not the great extension northward which it was hoped to have. This discovery confirms Sir Clements Markham’s prediction that “* Franz Josef Land seems to be part of the Spitzbergen group, rising out of the same shallow sea, with deeper water to the north.” The geological evidence confirms this view, and in those parts which Johansen and I would have visited had we not fallen in with Jackson ; the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition will no doubt have many interesting discoveries to make. From the disagreement of our discoveries with Payer’s map, we were at first led to believe that our watches must be altogether wrong, and that we had come to a land further west ; it was only after com- paring our watches with Jackson’s, that I came to the conclusion that Payer’s map was wrong. Dr. Copeland is now engaged in re-calculating Payer’s positions. and finds his work particularly good ; the error most probably arose through his mistaking banks of mist on which the sun was shining fora great glacier- covered land. Such a mistake is very difficult to avoid in certain atmospheric conditions In the course of the voyage along the coast of Siberia abundant evidence of the former existence of a great ice-sheet was forth- coming, and the appearances could not be explained by reference to local glaciers. For instance, the land on the east side of the Chelyuskin peninsula, where I went reindeer-shooting one day, was a very undulating clay plain, over which was strewn a multitude of big boulders of various rocks, which could with difficulty be explained otherwise than as being material brought by an extensive ice-sheet. The fact that [ found an indication of stratification in several places can hardly be regarded as an argument against its moraine-like character, as there are incon- testable moraines in the south of Norway which show distinct stratification. The exemption from an ice-sheet, so long claimed for Siberia, can no longer be maintained. The microscopic examination of the numerous specimens of sea-bottoms obtained by our soundings, proved that they differ essentially from the samples taken from the North Atlantic Ocean, as they are wanting in the characteristic organisms. The arctic deep-sea mud was found to be particularly deficient in carbonates, and appears to consist chiefly of mineral com- ponents ; but so far only very imperfect examinations of these deposits have been made. During our journey we had abundant evidence of the reality of the ice-drift across the polar area, on the faith in which the expedition had been planned. Earthy matter was found on the ice as far north as 86°, and driftwood also. I remember one day far north, during Johansen’s and my journey over the ice, our astonishment at seeing a large piece of timber project- ing from the ice ; it hailed, perhaps, from the interior of Siberia, and was on its way to the Eskimo of Greenland. The only NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | thing we could do was to cut our initials on it, with the date and latitude. The cause of the drift is, first of all, the wind, the prevailing direction of which is from the Siberian Sea to- wards the North Atlantic Ocean. As the wind varies, the drift varies also ; but it was always strongest when towards the north and west, and feeblest when it turned towards south and east. Most progress was made in the winter, least in summer, when northerly winds were relatively common. I believe that when the records are worked up it will be possible to demonstrate that there was a slight current in the water under the ice, setting in the prevailing direction, or perhaps a little to the northward of the prevailing wind. The massive ice-cap, which has been shattered ; instead of it we have the ever-wandering ice-fields, like a link in the eternal round of nature. _ The ice does not grow to any great thickness by direct freez- Ing; something under four metres was the greatest seen ; but, of course, it becomes very much thicker by the piling up of broken ice-sheets driven together and mounting one above another. The pressure of the ice was found to be largely dependent on the tidal current, especially on the margin of the polar ice-fields. There the periods of great pressure occurred regularly about new moon and full moon, the former being the greater. The worst ice-pressures encountered by the /7ave were when the wind suddenly changed after having been long steady, when smaller masses of ice would be driven by the wind against the greater masses moving on by their own momentum. The temperature of the water at various depths beneath the ice was of special interest. Even as far east as the sea north of the New Siberian Islands I found undoubted traces of a warm current. The surface water of the entire polar basin is doubtless very cold, between -1°5° and -1°6 C., the freezing point of sea-water. Beneath this cold layer at depths of 200 metres, I suddenly found warm water, the temperature rising to +0°5°, oreven + 0°8° C. Ata greater depth the temperature varied somewhat, but remained nearly constant to 400 or 500 metres, after which it slowly sank until the bottom was reached, without, however, becoming so cold as at the surface. The air temperatures were, as was anticipated, not so low as in Siberia, doubtless owing to the influence of the deep underlying sea, The minimum we found (—53°C.) is not immoderately low, recollecting that at Verkhoyansk — 68° has been recorded. The winds in the far north were not very strong, seldom amounting toa gale; but this climate entirely changed on the southward journey, and in the winter quarters on Franz Josef Land a suc- cession of furious gales howled around us continually. There were exceptional opportunities of observing the aurora, and amongst other curious phenomena the heavens were often shrouded with a light luminous veil, through which it was diffi- cult to see the Milky Way. The aurora was found to be much more common in very high latitudes than it was formerly sup- posed to be. Animal life was abundantly observed both in the form of small marine organisms, especially crustacea, and larger crea- tures. Narwhal were seen in shoals up to nearly 85° N., and seals were also frequently seen in summer. Bears were shot north of 84°, and fox tracks seen in 85° N. Near Hvitten- land east of Franz Josef Land, the probable nesting-place of the rosy gull was found. The fresh-water pools on the ice in summer swarmed with diatoms and other alge. The expedition found much of value in considering future travel. The type of vessel embodied in the “ya was found perfect, re- sisting all ice pressures, and the ship was as sound at the end as at the beginning. Another drifting expedition should enter the ice much further east, entering by Bering Strait, and the ship should be equipped with greater laboratory accommodation. Nothing remains to be done for preserving health ; the company on the “ra were never seriously ill, and even on the march over the ice I personally increased 22 lbs. in weight. There was never the faintest indication of scurvy. THE LEGENDARY HISTORY OF FUNAFUTI, ELLICE GROUP. “HE first king of Funafuti was Terematua (? Tilimatua), but who he was or where he came from is not known; it is certain, however, he was here before the arrival of the Kauga, people who swam to this island from Samoa, which means, I 1 This is the story of Funafuti, so far as I could learn it from the King Erivara and our interpreter, the white trader O'Brian. hoy take it, Samoans who were wrecked from a canoe and after- wards swam ashore. The Kauga were much respected. Toa, a piece of land in Funafuti, is named after one of them, and the southernmost island, Tuaeriki, after another: after death they were worshipped as spirits. The only son of Terematua was Kitosuga, and he had one son Tiloa, who likewise had an only son Tilotu. In the time of Tilotu a subordinate king or chief was appointed, by name Paolau. What relationship by blood, or whether any existed, between Tilotu and Paolau the king could not tell me; a very old woman, as he said over 100 years old, who had instructed him in the history of his predecessors, had not informed him on this point. Paolau became king after Tilotu’s death, and Tilotu’s children became sub-kings or chiefs. Paolau was killed by his younger brother Nigi, who aspired to the throne. When Nigi drew near to Paolau the latter said, ‘* Are you going to kill me?” Nigi pointed to the rising moon and said, ‘‘ My head is there,” and then to the place where it would set, adding ‘‘your head is there!” and killed him. Nigi then became king ; after his death he was succeeded by Tukalamiti, whose parentage is not known ; he was probably a son of either Paolau or Nigi—possibly of Paolau’s, for there were two branches of the royal family, and when one king died his successor was generally chosen from the other branch. It is not known whether this was a friendly arrangement or not. Then another Paolau became head king, and Masaleika, his brother, sub-king ; the latter never attained the chief dignity, as he was killed by Tauvasa. Paolau fell sick on the southern- most island, and Tauvasa sent people in canoes to kill him, Paolau and his people went to see what the canoes had come for, and invited the crews to stay the night with them. This they did, and during the night Paolau’s daughter discovered their purpose and warned her father. The leader of the expedition, Salaiki, a brother of Paolau’s, was then set upon and killed. Paolau retained his kingship, and Tauvasi remained chief till the illness of the former proved fatal, as it did soon after the attempt upon his life. Tauvasi then became king. He seems to have been a good ruler, and signalised his reign by dividing the land, which had hitherto been held in common, and fairly apportioning it amongst the people. The history of the kings now becomes mixed up with that of the priesthood. In early times the people worshipped thunder and lightning and the powers of nature, as well as birds and fishes. This was followed by the worship of spirits, one of whom was named Tufakala after a particular kind of seagull. There then arose priests or spirit-masters (vakatua). One of the earliest, if not the first, was Erivara, evidently a very masterful person. He abolished the ancient worship, taking the dead Firapu, or his spirit, the father of Tauvasi, for his first god. Firapu was a hero whose death is shrouded in mystery—he and his daughter Mumu had left Funafuti in their canoe on a voyage to the Gilbert Islands, and had never returned. As time went on descendants of Firapu after death were added to the list of spirits, and worshipped as subordinate deities. Besides this worship of spirits there was also a kind of fetish worship, also introduced by Erivara. Erivara in his sleep visited the other world, and made the acquaintance of seven spirits, who showed him a wonderful object and directed him on returning to earth to make a copy after its fashion, giving him full instructions how to proceed. On his return to earth, more prosaically when he awoke, he sent one of the people to dive outside the reef for a red stone. This was procured and brought to him. He wound round it a dress of pandanus leaves—red, white and black, some fathoms long, and placed it inside a cage shaped like a hen-coop. This was called the Teo. If a parishioner was sick, Erivara took the stone from its wrappings, talked to it, charmed it with rhymes, and applied it to the sick man. Another fetish was a hat, the size and shape of a hogshead cask, made up of red, white and black fandango (Pandanus) leaves, and adorned with white shells. This was called the Puluo, and was said to be the hat of Firapu. I think this was kept in the spirits-house, but the Teo was kept ina separate hut—the charm-house. When the people wanted to catch fish, the Puluo was brought out of the spirits-house by the king’s orders, and the whole community walked three times round the house, bearing the Puluo in front. The women followed, stark naked, and the men, who belaboured one another with sticks; the children completed the procession. NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | NATURE [FEBRUARY II, 1897 The charm-house was set round with a great number of sharp-pointed stakes, and when a catch of fish was made the people were required to take it to the spirit-master and lay it down in front of the charm-house, not the king’s. The charmer then picked out the finest fish, impaling each, as he selected it, on one of the stakes and dedicating it in a loud chant to the particular spirit—Faiologata, Tamaiki, Fijiroa, Tongatumatua, Firapu, Sasaka, or some other to which the post was sacred. When the dedication was complete, the people shared the remainder between them. The sacrifice was divided between the priest and his relations. This was a pretty fair source of income; but the charmer could not live on fish alone, and so he had other methods by which coconuts, taro, and the rest were added to them. The spirits would come to him and give him warning that some one was going to be sick; the spirit-master would then send for this person, and take him to the charm-house to be charmed. This house was a square hut with a fire burning in the centre, and on the entrance of the threatened man this was made to smoke so that the spirit should not be able to see him. The spirit-master was provided with two young coconuts and young white leaves of the coco palm. He rubbed oil on one of the nuts, rubbed his nose against one eye, whispered to it, and then turned it away from him. Crossing his hands he gave it a good spin, and watched how it came to rest; if when it stopped it pointed sideways or away from him, the spirit was very angry and the man would be very ill; if, on the contrary, it pointed to him, the spirit was not vexed. Of course these performances meant taro and coconuts. In case the man was to be taxed pretty severely the spirit would of course be angry, and there would be other charms required to mollify him, and these had to be paid for. If a man were really ill the spirit-master would come and wave a staff, with a bunch of coloured pandanus leaves at the end, over him, or he would thrust this staff like a spear through a coconut, or he would try the smoking and the Teo treatment. In any case the medical attendance was very expensive, and the patient’s friends and relatives had to gather together a good deal of food to keep the spirit-master and his friends while the case was in progress. Erivara, the first devil-master, was so fertile in inventions of this kind, that I could not believe he had owed them all to his own unaided powers, and I inquired therefore if he was accustomed to travel much, and was told he had visited at various times Nukulailai, Vaitapu and Nukufetau, neighbouring islands of the group, as well as the Gilberts. This in itself, however, is no proof that he was a plagiarist. Erivara was, notwithstanding, a great benefactor to the island ; the coconut palms were few, and food was scarce, so he organised expeditions to the Gilbert Islands, and brought back in canoes a great quantity of nuts; the people extracted the cotyledon from these for food, which shows they were very hard- up, and then planted them. The whole of the islets of Funafuti were planted in this way under his direction—a great achieve- ment. On the other hand, Erivara broke up the ancient laws of the kings, and upset the distribution of the land, dividing it afresh between the king (erikitutu) and thirty or more sub-kings of his own creation (erikitabua). Hence arose disputes as to the ownership of the land, which persist even to the present day. There is this excuse to be made for Erivara, that by reason ot his planting the land acquired the chief value that it possesses. Still he might have shown a little more consideration for those . families which had no man at the head, only old women; he was oppressive towards the weak. During the time of Erivara Tauvasi died, and his son Sirimiau became king, after him his son Dili succeeded, and after Dili Sukumuni, after Sukumuni Tarafo, belonging to another branch of the Tauvasi family, succeeded to the headship ; he was fol- lowed by Taturi, his son, and Taturi by his brother Teriki. Teriki was followed by Matavai, who was deposed by reason of the ulcers with which he was afflicted, the evil smell of which made it impossible for people to sit in the house with him. Jacopa, his eldest son, replaced him; then Manu, his second son; and finally Erivara, the reigning monarch, the youngest of Matavai’s three sons. Erivara is a very intelligent and dig- nified old man, say fifty years of age, every inch a king, though shorn of all power. Our High Commissioner is the chief governor, and makes laws for the island; but the true master here is the native missionary Simona, who is a Christian spirit- master of a very friendly disposition. The ancient religion FEBRUARY IT, 1897 | NATURE 355 received its death-blow about thirty years ago, not from a mis- sionary, but from a white trader, O’Brian, now living on the island, who accomplished its overthrow, not from any religious motive, but because the ancient religion took up much of the time which he thought, rightly or wrongly, should be given to collecting copra for him. He told the natives that the captain of the vessel trading with him threatened on his return to shoot every man, woman and child if they did not destroy the spirit and fetish houses. ‘‘And do you think he will do it?” they asked. ‘‘ Undoubtedly,” was the reply. So they were terribly frightened, and some wished to destroy the houses, and others, under the leadership of the priest, were opposed. Three men- friends of O’Brian’s were in favour, and they went into the charm-house, took down the Teo, polluted it and put it back. There was a great noise when the deed was discovered, and suspicion fell on these three men and O’Brian. The three men left the island and went to Nukulailai, and of course were thus self-condemned. The spirit-master accordingly performed his charms, and told the people that these three men were now dead. One of the three men, Leveri, had a twin brother who remained in Funafuti after the flight of Leveri, and he was terribly grieved over his brother’s death ; the other men also were much regretted, and the whole population went into mourning—cut- ting off their hair, they made necklaces of it to wear round their necks, abstained from eating taro, and in other ways showed their grief. One day, however, Leveri returned in a ship; the people could not eredit it, and said it must be his spirit. Leveri, how- ever, cried out to them in his own proper voice, and they had then no doubt that he was alive ; they asked him about the other two men, and learnt that they also were alive and well, and meant soon to return. Then there was great uproar, and the people cried, ‘‘ Burn the devil’s house.” O’ Brian did not wait for further orders, but went off with a half-caste and set both the devil’s and the charm house on fire. The spirit-master, or devil- master, seized the Teo and escaped with it in his canoe to the lagoon. But O’Brian took his double-barrelled gun and went after him, and threatened to shoot him if he did not bring it back: knowing well that if this devil-master escaped with the Teo, the people would begin to worship it again on the first opportunity. The devil-master came back, and O’Brian took the Teo, unwound the stone from its wrappings—it was a red stone from six to eight inches long—and dashed it in pieces on the ground. Then he fired his gun through the roof of the burning house and exclaimed, ‘‘ There goes your devil up in the air! See him!” And all the people said ‘* Tschah!”’ an expression of great surprise. The devil-master threatened proceedings from the next world. ‘*Now,” said he and his friends, ‘‘never more any turtles, no bonitos, no fish in lagoon.” There was a devil’s house on the northern island, and O’ Brian and Matika went in their canoe to burn that down too; on the way they got hundreds of black fish, and brought them back to the islanders. The people said, ‘‘ God was sorry for the devil, and gave these fish to atone.”” So they gave them away (to the devil-master ?). The turtle is taboo to all but the king. When one is caught it is brought to the king, who recites the following formula over it before cutting it up :— Te ailu o te fonu The body of the turtle Te ika mua e soa The fore paddles are fellows (a pair) Te ika muti e soa The hind paddles are a pair Te vaesiosio e soa The lungs are a pair Te alaga mua e soa The arms are a pair Te alaga muti e soa The legs are a pair Te matua tinae e soa The breast is a pair Te puloa e soa The belly is a pair Te laukape e soa The back is a pair Te matua lua e soa The small guts are a pair Te lakau e soa 5 The great intestine is a pair NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | Te fatumava e soa The liver is a pair Te ate e soa The fat under the armpits is a pair Te mama e kiukiu te fua He then divides it among himself and his relatives. I have attempted, with the help of the natives, to translate all the lines except the last, which O'Brian told me meant “the eggs are thousands and thousands.” The formula as I give it is copied from the writing of a native scribe, who took it down in our presence as the king recited it. July 19, 1896. W. J. SOLEAS; UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. OxForbD.—The following have been elected to the University Mathematical Scholarships and Exhibition for 1897 :—To the Senior Mathematical Scholarship: E. E. Roberts (Corpus Christi College). Proxtme accessit: E. Lawton (Corpus Christi College), to whom the Examiners have awarded Lady Herschel’s Book for Astronomy. To the Junior Mathematical Scholarship : W. M. Roberts (scholar of Corpus Christi College). Proxime accesstt ; R. F. McNeile (scholar of Balliol College). Mr. C. L. Shadwell, Fellow of Oriel College, has been appointed a Curator of the Botanic Garden, in place of Mr. F. T. Richards. The General Medical Council has decided not to register as medical students those who have only passed Responsions. They will henceforth require a knowledge of Algebra up to simple equations, and of Euclid, Books I.-III., with easy deductions, in addition to the ordinary subjects of the examination. Steps are being taken to meet these requirements. The Junior Scientific Club met on February 3, Mr. A. W. Brown (Christ Church), President, in the chair. Mr. Percy Elford exhibited a series of specimens illustrating the evolution of the match. Mr. A. E. Boycott (Oriel) read a valuable and interesting paper on shell colouration in British extra-marine mollusca ; and Mr. B. H. Rolfe (Merton) discussed the effect of climate on building-stone. The President announced that the first volume of ‘‘ Robert Boyle Lectures” would shortly be published. The Professorship of Geology is still vacant. At present arrangements are being made for the instruction of those who wish to study geology at the Museum. The new Professor will in all probability be appointed in the course of the present term. Mr. F. F. Fison has been elected to a Casberd Scholarship in Mathematics at St. John’s College. CAMBRIDGE.—The degree of Master of Arts, Aonor?s causa, is to be conferred on Dr. A. A. Kanthack, Deputy-Professor of Pathology. The Senate has assigned a stipend of £250 to Dr. Joseph Griffiths while he is discharging the duties of the Professor of Surgery during the vacancy of the chair, The Senate has also made a grant of £50 to the University Lecturer in Geography (Mr. Yule-Oldham) for additional maps and apparatus. Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., has been appointed an Elector to the chair of Botany; Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S., an Elector to the chair of Geology ; Sir W. H. Flower, F.R.S., an Elector to the chair of Zoology; Dr. A. S. Lea, F.R.S., an Elector to the chair of Physiology ; and Dr. J. Sully, an Elector to the chair of Mental Philosophy. Lorp HERSCHELL recently opened new technical schools at Swindon. They are built upon a site generously presented by Major Rolleston, at a cost of £12,000, towards which the New Swindon District Council contribute £7500, the Wilts County Council £3500, and the Science and Art Department £1000. THE National Association of Manual Training Teachers has issued a circular letter asking teachers of manual training, ‘© Whether the making of apparatus and instruments for physics (as suggested in the Physics’ Syllabus, Form 74, of the Science and Art Department) interferes educationally with manual training ?” THE Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee have resolved to apply to the County Council to sanction a salary of £250 a year, with an additional £100 for travelling expenses, in con- 356 NATURE [ FEBRUARY II, 1897 nection with the post of lecturer to the Committee. There is a difficulty in obtaining a competent mam at the salary originally decided upon. THE Technical Education Committee of the Berkshire County Council have advised the Council to establish four agricultural exhibitions of the value of £35 each, to be open to boys be- tween fourteen and sixteen, and tenable for two years at the Dauntsey Agricultural School, which has been established to give a thoroughly practical instruction in the various branches of farm work. THE Committee of Graduates of the University of London unanimously resolved, at a recent meeting :— ‘‘ That the Com- mittee of Graduates of the University of London in favour of the scheme of Lord Cowper’s Commission, express the earnest hope that her Majesty’s Government will again introduce a Bill for the creation of a statutory commission for the reconstitution of the University of London, and assure the Government that such a measure will have their active support.” THE Chairman of the Leicestershire Technical Education Committee informed the County Council, at their meeting on the 3rd inst., that at the present time there was not a single student from Leicestershire at the Midland Dairy Institute, though there were as many as forty last spring. This is owing to the fact that Leicestershire only interests itself in the practice of cheese-making, which cannot be satisfactorily carried out in the winter. But since there are so many branches of agriculture which can be properly studied during the winter months, it seems a misfortune that Leicestershire should reap no advantage from its contributions to the support of the Dairy Institute during so large a part of the year. THE following are among recent appointments :—Dr. Johann Riickert to be professor of anatomy in the University of Munich; Dr, Liznar to be professor of meteorology and terrestrial magnetism in the Technical High School at Vienna ; Dr. R. Schiissler to be professor of geometry in the Technical High School at Graz; Dr. C. J. Martin to be provisionally the successor to Dr. G. B. Halford as professor cf physiology in the University of Sydney ; Dr. Arnaldo Maggiora to be professor of experimental hygiene in Modena University ; Dr. A. Serafina to be professor of experimental hygiene in the University of Padua. Among recent calls are:—Dr. Felix Auerbach, of Jena, to be professor of physics at Strasburg; Dr. Franz, assistant in the Observatory of Kénigsberg, to be associate pro- fessor of astronomy at Breslau. Ir is announced in the Zazcet, that the present Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews—the Marquis of Bute—has undertaken to erect at his own cost, under certain conditions, four new laboratories, lecture-rooms, museums, work-rooms, Xc., for the departments of anatomy, physiology, materia medica, and botany. These laboratories will be provided with al modern appliances for teaching and research purposes. They will form a most important addition to the existing natural philosophy, natural history, and chemical departments. As the laboratories are to be built apart from the existing colleges on ground of their own, they will, of necessity, form the head- quarters of the extended medical school there, which school will henceforth be known as the ‘‘ Bute School of Medicine,” in commemoration of the generous donour. AT a recent meeting of the Senate of the University of Wales, the question of fellowships, scholarships, exhibitions and prizes, to be established in connection with the University, was again discussed. The Senate recommended that there should be four fellowships of at least £100 per annum, tenable for two years, with possible renewal for a third year in recogni- tion of exceptional merit. The prizes will be open both to graduates and undergraduates, and will be awarded for excel- lence of attainment in departments of study recognised by the University. The fellowships, scholarships, and exhibitions will be confined to graduates of the University. Fellowships will be only conferred for very distinguished merit, and will be tenable on condition of residence at some approved seat of learning or research, and on the active pursuit of original in- vestigation. They will be awarded by the Court on the recom- mendation of the Senate, the Senate acting on the recommend- ation of a small Standing Committee specially appointed for this purpose. The Standing Committee will require informa- Hon as to the subjects of research or advanced study to which NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | candidates propose to devote themselves, and (in the event of their election) receive from time to time reports as to their work and progress. WE are glad that the Prince of Wales has again shown his interest in the excellent work of the Technical Education Board of the London County Council, by presiding at the distribution of prizes and certificates on Friday last. The magnitude of the work of the Board is shown by the fact that the number of scholars and exhibitioners who were elected in 1896 is 893, made up as follows :—5 senior county scholars ; 70 intermediate county scholars ; 588 junior county scholars ; 18 schools of art scholars ; 21 artisan art scholars ; 95 junior artisan evening art exhibitioners ; 85 evening science exhibitioners; 2 horticul- tural scholars; 9 domestic economy training scholars. The total pecuniary value of these scholarships and exhibitions amounts to about £40,000. Theamount placed at the disposal of the Board for the coming year is £150,000. In the course of an address at the close of the presentation of the certificates, the Prince of Wales pointed out that the Technical Education Board has made grants to University College, King’s College, and Bedford College, under such conditions as are cal- culated to place the highest technical teaching of these institu- tons within the reach of those students who could not otherwise afford to devote several of the best years of their lives to a course of University study. Under these conditions evening classes in certain subjects, especially in those connected with mechanical and electrical engineering, have been conducted on precisely the same lines as the day classes, and by the same professors and lecturers ; and on Saturdays the professors have undertaken to give instruction in several classes to teachers, who thus enjoy the advantages of all the resources of the best University institutions. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Royal Society, January 21.—‘‘ Experiments on Examination of the Peripheral Distribution of the Fibres of the Posterior Roots of some Spinal Nerves, Part II.” By C. S. Sherrington, F.R.S., Holt Professor of Physiology, University College, Liverpool. Received November 12, 1896. This paper is in continuation of one brought before the Society in 1892, and published in P&z’. Zrans., vol. 184, B. The communication is divided into four sections. In Section I. the field of peripheral distribution of each root is described from the Vth cervical to the lower end of the brachial region. Particular attention was paid to the question of the skin-fields of the several divisions, ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular of the cranial Vth, in order to see if the fields possessed the characters of segmental skin-fields, or those of peripheral nerve-trunk skin- fields. They were found to conform with the latter, not with the former. A curious relation of the posterior edge of the field of the Vth to the external ear is found to exist, indicating that the position of the visceral cleft is still adhered to as a boundary line for the field of the trigeminus. The sense of taste as well as of touch is found to be destroyed in the anterior two-thirds of the tongue after intracranial section of the Vth; this makes it - extremely doubtful whether the corda tympani can have gustatory functions in the monkey, as has been believed in some cases in man. No loss of eye-movements, or interference with them, has been found to result from intracranial section of the Vth. After cranial Vth and all the upper cervical posterior roots have been severed, there still persists a small field of sentient skin, which includes the external auditory meatus and a part of the pinna. This field, although not corresponding to the situation given by anthropotomists to the distribution of the auricular branch of the vagus, may come either from it or the glossopharyngeal. It presents interest as being the only field representing the whole cutaneous distribution of a nerve, which does not conform with the rules of zonal distribution holding good in the case of each of the other nerve-roots examined, and these now include the whole craniospinal series. The posterior root of the Ist cervical nerve has a skin-field in the cat, which includes the pinna. The posterior root of the same nerve in Macacus has no skin-field at all, its skin-field having apparently been included in the IInd cervical of Macacus, not in the cranial Vth. The root fields contributing to the surface of the brachial limb are IIIrd, 1Vth, Vth, VIth, VIIth, and VIIIth cervical, FEBRUARY 11, 1897 | NATURE and Ist, IInd, and IIIrd thoracic. Of these, the VIIIth cervical is the only one which includes the whole of the surface of the free apex of the limb; its distribution in this respect closely resembles that of the VIth lumbar sensory root in the pelvic limb. The IInd section of the communication deals with the degree of conformity between the distribution of the spinal ganglion fibres in the skin and their distribution in the underlying deep tissues of the limb. It is shown that, although the séz fields of the ganglia are in the middle of the limb region dislocated from the median line of the body, the fibres of the root ganglion are nevertheless, when their deep distribution is taken into account, distributed to a complete ray of tissue extending in an unbroken fashion from the median plane of the body out along the limb to (in the case of the nerves, extending furthest into the limb) the very apex of it. This distribution conforms, therefore, with that shown in a previous paper to be typical of the distri- bution of the ventral (motor) root. The distinction is not, there- fore, as between afferent and efferent, but as between cutaneous and muscular. A detailed analysis of the distribution of the deep sensory fibres is in this paper carried out for the VIth lumbar spinal ganglion of Macacus rhesus ; this ganglion was chosen because its skin-field, occupying the free apex of the lower limb, is one as far dislocated from the median line of the body as any in the whole spinal series, and presents, therefore, the greatest apparent discrepancy between the distribution of its afferent and efferent roots. A comparison of the distribution of the afferent and efferent roots in this (VIth lumbar) nerve was made by means of the Wallerian method ; the results show the peripheral distribution of the two to be minutely similar. From this, and from other observations given, the rule is put forward as a definitely established one that the sensory nerves of a skeletal muscle in all cases derive from the spinal ganglion (or ganglia) corresponding segmentally with that (or those) contain- ing the motor cells, whence issue motor nerve-fibres to the muscle. The reflex arc, in which the afferent and efferent nerve- cells innervating a muscle are components, need not, therefore, as far as anatomical composition is concerned, involve irradiation through more than a single spinal segment. Section III. deals with general features of arrangement recognisable in the distribution of the roots. —Comparison between the human brachial plexus and that of Macacus is made, and it is pointed out that the human plexus is slightly prefixed, as compared with that of Macacus. Finally, in Section IV., various spinal reactions are examined, especially with reference to their effects upon the size and other features of the areas of the root-fields, &c., and the results collated and discussed. “* Cataleptoid Reflexes in the Monkey.” By C. S. Sherring- ton, F.R.S., Holt Professor of Physiology, University College, Liverpool. Received December 29, 1896. The reflex movements, the subject of this note, are of extremely prolonged duration, and absolutely devoid of clonic or alternating character. If the cerebral hemispheres be removed e.g. from a monkey, and if a finger of one of the monkey’s hands be stimulated, for instance, by dipping it into a cup of hot water, there results an extensive reflex reaction involving movement of the whole upper limb. The wrist is extended, the elbow flexed, the shoulder protracted, the upper arm being drawn forward and somewhat across the chest. The movement occurs after a variable and usually prolonged period of latent excitation. The movement, although it may be fairly rapid, strikes the observer each time as perfectly deliberate ; it is of curiously steady and ‘‘smooth” performance. Sometimes it is carried out quite slowly, and then, asa rule, the extent of itis less ample. The most striking feature of the reflex is, however, that when the actual movement has been accomplished the contractzon of the muscles employed in it does not cease or become superseded by the action of another group, but ts continued even for ten and twenty minutes at a time. The new attitude assumed by the limb is maintained, and that too without clonus or even tremor. In the instance cited, namely, that of the fore limb, the posture assumed suggests the taking of a forward step in quadrapedal progression, and in that posture the animal will remain for a quarter of an hour at a time. The degree of, for instance, flexion assumed in the new pos- ture seems much dependent on the intensity and duration of the stimulus applied. If the degree is extreme, the attitude of the limb may not be maintained to its full extent for the time men- tioned ; thus, the elbow, at first fully flexed, will in the course NO. 1424, VOL. 55] of a minute or so be found to have opened somewhat. This opening can be often seen to occur fer saltum, as it were, but the steps are quite small, and recurrent at unequal intervals of between perhaps a quarter of a minute anda minute. After some relaxation from the extreme phase of the posture has taken place, the less pronounced attitude, ¢.g. semiflexion at the elbow, may persist without alteration obvious to inspection for ten minutes or more, Apart from the occasional step-like relaxations, the contraction of the muscles is so steady as to give an even line when registered by the myograph. A renewed stimulation of the finger excites further flexion, which is main- tained as before in the way above described. The posture can be set aside without difficulty by taking hold of the limb and unbending it; the resistance felt in the process of so doing is slight ; the posture thus broken down is not reassumed when the limb is then released. Analogous results are obtainable on the hind limb. Hot water applied to a toe evokes always, so far as I have seen, flexion of ankle and knee; usually of hip also. This movement is ‘* deliberately’ executed, and always institutes a maintained posture. Not the least interesting part of the reflexes under considera- tion is a remarkable glimpse which they allow into the scope of reflex inhibition as regards the coordinate of movements of the limbs. Although the posture taken up by the right fore limb consequent upon excitation of a finger is symmetrically duplicated by the left limb when both hands are simultaneously stimulated, the effect of excitation of the two hands does not lead to symmetrical posture if the excitation be not synchronous but successive. If when the right arm has already assumed its posture in response to an excitation of the right hand, the left hand be stimulated, there results, while the left arm in obedience to the excitation is lifted and placed in the flexed posture, an immediate and, if the stimulus be at all more than slight, complete relaxation of the right arm. The right arm drops flaccid, while the left is raised and maintained in the raised attitude. Similarly, excitation of the right foot breaks: down the posture assumed by the right arm, and conversely, and even more easily, stimulation of the right hand breaks down a posture assumed by the right leg. Again, a nip of the right pinna causes relinquishment of a posture assumed by the right arm or by the right leg. If the right pinna is pinched when both arms are in this cataleptoid posture, complete inhibition can be readily exerted on the right arm, but usually only partial relinquishment can be induced in the left arm. To exert com- plete inhibition upon the posture of the left arm, the pinna pinched must be that of the left side. Similarly the posture reflexly: evoked by appropriate stimulation of either hind limb . can be inhibited by excitation of either pinna or of either fore limb, but predominantly by pinna and fore limb of the same side as the limb to be inhibited. The inhibition of the hind limb is much more easily elicited from the opposite hind limb - than from the opposite fore limb or opposite ear. I have- never yet seen it obtained diagonally upon the fore limb from, the opposite hind limb, February 4.—‘‘ On Lunar Periodicities in Earthquake Fre- quency.” By C. G. Knott, Lecturer on Applied Mathematics, Edinburgh University (formerly Professor of Physics, Imperial University, Japan). Received November 4, 1896. General Conclustons.—The conclusions are summarised under eight heads. (a) There is evidence that the earthquake frequency in Japan is subject to a periodicity associated with the lunar day. (4) The lunar half-daily period is particularly in evidence, both by reason of its relative prominence and the regularity with which, in each of two groups of the several seismic dis- tricts, its phase falls in relation to the time of meridian passage of the moon. (c) There is no certain evidence that the loading and unload- ing due to the flow and ebb of ocean tides have any effect on seismic frequency. (d) Hence we must look to the direct tidal stress of the moon, in its daily change, as the most probable cause of a range in frequency which does not exceed 6 per cent. of the average frequency. (e) There is distinct evidence, both as regards amplitude and phase, of a fortnightly periodicity associated with the times of conjunction and opposition of the sun and moon. (7) No definite conclusion can be drawn from the apparent monthly and fortnightly periodicities which seem to be 358 WAT OTE: [FEBRUARY 11, 1897 associated with the periodic changes in the moon’s distance and declination, for the simple reason that fully as prominent har- monic components exist when the statistics are analysed accord- ing to the periodic change in the moon’s position relative to the eclepitc, and with this particular period no tidal stresses can be directly associated. (g) Nevertheless, the value of the phase lends some support to the view that there is a real connection between the change in the moon’s distance and earthquake frequency, since the maximum frequency falls near the time of perigee. (4) These conclusions have, in comparison with previous similar investigations, a peculiar value, inasmuch as they are based upon accurate statistics of fully 7000 earthquakes occurring within eight years in a limited part of the earth’s crust, through- out which the seismic conditions may be assumed to be fairly similar from point to point. February 4.—‘* Some Experiments on Helium.” By Morris W. Travers. Communicated by Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S. Received December 30, 1896. Geological Society, January 20.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—On glacial phenomena of Paleozoic Age in the Varanger Fiord, by Aubrey Strahan. The Gaisa beds of the Varanger Fiord consist of slightly altered quartz-grits, with red sandstones and shales, and rest upon a deeply denuded surface of the metamorphic rocks. Ina section, first noticed by Dr. Reusch, a heterogeneous mixture of grit and clay with boulders of granitic and other rocks is seen to be intercalated between the quartz-grits, the bedding of the over- lying grit proving that this boulder-rock was contemporaneously formed, and not subsequently wedged in. The surface of the grit below the rock is characteristically glaciated. Proof was given that the striated surface is not the floor of a thrust-plane, and that the boulder-rock is not a fault-breccia or a crush-con- glomerate, but a ‘‘till.” In the absence of fossils the Gaisa formation was doubtfully assigned to an early Paleozoic age. It exhibits the same sedimentary characters as the rocks of later date in other parts of the world in which glacial phenomena have been observed. The glacial episode was attributed to a temporary change of climate rather than to the high latitude in which the section lies. —The raised beaches and glacial deposits of the Varanger Fiord, by Aubrey Strahan. The raised beaches range up to nearly 300 feet above the sea. Though a number of impersistent shingle-banks occur at various heights, the highest is constant, and can be traced along the same level either as a shingly terrace or by a zone of wave-worn rocks. Evidence is furnished by the relative size of different parts of the beach that the prevalent wave-action was from the west, and by the greater abundance of erratics on or below the beach than above it, that floating ice was at work. At the head of the fiorda blue clay dotted over with stones is now being formed, and the raised beach there consists of a similar material. Both here and elsewhere this clay stimulates a boulder clay ; but for reasons given it was believed to bea marine fiord-deposit, into which many stones have been dropped by floating ice. Deposits of true glacial age, in the form of mounds of gravel, were described, and shown to have yielded the material out of which parts of the raised beaches were formed. The glaciation of the fiord was attributed to floating ice, and was shown to have taken place before the formation of the raised beaches, at a time when the sea surrounded this part of Finmark, by way of the Varanger Fiord, the Tana Valley, and the Tana Fiord. In the discussion upon the two papers, the President congratulated the author on the admirable manner in which he had worked out the evidence produced from the Varanger Fiord, and on his being able to show so conclusively that the views put forward by Dr. Reusch were substantially correct. Sir Archibald Geikie referred to one or two difficulties in the interpretations adopted by the author, one of the most obvious being the striated pavement of quartzite below the boulder-bed. This difficulty, however, was not insuperable, With regard to the age of the Gaisa series, Sir Archibald Geikie remarked that he was inclined to adopt the view of Dr. Reusch, who compared this series with the sparagmite of Central and Southern Norway. He himself had seen the Sparagmite 27 sz¢a, and had been much struck with its general resemblance, both in scenery and in lithology, with the Torri- donian rocks of north-west Scotland. It was, like those rocks older than the Cambrian system. Dr. J. W. Gregory pointed out that the previous failure to discover traces of glacial action NO. 1424, VOL. 55] in high northern latitudes in pre-Pleistocene times gave wide interest to Reusch’s paper; and the corroboration of his views by Mr. Strahan was of great value. He thought the deposits of special interest, as similar conglomerates occupying identic- ally the same stratigraphical position occur all round the Polar basin, and in places where their age can be proved. In Spitz- bergen the occurrence of the conglomerates was discovered last summer, and they are there pre-Devonian. Evidence seems to show that the conglomerates are probably part of a circumpolar belt. Mr. Hudleston corroborated the author’s statements as to the nature of the country and of the arenaceous quartzite system prevailing in Eastern Finmark. Beyond the region shown in his map, on the eastern side of the Tana Fiord, the Stauganes Fjeld rises rather steeply to heights probably reaching 3000 feet. This is a quartzite wilderness, almost as white as snow, having a strong external resemblance to the quartzite-mountains of the North-western Highlands ; the system might thus include both Torridonian and basal Cambrian beds. The importance of the author’s verification of Reusch’s statements was very great. The late Dr. Croll had been desirous of obtaining evidences of glaciation in the several formations anterior to the great Ice Age. His failure to do so he attributed to the circumstance that the evidences of glaciation are to be found principally on land- surfaces, and that the transformation of a land-surface into a sea-bottom would in most cases obliterate all traces of glaciation. A striated bed-rock went much further in this direction than mere boulders and striated stones; and, as far as he (the speaker) knew, these occurrences on the Varanger Fiord were the only ones as yet established in the northern hemisphere, with some possible exceptions in the case of the Talchirs. For a grander exhibition of striated bed-rock they must look to the southern hemisphere: Prof. Edgeworth David had recently brought before the Society such evidence from Southern Australia, referred to the Permo-Carboniferous period. Chemical Society, January 21.—Mr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, President, in the chair.—The following papers were read : Observations on the properties of some highly purified substances, by W. A. Shenstone. The author shows that oxygen is far more readily ozonised when moist than when dry ; the conversion of ozone into oxygen is greatly retarded by the presence of moisture. Carefully purified and dried chlorine combines readily with mercury, but is not condensed by a silent electrical discharge.—The action of diastase on starch, by A. R. Ling and J. L. Baker. Starch, when hydrolysed by diastase; is converted into a series of maltodextrins of gradually decreasing molecular weight and rotatory power and of increas- ing cupric reducing power.—The solution density and cupric reducing power of dextrose, lzevulose and invert-sugar, by H. T. Brown, G. H. Morris, and J. H. Millar.—Derivatives of maclurin, Part II., by A. G. Perkin. Although maclurin yields no definite acetyl-derivatives, a triacetyl-derivative of maclurin- azobenzene can be prepared; similarly the azobenzene of phloroglucin yields a monacetyl-derivative.— Halogen-substi- tuted acidic thiocarbimides and their derivatives ; a contribution to the chemistry of the thiohydantoins, by A. E. Dixon. By the action of primary or secondary amines on halogen-substi- tuted thiocarbimides a number of substituted thiohydantoins have been prepared.The amyl (secondary butyl-methyl) derivatives of glyceric, diacetylglyceric, and dibenzoylglyceric acids, active and inactive, by P. Frankland and T. S. Price. The authors have prepared a number of inactive and active amyl salts of substituted glyceric acids, and investigated the . effect of temperature on their rotatory powers and the relations between the rotations.—The refraction constants of crystalline salts, by A. E. Tutton.—The refraction constants of crystalline salts: a correction, by W. J. Pope.—On the wide dissemina- tion of some of the rarer elements and the mode of their asso- ciation in common ores and minerals, by W. N. Hartley and Hi: Ramage. Out of 168 ores and minerals examined, 68 con- tained gallium, 30 contained indium, 17 contained thallium, and 70 probably contained rubidium ; conclusions are drawn respecting the formation of beds and lodes of ore, and relations are found to exist between the periodic classification and the distribution of the elements. Zoological Society, February 2.—Prof. George B. Howes in the chair.—Mr. Sclater exhibited a collection of bird-skins that had been formed by Mr. W. A. Churchill, H.B.M. Consul at Mozambique, during various shooting-excursions along the shores within twenty miles of the island of Mozambique.—Mr. FEBRUARY IT, 1897] NLA LURE. 2 59 o R. E. Holding, on behalf of Sir Douglas Brooke, Bart., ex- hibited a head and two pair of shed horns of a fallow deer. The latter showed curious deformities in consequence of disease of the frontal bone.—Mr. G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton gave a short general account of his expedition to the Fur-Seal Islands of the North Pacific during the summer of 1896, in company with Prof. D’Arcy Thompson. This journey had been under- taken on behalf of the Foreign and Colonial Offices, with a view to the investigation of the natural history of the northern fur-seal (O¢arza urstna), with special reference to certain dis- puted points which had a distinct bearing on the industry con- nected with the skins of the animal. A detailed report of Mr. Barrett-Hamilton’s investigations would be issued as a Parlia- mentary Blue Book.—Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., read a paper entitled ‘‘ A Catalogue of the Reptiles and Batrachians of Celebes, with special reference to the collections made by Drs. P. and F. Sarasin in 1893-1896.” This memoir gave a complete list (with descriptions) of all the reptiles and batra- chians, with the exception of the marine species, known to occur in the Celebes. The number of species of reptiles enum- erated was 83, and of+batrachians 21.—Mr. Martin Jacoby contributed to our knowledge of the African fauna by describing 43 species of Phytophagous Coleoptera, 37 of which were new, based on specimens contained in collections sent home to him from Natal and Mashonaland by Mr. Guy A. K; Marshall, and from Madagascar by M. Alluand, of Paris. CAMBRIDGE. Philosophical Society, January 25.—Mr. F. Darwin, President, in the chair.—Some results obtained by staining the brain with the chrome-silver method (illustrated by photo- micrographs), by Dr. A. Hill. Dr. Hill showed a granule of the olfactory bulb with a looped axis-cylinder, and also certain forms of granule of the cerebellum not hitherto described. He also exhibited sections and photographs showing the variations in the form of the “thorns” on the dendrites of nerve-cells, which can be produced by varying the hardening process: (1) The thorns may be absent; (2) they may be long or short ; (3) they may have the typical form of a minute rod with a dot at the end, or the dots may be divided and lie on the course of the rod; (4) they may be replaced by long filaments.—A possible explanation of the quinqueloculine arrangement of the chambers of the microspheric forms of triloculine and biloculine shells of the miliolidz (foraminifera), by Mr. J. J. Lister. It was sug- gested that the quinqueloculine mode of growth in the young microspheric forms of the miliolide may be ancestral and archaic. —On the theory of osmotic forces, by Mr. J. Larmor (will be printed in full). MANCHESTER. Literary and Philosophical Society, January 26.—Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., in the chair.—On a convection scope and calorimeter, by A. R. Bennett. Mr. Bennett described how he had devised a small and exceedingly sensitive motor which begins to revolve the moment it is exposed to daylight in the open air, whether the sun is shining or not, and which will also work all night in clear weather. The delicacy of the motor is such that it is affected by the radiant heat of moonlight. The motive power is due to convection currents caused by the radiant heat of daylight striking through a glass shade with which the instrument is covered; the glass is not heated, but the metal surfaces of the instrument are, and air is conse- quently expanded on the motor surfaces and condensed on the glass, the resulting difference of temperature setting up a con- vection current which does not cease so long as the instrument is exposed to the radiant heat due to visible rays. Descriptions were given of modifications by which surplus heat is automatic- ally stored during the day and employed to drive the instrument at night. During the months of May, June, and July last, such a storage instrument continued in motion without stopping day or night ; and in fine climates, like Egypt, much longer periods of continuous movement could undoubtedly be secured. The speed of the instrument is affected by barometrical pressure and hygroscopic conditions. It is capable of marking the dew-point, and works well even when its glass shade is completely coated with ice or half buried insnow. Mr. Bennett has succeeded in adapting the instrument to act as a calorimeter by first cooling the whole of the instrument to a given temperature, when rotation ceases, and then suspending pieces of heated metal inside. In this way the specific heats of substances can be accurately compared, since the number of rotations caused is in direct proportion to NO 1424, VOL. 55] the amount of introduced heat. The instrument can also be used to measure the comparative heat-retaining power of textile fabrics, boiler compositions, &c., and the relative heat con- ductivities of thin threads and wires. Mr. Bennett has also instituted a series of experiments, as yet incomplete, into the comparative sensitiveness to convection effects of various gases, which promise interesting results, since the differences already noted are unexpectedly great, and, moreover, do not bear any direct relation to the densities or other known physical properties of the gases tried. Paris. Academy of Sciences, February 1.—M. A. Chatin in the chair.—The election of M. Filhol in the Section of Anatomy and Zoology, in the place of M. Sappey, was approved by the President of the Republic.—On a mode of inversion of multiple integrals, by M. Paul Appell.—On the, integration of certain differential equations by series, by M. Emile Picard. —Further details on an apparatus for producing acetylene, by M. H. L. Lechappe.—On a scheme of night signalling on railways by phosphorescence, by M. A. Boullerot.—On a new instrument designed to show the upward or downward movement in balloons, by M. Aug. Coret.—Distance of the solar system, by M. E. Roger. A discussion of the two laws enounced by M. Delauney. It is stated that the first law may be attributed to chance agreement, and that the second is a particular case of a more general law.—On the quadratic integrals of the equations of dynamics, by M. P. Painlevé.—On the laws of interest, by M. Enrico de Montel.—Generalisation of the formule of electromagnetism, by M. Vaschy.—On the molecular conduc- | tivity of salts in dilute solution, by M. P. Joubin.—On the radio-photography of the soft parts of man andanimals, by MM. Remy and Contremoulin. Silver chromate is deposited bya preliminary chemical treatment on the surface, and in the tissues of the muscles. In this way photographs can be obtained by means of the Rontgen rays in which not only the muscles, but even the muscular bundles are clearly visible.—Structural isomerism and rotatory power, by MM. Ph. A. Guye and J. Guerchgorine. The results of an experimental study of the rotatory power of the amyl isovalerates, derived from the three isomeric valeric acids ; of the propyl and butyl valerates, ob- tained from the active valeric acid; and of the propyl and butyl caproates, prepared with caproic acid obtained syntheti- cally by the decomposition of active amyl-malonic acid. It is found that in all cases the normal propyl group behaves as though it were heavier than the isopropyl group, but that the isobutyl group appears to be heavier than the normal butyl group, whilst the latter, again, is heavier than the secondary butyl! group. —Constitution of the combinations of antipyrin with phenols, by M. G. Patein. It isshown that monomethylphenyl-pyrazolone does not combine with phenols, and that the phenol is probably joined, in the case of the combination with antipyrin, to one of the nitrogen atoms.—On the estimation of lipase, the saponi- fying ferment in the blood, by MM. Hanriot and L. Camus. The estimation was carried out by measuring the amount of sodium butyrate formed by the saponification of butyrin during a fixed time. The activity of lipase prepared from the blood serum of the horse was shown by preliminary experi- ments to be unchanged after nearly two months’ preserv- ation; the temperature, however, exerts a considerable in- fluence upon the results, and has to be kept constant during the determination.—On a new method of preparing anatomical specimens, by M. N. Melnikoff-Rasvedenkoff. The specimen is treated successively with a solution of formaline, alcohol (60 to So per cent.), and a solution made up of water (r00), glycerine (20), and potassium acetate (15).—Separation of glycerine in wine by means of a current of steam, by MM. F. Bordas and Sig. de Raczkowski. Test analyses are given showing the accuracy of the method.—Contribution to the study of the action of zinc upon red wines, by M. L. A. Levat. The amount of zinc taken up by the wine is sufficient to make the latter poisonous, and this metal should not be used for taps, or for containing vessels of any kind in which wines are stored. —Structure and mechanism of the bulb in the Mollusca, by M. Alexandre Amandrut.—On a method of mounting rotifers, by M. Nicolas de Zograf. The rotifers are narcotised with a solu- tioe of cocaine hydrochloride, and then’ treated with osmie acid. This is removed and replaced by weak crude wood vinegar, then the animals washed with water and dried by alcohol. The rotifers fixed in this way do not contract their abdominal appendages, cilia, or tentacles. —The castorewme of the roach, by 360 NATORE [FEBRUARY II 1897 M. Jules Gal.—New researches on the Amp lotrogus, by M. E. Roze.—The forms of the parasite of the black rot from autumn to spring, by M. A. Prunet.—On the effects of oil at sea, by M. Baretge. An account of the successful use of oil in break- ing up large waves during a storm. It was found that for the oil to produce its maximum effect, the vessel must havea certain speed depending upon the state of the sea. For the case described a speed of eight knots was found to be the most favourable.—Relations between the masses of the solar system, by M. Delauney.—Note on some questionsin celestial mechanics, by M. J. Mortij. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11. Royat Society, at4.30.—The Oviposition of Naztilus macromphalus : Dr. A. Willey.—Report to the Committee of the Royal Society appointed to investigate the Structure of a Coral Reef by Boring: Prof. Sollas, F.R.S.—The Artificial Insemination of Mammalia and subsequent possible Fertilisation or Impregnation of their Ova : W. Heape.—On the Regenera- tion of Nerves: Dr. R. Kennedy. Roya. INsTITUTION, at 3.—Problems of Arctic Geology: Dr. J. W. Gregory. Socrety or Arts (Imperial Institute), at 4.30.—The Progress of Science Teaching in India: Prof. Jagadis Chundra Bose. Society or Arts, at 8.—The Mechanical Production of Cold: Prof. James A. Ewing, F.R.S. MaTHEMATICAL SocIETY, at 8.—A Theorem in Non-Euclidean Geometry: F. S. Macaulay.—On some General Theorems relating to Conics analogous to Simson’s-Line Theorem: H. M. Taylor. InstiruTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Electric Interlocking the Block and Mechanical Signals on Railways: F. T. Hollins. Camera Cxups, at 8.15.—The Making and Exhibiting of Living Photo- graphs: Birt Acres. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12. Royat InsTITUTION, at 9.—Recent Advances in Seismology Milne, F.R.S. Roya AsTRONOMICAL SocIETY, at 3.—Annual Meeting. Paysicat Socirty, at 5.—Annual Meeting.—Note onthe Use of very small Mirrors with Paraffin Lamp and Seale: Dr. H. H. Hoffert.—On the Thermoelectric Properties of Liquid Metals: W. Beckett Binnie. insTITUTION OF CiviIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Cooling Reservoirs for Con- densing Engines: Harold W. Barker. MALACOLOGICAL Society, at 8.—Annual Meeting. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13. Royat. INSTITUTION, at 3.—The Growth of the Mediterranean Route to the East: W. F. Lord. Roya Boranic Society, at 4. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15. Society oF Arts, at 8.—The Industrial Uses of Cellulose: C. F. Cross. IMPERIAL INSTITUTE, at 8.30.—Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy : Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S. Society or CHEMICAL INDusTRY, at 8.—Adjourned Discussion on Mr. W. J. Dibdin’s Paper on the Character of the London Water Supply. Vicroria INSTITUTE, at 4.30.—Are Acquired Characters Inherited? TUESDAY, Fepruary 16. Roya. INstTiTuTION, at 3.—Animal Electricity : F.R.S. Society or Arts, at 8.—The Progress of Canada during the past Sixty Years of her Majesty's Reign: Joseph G. Colmer, C.M.G - ZooLocicaL SocrETy, at 8.30.—On Echidnocephalus, a Halosauroid Fish from the Upper Cretaceous Formation of Westphalia: A. Smith Wood- ward.—On a Specimen of Acanthocybium solandi from the Arabian Sea: G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S.—Remarks on the Existing Forms of Giraffe: W. E. de Winton. INSTITUTION OF CIvIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Paper to be further discussed : Cold Storage at the London and India Docks: H. F. Donaldson. Reva STATISTICAL SOCIETY, at 5.30.—English Vaccination and Small- pox Statistics ; with special reference to the Report of the Royal Com- mission, and to recent Small-pox Epidemics: Noel A. Humphreys. YRovaL PHOTOGRAPHIC Society, at 8. WEDNESDAY, Fepru ARY 17. Society or Arts, at 8.—Light Railways: Everard R. Calthrop. Royat Me TEOROLOGICAL Society, at 7. 30. —Report on the Phenological Observations for 1896: Edward Mawley, President.—Results of Observa- tions on Haz2 and Transparency near Haslemere, Surrey: Hon. I. A. Rollo Russell. Royat Microscoricat Society, at 8.—On a Simple Method of Micro- : Prof. John Prof. A. D. Waller, photography: G. M. Giles. ENTOMOLOGICAL Society, at 8. THURSDAY, Fesruary 18. j)Reyat Socrety, at 4 30.—The following Papers will probably be read :— -On the Iron Lines present in the Hottest Stars (Preliminary Note): J. N. Lockyer, F.R S.—On the Significance of Brayais’ Formule for Re- gression, &c., in the case of Skew Variation: G. U. Yule.—Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of Evolution. Ona Form of Spurious Cor- relation which may arise when Indices are used in the Measurement of - Organs: Prof. K. Pearson, F R.S.—Note to the Memoir of Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., on Spurious Correlation: F. Galton, F.R.S Roya INSTITUTION, at 3.—Problems of Arctic Conlaeee ‘Dr. J. Wie Gregory. Socrery or Arts, at 8.—The Mechanical Production of Cold: Prof. James A. Ewing, F.R. st Linnean Society, at 8.—On certain Points in the Anatomy and Morpho- logy of the Nympheeacea : D. T. Gwynne Vaughan.—The Adhesive Discs of Ercilla spicata, Uog.: T. H. Burrage. NO. 1424, VOL. 55 | Curmicat Society, at 8.—The Oxidation of Sulphurous Acid by Potassium Permanganate : ace Dymond and F. Hughes.—S osdamide and some of its Substitution Deriva ives; also Rubidamide: Dr. A. W. Titherley. CamerRA C up, at 8.15. Practical Use of X-Rays : Sydney Rowland. FRIDAY, Fesruary 109. Royat INsTITUTION, at 9.—The Approaching Return of the Great Swarm of November Meteors : Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S. GEOLoGIcAL SocieETy, at 3.—Annual Meeting. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL Society, at 8. SATURDAY, Fepsruary 20. Roya. InstTiTuTION, a 3.—Growth of the Mediterranean Route to the East: W. F. Lord. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—Is Natural Selection the Creator of Species?: D. Graham (Digby).—Everybody’s Guide to Photography : “‘QOperator’’ (Saxon).— Everybody's English Song-Book: ‘‘ Basso” (Saxon). —Star Atlas : Prof. W. Upton (Ginn).—Calendar, &c., of the Department of Science and Art, 1897 (Eyre).—Bacteria of the Sputa and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth: Dr, F. Vicentini, translated by Rey. E. J. Stutter and Prof. E. Saieghi (Bailligre).—Les Succédanés du Chiffon en Papeterie: V. Urbain (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—Projectiles de Campagne de Siége et de Place. Fusées : E. Vallier (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—L'Eclairage: Eclairage aus Gaz, &c.: Prof. J. Lefevre (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).—A Text-Book of Histology : A. Clarkson (Bristol, Wright) —Annales de L'Observatoire Météorologique du Mont Blanc, Tome ii. (Paris, Steinheil).—Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington, Vol. xii. (Washington). Pamputets.—First Records of British Flowering Plants: W. A. Clarke (West).—Casa Grande Ruin: C. Mindeleff (Washington).—Some Analogies in the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and America: L. F. Ward (Washing- ton).—Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona: C. Mindeleff (Wash- ington). SERIALS.—Scribner’s Magazine, February (S. Low).—Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, No. 125, Vol. xxv. (Spon).—Strand Magazine, February (Newnes).—Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, January (New York, Macmillan).—Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol. xxi. No. 3, Pp. 161-248 (Edinburgh).—Physical Review, Part xxii. (Macmillan). —Geographical Journal, February (Stan- ford). —Proceedings of the Academy of National Sciences of Philadelphia, 1896, Part 2 (Philadelphia).—Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum, No. 47, Part x (Washington).—Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. v. (Des Moines). — Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, second series Vol. x. Part 4 (Philadelphia). CONTENTS. PAGE Science and Morality.—In the Year 2000. By H. e/a cae eo Sia A Student's Course of ‘Astronomy . 339 Our Book Shelf :— “ Register of the Associates and Old Students of the Royal College of Chemistry, the Royal School of Mines, and the Royal College of Science” . . - 340 Wright: ‘‘ Fruit-Culture for Amateurs ” 340 “ Annuaire del’ Observatoire Municipal de Montsouris, pour l’Année 1897”... . ° Sn te Re ‘« Essays of George John Romanes”. ... 1... « 340 Letters to the Editor:— The Direct Synthesis of Optically Active Proteid-like Substances. —Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S. 341 Carbon in Bright-Line Stars. —J. Norman Lockyer, C.B:, F.R:S. ae 341 Origin of the Cultivated Cineraria. eR. ‘Irwin ‘Lynch 341 Prichard and Acquired Characters. —Wilfred Mark Webb; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S.... 342 Rainfall fa the Lake District. (W2th Diagram.)— IASB IM soe 342 The Epistemology of Natural Science and Mr. Karl Pearson.—Prof. Paul Volkmann; Prof, Karl Pearson, F.RuSceeeee oo. a ee 342 Durham Degrees in Science. 54 343 On the Conductive Effect produced. in Air by Rontgen Rays and by Ultra-violet Light. (W7th Diagrams.) By Lord Kelvin, G.C.V.O., F.R.S., Dr. J. C. Beattie, and Dr. Smoluchowski de Smolan . 343 The Effect of Magnetisation on the Nature of Light emitted by a Substance. By Dr. P. Zeeman 3 TAGES [oss s ns &. ic 10 tein py ae Eee Our Astronomical Column: — The Period of Rotation of Jupiter's Spots . . . 352 The Spectrum of ¢Puppis . . . . a ee 352 The Spectroscopic Binary a! Geminorum ee 352 Nansen’s Arctic Expedition . + twee: The Legendary History of Funafuti, Ellice Group. By Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S.. . A tile bs Sys) University and Educational Intelligence oy ete ES SS) Societies. and. Academiestemeenjn =). .))\s (0 isieeOSO Diary of Societies . . o/s gS OO) Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 8 6 360 NATURE 361 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1897. OUR MARKETABLE MARINE FISHES. The Natural History of the Marketable Marine Fishes of the British Islands. By J. T. Cunningham, M.A. Pp. xvi + 368, 2 maps, and numerous cuts. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) HE great Fisheries Exhibition held in London in 1883 gave a marked impulse to the study of our sea-fisheries, and drew the attention both of scientific men and of the more enlightened of the general public to the importance of the subject and to the necessity of endeavouring to “arrive at an accurate estimate of the causes which determine the movements and the varia- tions in abundance of the animals which produce the harvest of the sea.” The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, founded shortly afterwards (1884), has done much during the last decade to trace out the life-histories and habits of many of our food fishes ; the scientific investigations of the Fishery Board for Scotland, and the researches carried on at Prof. M‘Intosh’s marine laboratory at St. Andrews, have done still more; and other public bodies and individuals round the coast have assisted in a less degree in collect- ing the information which has made possible such a book as the one before us. Mr. Cunningham, who has been employed since 1887 as “naturalist” by the Marine Biological Asso- ciation at their Plymouth laboratory, produced some years ago a finely illustrated monograph on the common sole; and now, under the direction of the Council of the same body, he has prepared this work on our marketable marine fishes, with the view of bringing before the general reader, in a connected nar- rative form, the gist of the information contained in the numerous technical memoirs which have appeared from various laboratories during the last few years. It is generally agreed that the fisherman might with advantage know a great deal more than he does about the objects of his search, but there are some of us who think that at the present juncture what is most required is an educated public opinion. It is probably as important for the future of fisheries investigation and improvement, and of just legislation in regard to the fisheries, that the general public should have opportunities of learning and realising the truth in regard to the habits and life-histories of food fishes, and the inter-relations of animals in the sea, as it is that the fisherman himself should be instructed in such matters. In addition to public lectures, by competent authorities, and the establishment of technical fisheries museums, the publication of books such as the present one, and the larger work which we understand Prof. M‘Intosh is preparing, should not only prove useful to those who are, or ought ¢o de, interested in fishery matters, either for profit or from the legislative point of view, but will serve as a guide in forming opinions on those fishery questions which have now to be discussed and decided by County Councils and Committees for Technical Instruction, by Conservancy and other Boards, in Law Courts and in the House of Commons. The Marine Biological Association has been aided by NO. 1425, VOL. 55] large grants from Her Majesty’s Treasury on the under- standing that special attention should be directed to the investigation of sea-fish and sea-fisheries, and the present volume will naturally be taken as stating the general conclusions arrived at by Mr. Cunningham, the member of the staff especially charged with the fishery investiga- tion, both from his own work and the consideration of the work of other naturalists at various points around the British coast. Under these circumstances it is to be regretted that Mr. Cunningham has not made more use than appears in his book of the statistics and other local investigations of the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Com- mittee. Most of his statements are taken from observa- tions made at Grimsby and at Plymouth; but the Irish Sea forms an English fishing area second only in import- ance to the North Sea, and from which examples might well have been quoted. Even in the appendix, dealing specially with the fishing grounds of the British Islands, the Irish Sea is conspicuous by its absence, and no re- ference is made either to the “inshore” or “offshore” Lancashire trawling-grounds. Prof. Ray Lankester, as President of the Marine Bio- logical Association, introduces the book with a preface in which he states as his opinion that “nothing short of a physical and biological survey of the North Sea and of the area within the hundred-fathom line on our southern and western coasts can yield the information as to the movements of marine food fishes and the distribution of fishing grounds which is needful if we are to deal intelli- gently with our sea-fisheries.” With that ‘opinion we heartily concur. It is practically what the present writer urged in a presidential address to Section D of tke British Association in 1895, when he said... “it would be a very wise action, in the interests of the national fisheries, for the Government to fit out an expedition, in charge of two or three zoologists and fisheries experts, to spend a couple of years in exploring more systematically than has yet been done, or can otherwise be done, our British coasts from the Lamin- arian zone down to the deep mud.” I may now add that in such a scheme I should vo¢ omit the Irish Sea—a natural sea-fisheries district, with breeding grounds and feeding grounds, estuaries, and open sea, great expanses of shallow banks, and coasts where you can go “ from the Laminarian zone down to the deep mud,” at eighty fathoms, in about twelve miles. Mr. Cunningham’s book is divided into two parts. Part I. is general, and deals with the history of fisheries investigations, the general characters and dis- tribution of marine fishes, their methods of repro- duction and their development, their growth, migration, food, and habits; and finally a discussion of practical methods for increasing the supply of fish. Part II. is special, and takes up the history of particular fishes arranged according to their families, from the “Herrings” to the “Suckers.” Part I. is interesting reading ; Part II. is more the work of reference in which to look up the details of certain species. The interesting story of Sars’ discovery in 1864 and 1865, of the floating eggs of the cod, haddock, and mackerel in Norway, and of M‘Intosh’s important work in Scotland, of the work of the Kiel Commission in Germany, and of the Fishery Board for Scotland, are all given in R 362 NARORE [ FEBRuARY 18, 1897 the first chapter. But in this historical section the reference to the Sea Fisheries Committees round the coasts of England and Wales is too brief, and their work is practically ignored. Even though the book is written not for the spe- cialist, but for the general public, we think too obvious and elaborate an attempt has. been made to avoid technical terms. Some of the “English” substitutes are no improvement from any one’s point of view, and are wanting in precision and sense—for example, we find mammals referred to as ‘“‘the tribe of beasts,” and, curiously enough, after using the term “pectoral fin” at the beginning, the author discards it during the remainder of the book in favour of “breast fin.” Then again, when such atechnical term as ‘‘micropyle” is used, there seems no reason for calling the oviduct “egg-tube”; while to label an unfortunate little blenny “ the Gattorugine” is quite as bad as to use its proper scientific name. We should have been glad to have seen the scientific names of the species associated with the English names throughout the book, and especially under the useful out- line figures. It is easy to pick up the scientific names, and the sooner those of the public who are concerned with fishery matters do so the better. On p. 40, when defining species, genera, and families, the names of a few well-known genera, such as Gadus, and C/upea, and their more important species, might have been introduced with advantage. Although we quite agree with Mr. Cunningham’s remark, that at present it must be held that artificial propagation of sea-fish is in its experimental stage, still we think that throughout that discussion on practical methods he does not, in stating the case for hatching, allow sufficiently for the fact that the embryos are pro- tected in the hatchery during a period of their existence when, if at large, they are liable to become the prey of nearly everything in the sea that has a mouth. There are some misprints in the book, which should have been corrected in proof: e.g. on p. 87, Lota vulgaris is called the turbot ; Prof. M‘Intosh’s name is misspelled throughout the book, as is also Wydrall/mania, which should have only one “n.” There are some other points one might take exception to, but we have criticised enough; and most of the blemishes we have alluded to above are of minor import- ance, and leave the book a really valuable work and a record of much research and long-continued industry on the part of the author. We hope that the book will prove useful in the hands of superintendents of fishery districts and members of our Sea Fisheries Committees. The numerous illustrations are most of them excellent, and the general “get-up” is all that could be desired. W. A. HERDMAN. THE LIFE OF JAMES CROLL. Autobiographical Sketch of James Croll, with Memoir of his Life and Work, By J.C. Irons. Pp. 553. (London: Stanford, 1896.) HE life of James Croll is very remarkable. That a mason’s son, who in youth laboured on the few acres of his father’s homestead ; who then, having a mind disposed to mechanics, became apprentice to a NO. 1425, VOL. 55] millwright ; who, having served his four years’ time, got employment at eight shillings a week, having sometimes to walk thirty or forty miles a day to his work, and to sleep in the barn ; who, not becoming inured to such hardships, turned carpenter, and met with some measure of success, till disease in the elbow set in; who then, not having sufficient education for a clerkship, found employment in the tea trade, and was after a time helped by his employer to open a shop for his own profit—in which venture he might have succeeded, even in spite of reading “Edwards on the Will,’ had not the elbow caused a long and painful illness which ruined the busi- ness, and left him with an ossified joint ; who then sup- ported himself for a twelvemonth by making electrical instruments wherewith the neighbours might cure them- selves of all the ills the flesh was heir to ; who, when the demand for the panacea was exhausted, “ after due consideration,” set up a temperance hotel in a town, Blairgowrie, of 3500 inhabitants, with sixteen inns and public-houses there already, and far from any railway ; who, after a year and a half of failure as innkeeper, took to canvassing for various insurance companies, where, as usual, everything went contrariwise with him—that a man, who thus spent nearly the first forty years of his life, should have become so successful a student of meta- physics as to write a work of decided merit on “The Philosophy of Theism,” is perhaps not a matter of sur- prise, seeing that he was a Scotchman. But we may surely indulge our faculty of wonder when we learn that a London publisher was found ready to undertake the whole risk of publishing his work, by an unknown Scotch tradesman or agent, on the terms of half profits, and that the result justified the publisher’s enterprise. But at length, in 1859, these difficulties were over- come, and Croll obtained a situation as janitor at the Andersonian College, Glasgow. The salary was small, but he had ample time to read, and some excellent libraries to consult ; and here he may be said to have begun his scientific career. After eight years he was appointed to the Geological Survey of Scotland, where he remained thirteen years. Through ill-health he then retired, expecting to have received a pension calculated on age as well as length of service ; but in this he was disappointed. The Treasury refused to pay more than 75/. 16s. 8d. a year. The circumstances of the refusal, as set forth in the correspondence, render the transaction a lasting disgrace to the Treasury. Ten years later he died. , There is here a striking record of difficulties over- come. Yet these, the external difficulties, were the least with which Croll had to struggle. His head, always a bad servant to his mind, became, in 1865, so seriously affected, that never afterwards could he persist for any length of time in mental work, or concentrate his energy on a difficulty until it was overcome. If he attempted to do too much, not only did the pain become unbearable, but he was disabled for several days afterwards. How terribly this affliction influenced his life may be judged from the fact, mentioned in Croll’s simple, modest way, that he had to take a by-path in the morning, lest con- versing with a friend on the way should unfit him for his office work. Even from this bare outline it may be judged that the Fesruary 18, 1897 ] NATURE B63 story of Croll’s life, as all too shortly told by himself, and supplemented by Mr. Irons, is one of deep pathos. Of his character, deeply impressed by the truths of religion, Calvinistic, conscientious to a degree, possessed of the most inflexible power over himself, not hesitating to subject himself to severe and long-continued physical suffering when he thought it his duty, full of generosity in assisting other inquirers after truth, we obtain many glimpses in the volume before us. Of Croll’s scientific work, which bears at once the impress of genius, metaphysically acute, and of imperfect knowledge, the result of unsystematic training in physics, it is more difficult to form a just estimate. It was so controversial, and dealt with matters on which the final judgment of science has not yet been passed. That which he regarded as his most important and most con- clusive work in physics—his glacial theory—has been steadily losing ground among geologists and physicists alike, and now it finds difficulty in securing a champion to fight its battles. His work on ocean currents seems more likely to be permanent, for he did much to call attention ,to the paramount importance of winds in determining oceanic circulation, although he doubtless pushed the argument somewhat too far against Carpenter, the advocate of the temperature theory ; yet the very 1m- perfections of his work bear the strongest testimony to the inherent suggestive genius of the man. That one whose knowledge of elementary physical principles was so confused as appears from some of the correspondence, e.g. that on pp. 452-458, should have been able to sway contemporary scientific opinion on physical subjects was marvellous, and was due, not only to the extraordinary suggestiveness of his mind, but also to his metaphysical power. By long-continued meditation, the different parts of his theory became in his mind so closely con- nected together, analogies became so clearly perceived, so unconsciously magnified, that difficulties faded into the background, or, even in his fertile mind, were made to yield new reasons for his conclusions. Yet, through all, the transparent sincerity of the author, and his evident devotion to truth were as clear as his absolute conviction of the necessity of his own conclusions ; and thus, as well as by his remarkable power of logical exposition, he imbued the reader with his own confidence, and this the more readily in the case of the glacial theory, because the grandeur and simplicity of the explanation, if it did not afford some presumption of its truth, at least created a prejudice in its favour. But though Croll’s position will doubtless be deter- mined by his work in physics, he would himself have chosen to be judged by his metaphysical writings. If we may judge from the summaries in the work before us, as well as the correspondence from Principal Cairns and others, these works were of striking, though by no means of transcendent, merit. The book is well printed and got-up. To one who did not know Croll personally, it seems that some of the correspondence might have been omitted with advantage, It is, however, an ungrateful task to criticise what has been a labour of love. The last words of the preface are: “It may be added that the entire proceeds of the sale will be devoted to Dr. Croll’s widow.” Babs C. NO. 1425, VoL. 55] ELEMENTARY METEOROLOGY. Elementary Meteorology for High Schools and Colleges. By Frank Waldo, Ph.D., late Junior Professor in the U.S. Signal Service. Pp. 4 + 373. (New York: Cincinnati, Chicago American Book Co., 1896.) ge writing an elementary treatise on meteorology, there are two very evident errors which an author may commit. There is the danger of producing a book which is reduced to such simplicity that it becomes wearisome or even needless, because it contains many facts which are either of ordinary experience or have been learnt from other branches of elementary physics. And on the other hand, there is the difficulty, common to all element- ary works, of knowing where to stop. To the adept, many facts and deductions, which appear perfectly simple and worthy of attention, are stumbling-blocks to the beginner and become sources of annoyance to the reader. In looking through this book one learns that there are other difficulties which need to be avoided, and though Dr. Waldo has to some extent avoided the big pitfalls by steering clear of childish repetition on the one hand, and injudicious overloading on the other, he has not been so successful in recognising the necessity of accuracy of expression and clearness of explanation, One might, too, take a preliminary objection to the choice of the readers to whom this book is addressed. Dr. Waldo admits in his very first paragraph that the “science is as yet but partially developed, and much that is at present accepted as fact will be modified by future investigations.’ The question naturally arises, is it desirable to place before students explanations that are admittedly im- perfect, and to devote the time that might be well spent in accurate training to the acquisition of an amount of ill-digested information, that does not in all cases even satisfy those with whom the information has originated ? Of course, no blame rests with Dr. Waldo on this score. If those who are responsible for education in America are determined to press some acquaintance with meteor- ology in its present condition on their pupils, it is clearly the duty of experts to supply the best text-books in their power, so that the least possible injury be effected. Of Dr. Waldo’s capacity and intimate acquaintance with the subject of which he treats, there is no question. But he does not always exhibit sufficient care to place his facts in the clearest possible light, so as to be of the greatest possible assistance to the student. As an illustration of this carelessness, we may take the sentence on page 30, beginning, “ The heat received by the water surface warms it but slightly.” This expression, as it stands, would mean that the surface of the water is but slightly warmed, and the explanation that follows would be incorrect; but what is really meant is that the whole mass of water is but slightly warmed by the sun’s rays. Such looseness of expression must be very confusing toa student. Take another instance. It is stated (p. 21), “Our earth, in its revolution round the sun, intercepts less than one-half of a millionth of the whole amount of heat given off by the sun.” Why are the words “in its revolution round the sun” introduced? These words obscure the real point at issue, which is, or should be, the comparison of the area of the sphere whose radius is the sun’s distance from the earth, with the space the earth occupies in that 364 NATURE [FEBRuaARY 18, 1897 sphere. In this sense, the amount of heat intercepted | of the various types of pumps, and affording information by the earth is so much less than that mentioned as to make the statement misleading. Such blemishes are perhaps slight, and might well be passed over where so much of the work is excellent and well arranged. But a graver charge, and one that will surprise many who take up the book, is the neglect to place Boyle’s law in a prominent position. One might go so far as to say that Boyle’s law is not even mentioned. It does not occur in the index, and we have not found any reference to it in the text, so that it must be very obscurely expressed ; and yet it seems imperative, that to such a fundamental principle great clearness and prominence should be given. We think, too, that the chapter on “atmospheric optics” might well have been omitted. There is nothing peculiar about “atmospheric optics,” and if one wanted to know the theory of the rainbow, one would necessarily go to a book on optics, and we should imagine that in the “high schools and colleges” in America, students are taught their optics more thoroughly than is suggested by the sketchy manner in which the subject is here treated. The most satisfactory chapters of the book are those | which describe the winds and the circulation of the atmosphere. Ferrel in his general explanation, and his intimate know- ledge of the work of this physicist has enabled him to give much valuable information in a succinct and accurate form. Unfortunately, it is precisely in this section of meteorology that some of the views now held are most likely to meet with modification, but the chapters are valuable as presenting in a popular form the present con- dition of our knowledge. Another special and valuable feature in the book is the collection of results that have been derived from meteorological observations. ‘These results are exhibited both in tabular and graphical form, and always clearly. Whatever may be thought of the value of many of the meteorological observations so per- sistently and energetically collected, there can be no doubt but through their means many useful facts have been learnt, which it is desirable to make known in the pleasantest manner possible. These results may end only in the knowledge of the climate of the district in which the observations have been .made ; they may not touch the general principles underlying the science of meteor- ology understood in its widest sense, but such results have a practical value in many arts and sciences, and it is a praiseworthy task to spread abroad a knowledge of the facts that have been collected, and likewise a grateful task to acknowledge the efforts of those who, like Dr. Waldo, have laboured on behalf of the service of meteorology. OUR BOOK SHELF. The Mechanics of Pumping Machinery. By Dr. Julius Weisbach and Prof. Gustav Herrmann. Translated from the second German edition by Karl P. Dahlstrom. Pp. 298. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1897.) PUMPING operations occupy an important place in engineering works, for they are required for keeping out the water from foundations during construction, for raising water from deep wells, for the disposal of sewage, for the efficient drainage of low-lying lands, and for pro- viding water under pressure for working hydraulic machinery. Accordingly, books explaining the principles NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | The author has closely followed Prof. | as to their relative efficiency, are valuable to engineers and contractors who are obliged to have recourse to pumping in their works. This book appears to be in- tended primarily for the instruction of students attending advanced courses on the mechanics of machinery ; but the descriptions and clear illustrations of the different forms of pumps, should prove useful to those practically engaged in the raising of water. The first chapter relates to the early forms of water elevators, such as the balanced pole with a bucket hung from one end and counterpoise at the other, known as the Pzcoftah in Bengal and the shadouf in Egypt, flash wheels, scoop wheels, chain pumps, and the archimedean and other water screws ; and the efficiencies of the wheels, chain pumps, and screws, are calculated. The three following chapters are devoted to the elementary action, the theory, and the various types of reciprocating pumps, the last subject extending over a hundred pages, or one-third of the book. Recipro- cating pumps may be divided intotwo classes, namely, those having hollow valved pistons, or bucket pumps, and those having solid pistons, or plunger pumps; and they comprise both lift pumps and force pumps, generally combining suction as well, and embrace the most common forms of machines for raising water, and also fire-engine and water-pressure pumps. The fifth chapter describes different forms of rotary pumps, of which the centrifugal pump is the most familiar example, and furnishes calcu- lations with regard to the form, velocity, and efficiency of these types of pumps. In the sixth and final chapter, the principles of the hydraulic ram, ejectors and injectors, spiral pumps, compressed-air pumps, the pulsometer, and syphons are explained with the aid of diagrams. The excel- lent woodcuts, indeed, 197 in number, dispersed throughout the text, elucidate the descriptions very efficiently. A table of contents at the head of each chapter would have been valuable for guidance, especially when a single chapter occupies one-third of the book, and also a list of the woodcuts, and headings to the principal illustrations ; whilst an index of barely more than a page, does not afford adequate opportunities of reference. The transla- tion has been so well performed, that the only reminders of the foreign origin of the book are the metric measures, after which have been added their English equivalents in brackets ; but in a book drawn up expressly for English readers, the calculations, as well as the results, should have been converted into English measures, to which the most prominent place should have been assigned, even if it was considered advisable to retain the foreign measures. Pumping machinery has so long formed a speciality of several English manufacturers, that English authors should have rendered it unnecessary to resort to Germany for an exposition of the mechanics of pumping machinery. Germans, however, have been long renowned for the thoroughness of their scientific investigations, and Mr. Dahlstrom, of Lehigh University, has performed a valu- able service in putting this book within the reach of American and British engineers and students. Geography of Africa. By Edward Heawood, M.A. Pp. vili + 262. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) THE publication of this little text-book in Macmillan’s Geographical Series will be welcomed by all who are interested in geographical education, or who desire a handy and trustworthy compendium on Africa. Books made up mainly of tables of chief towns, lengths of rivers, and other statistical information, are, we hope and believe, on the decline, and rightly so; for they repre- sent the worst methods of teaching geography. Through- out Mr. Heawood’s volume, the principles kept in view are: “In the first place, the rule laid down by Dr. Mill in the ‘General Geography’ of this series, of proceeding from the general to the particular, has been adhered to ; and in the second, a clear understanding of the broad physical features of each region described has been Fepruary 18, 1897] NATURE 365 taken as the necessary basis on which to build up the complete picture of such region as the sphere of human activity.” A book constructed on these lines claims attention at the outset ; and when, as is the case with the volume before us, the pages give evidence that the author is thoroughly familiar with all the geographical facts pertaining to the region with which he deals, we have the factors which combine to make a work useful as an educational instrument, valuable for reference, and interesting to geographical readers. It is, indeed, not too much to say that no book now in existence contains within such a small compass so much accurate informa- tion on the African continent as is given in Mr. Heawood’s little volume. The book should be widely used in schools, and for this purpose the summary of the geography of Africa will be found very serviceable. To every one who wishes to possess a concise statement of the physical features, native inhabitants, history, and political development of Africa, the volume can be con- fidently recommended. Crags and Craters: Rambles in the Island of Réunion. By W. D. Oliver, M.A. With illustrations and a map. Pp. xiv + 213. (London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896.) IF we were going to Réunion (Bourbon), or had lately come back from it, we should be very glad to fall in with such a book as this. It gives an account of the experiences of an energetic man who spent six months on the island, and went about wherever curiosity led him. There is a good map and several photographs. The only illustra- tion that is not a photograph is wretchedly bad. Our author writes easily and clearly, and has evidently taken pains to collect plenty of detailed information. Here the reader finds geography, history, statistics, scenery, manners and customs of the people—almost everything that can be desired, except natural history. What a pity that Mr. Oliver did not inquire beforehand what the naturalist wants to know about Réunion! Prof. Newton, of Cambridge, would have put him in the way of doing some really good work. A little fresh information about the extinct, or nearly extinct, birds, and the gigantic land-tortoises (if there are any in Réunion) would have greatly enriched the book. In spite of this deficiency, “Crags and Craters” is a valuable contributicn. The schoolmaster in search of graphic details about the islands of the Indian Ocean would find much good stuff here. rc. M. Everybodys Guide to Photography. By “Operator.” Pp. 162. (London: Saxon and Co.) AMATEUR photographers are now so very numerous, that this book should find a large number of readers. There are hints on the choice of a photographic outfit, and simple directions on all the operations concerned in the production of good negatives and prints. Instruc- tions are also given how to make enlargements and lantern slides, and on the use of orthochromatic plates, the production of stereoscopic photographs, flash-light photography, and Réntgen ray pictures. Ls Natural Selection the Creator of Species? By Duncan Graham, Pp. xviii + 303. (London: Digby, Long, and Co.) ACCORDING to the author of this book, evolution by natural selection is a snare and a delusion. Wherefore, he comes forward to sweep away the whole fabric of evolution, and*to show “that the condition of the earth and ‘its inhabitants cannot be explained by the action of physical forces, independent of support and direction from an intelligent power.” His qualifications for this task may be judged from the avowal that, although he has studied the nature and habits of animals and plants for many years, he has never discovered evidence that conclusively indicated evolution. NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. (Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. ] The Force of a Ton. THE hydraulic forging presses at the Armstrong works, which I had the privilege of visiting a short time ago, bore the inscrip- tions—2000 tons—5000 tons; meaning ihereby the thrust exerted by the ram; and Dr. Lodge’s opinion that the word wezght should be supplied was rejected by the engineers, as the addition of the word weggh¢ would imply that the presses werghed 2000 or 5000 tons. It is quietly assumed by Dr. Lodge and his followers that the word wezgh¢ is never used except to denote the force with which a body is attracted by the Earth ; as if we should never translate weight by pondus, un potds, gewicht, but always by grave, un grave, -schwere; as in Galileo’s memoir ‘‘ De motu gravium naturaliter accelerato.” To support this assumption the Act of Parliament on Weights and Measures is always quoted in a garbled form, with a view of making out that the standard Pound Weight is really not the lump of platinum specified in the Act, but the pressure on the bottom of the box in which it is preserved ; probably with the mental reservation of the Mikado, ‘*this is the careless way in which the Act is drafted ; we will have it altered next time.” Thus the weight of the standard pound weight should, in Dr. Lodge’s language, be given as 32°1912 poundals, when at rest in the box at Westminster, and when it is high-water at London Bridge, but changing suddenly to about 32°2382 poundals when tossed in the air. What the thrust of 5000 tons would become when expressed in poundals, funals, or even tonals, it is fearful to contemplate, as well as the pressure of the water in the press or modern steam pressures in poundals on the square foot. If this controversial question is studied historically, it will be found that Prof. Perry is quite right in maintaining that the quantity denoted by #z in Dynamics, and called the mass, is measured in units of zverfza; the unit of inertia being that quantity of matter which receives unit acceleration from the unit force. In all continental treatises, and in our own engineering works, the quantity w/¢ is replaced by the letter 7 and called the mass ; this defines the unit mass as that quantity of matter which will receive the unit of acceleration from the gravitation unit of force. Dr. Lodge changes to the absolute unit of force, and now replaces mz by w; so that if the mass of a body is # pounds, it must weigh 7z lb. ; and if moving with velocity wv //s, its kinetic energy is sv*/2 foot-poundals, or mz'/2g foot-pounds ; we have now come back to the engineer’s measurement, except that his w has, for some mysterious reason, become 7, and a different to his w/z. I agree with Mr. C. S. Jackson, to a certain extent in oppo- sition to Prof. Perry, in the opinion that the substitution of for w/g had better be abandoned ; or, asacompromise, the letter m may replace w ; because a body whose mass is 7 or w pounds must weigh 7 or w 1b. in the balance ; in ordinary language, its weight is #z or w Ib. It is the old medizeval discussion of Nominalism and Realism over again ; does the thing alter when we call it by a different name? If a steamer loads 1000 tons of coal, are we no longer to say that this coal weighs 1000 tons; or that 1000 tons weight has been placed on board? Are we to be compelled to say that the coal masses 1000 tons ; and that it is 1000 tons mass ? In a redetermination of the volume of the gallon, Mr. H. J. Chaney has found that a cubic inch of distilled water, freed from air, and weighed against brass weights in air, when the tem- perature is 62° F. and the height of the barometer is 30 inches, is equilibrated by 252°286 grains ; and this makes the volume of the gallon 277°463 cubic inches, according to the Act of Parliament (PAz/. TZrans., 1892). Mr. Chaney calls’ this 252°286 grains the mass of a cubic inch of water ; but if the same weighing is carried out in vacuo, according to another clause of the Act, an extra 0266 grain must be added to maintain equilibrium ; what are we now to call this 252°552 grains, with respect to a cubic inch of water? 366 NATURE [ FeBruary 18, 1897 The object of writing 7 for w/g, or of changing to the abso- lute unit of force and writing 7 for w, is merely to get rid of ¢ in the dynamical equations, which concern the problems which alone are capable of direct human measurement. But this quantity g, so treacherous as Dr. Lodge can testify, should always be kept carefully in sight ; any attempt to get rid of it merely causes it to reappear elsewhere in an unexpected place (expelles Jurca, &c.). The engineer can be left to take care of himself, and does not require to be instructed in an art with which he is perfectly familiar. Considering that he has been compelled to create for himself, without professorial assistance, the whole theory of the internal stresses of rapidly reciprocating machinery as causing vibration, it cannot be correct to say that acce/eratzon does not come under his notice. Certainly he often ignores acceleration in his dynamical equations, but that is because he prefers to use the principles of Energy and Momentum ; and our elementary text-books would do well to imitate him. As for Dr. Lodge’s hint to the sailor, it is useless and even dangerous for navigation, because it gives the distance of the offing in military land miles; instead of geographical nautical miles, as required, of sixty to the degree. Iam reminded of another delicious hint from a theorist to practical men, taken from a recent text-book of Theoretical Mechanics ; the gunner is instructed not to use his favourite whip-on-whip tackle, nor the sailor to set up the backstay in the usual manner, because the theoretical writer finds the Third System of Pulleys practically useless, the strings of his model always becoming twisted. An engineer can generally be provided with some quiet enjoyment in looking through the pages, and especially the diagrams, of our numerous treatises on Elementary Mechanics, and he will smile at the mental pabulum chopped up small for the benefit of the rising pedagogue. In this discussion, Prof. T. W. Wright’s excellent Mechanics has been lost sight of; it isa complete contrast to our ordinary elementary text-book. I thoroughly agree with Prof. Wright that the introduction of the fowzdal has done more harm than good, and that it will never be employed, even by Electricians always working in absolute units, who will confine themselves to the Metric System. The world will never take kindly to saying that the weight of a pound weight is 32°1912 poundals, so long as it is at rest on the table; but that the weight changes immediately to 32°2382 poundals when we toss the weight in the air. February 6. A. G. GREENHILL. Symbols of Applied Algebra. I aM sorry to trouble you with one more letter on this sub- ject. Prof. Lodge objected to the energy formula wz?/2g, and stated that he could only bestow his approbation on a formula which was ‘‘independent of every system of units.” His ex- ample of such a formula involved three quantities of the same kind—namely, three lengths. Being invited to give a formula involving three different quantities—e.g. weight, volume, and specific gravity—which should come up to his standard, he gives W=sV. Now this formula is certainly independent of every system of units, in the sense that it cannot be used with any known system of units (not even accurately with the C.G.S. units). To bring out this point, I inquired how this formula is to be used with the poundal. Prof. Lodge observes, in reply, that density is not a mere number, and that specific gravity may be measured in pounds per cubit foot. The former state- ment is irrelevant ; the latter not true if “specific gravity” is taken with the meaning with which it is invariably used. Dr. O’Reilly overlooks, I venture to think, the difference between postponing the consideration of the idea of ‘‘ mass,” and confusing it with ‘‘ force.”” Of course, his comment on the formula P/Q = /Ja is perfectly correct. C. S. JACKSON. Equilibrium of a Cylindrical Shell. AMONG some work on the design of arches which Dr. Thomson, of the Science College, Poona, and myself are preparing for publication in the engineering journals, the following elegant case of the equilibrium of a circular rib occurs. NO. 1425, VOL. 55] As it admits of a simple physical enunciation and a simple geometrical proof, I think it may interest your readers. A thin hollow cylinder with a uniform circular shell is submerged in a fluid, and is lying with its axis horizontal. The fluid is excluded from the cylinder by smooth face-plates of the same density as the fluid. The weight of the shell is such that the cylinder displaces its own weight of the fluid. It is evident, then, that the cylinder, as a whole, is in neutral equilibrium, at any depth below the surface. But, further, if the shell be supposed to be perfectly flexible and incompressible, it is still in equilibrium under its own weight and the fluid pressure. Let the figure represent a ring of the cylinder one foot long, normal to the paper, and let the unit of weight be that of a cubic foot of the fluid. Consider the equilibrium of the are a c, and it will be seen that v, the vertical component thrust at C, is given by the area of the shaded trapezium E D O C, made up of the superincumbent mass of fluid E p A C, and the weight of the arc AC, which is exactly equal to the fluid mass 0 A © it displaces. La Thin Olindricad We Shed Usyplacng, Cs WUGAC OF the Hid. © Surface D = Again H, the horizontal component thrust at C is given by the area of the shaded trapezium 4 ¢ ed, for H, has to balance the whole figure 4 7 when the equilibrium of the quadrant A B is considered, and has to balance H together with c 7 when the equilibrium of the arc A € is considered. Now the two shaded trapeziums have their parallel sides equal each to each, so that their areas are proportional to the distances between their pairs of parallel sides. Hence Hl: Vz: QRORR Eee: ED" :,: cosié!:ismid; and it follows that the thrust at C is along the tangent to the circle there. In the same way the horizontal and vertical component thrusts at N are given by 7 @ and N D, andare again proportional to cosine @ and sine 0. TuHos. ALEXANDER. Engineering School, Trinity College, Dublin, February 9. Oysters and Copper. As Prof. Herdman, in his interesting letter on the oyster question, appears to doubt the occurrence of copper in oysters, it may be of interest to mention that, quite recently, I examined . some oysters containing this metal in considerable quantity, a single oyster yielding ‘oq grammes (about 3 grain) of copper. Some of the oysters were light blue in colour, and others were a dark olive-green, and copper was found in both, These oysters had been obtained from the Mumbles, near Swansea. W. F. Lowe. Assay Office, Chester, February 4. I aM interested to hear of Mr. Lowe’s case,-where he con- siders the oysters from near Swansea owe their colour to a very considerable amount of copper. As I stated in the concluding paragraph of my last letter (p. 293), ‘‘It is evident that there are several distinct kinds of greenness in oysters.” Amongst these I cited Dr. Thorpe’s recent demonstration of notable amounts of copper in oysters from Falmouth ; so it can scarcely be said that I ‘“‘appear to doubt the occurrence of copper.” Dr. Charles Kohn has kindly re-investigated the matter for me Fesruary 18, 1897] MA TORE 367 lately, and has determined the amounts of both copper and iron present in various kinds of oysters by electrolytic methods. Tle finds the green Marennes oyster contains about 0°4 mgrme. (say ‘006 grains) of copper, which agrees pretty closely with the figures given by previous writers. This seems to be the normal amount present in all oysters, white or green, and due to the hemocyanin of the blood. Dr. Thorpe, however, finds that the green Falmouth oysters have, on the average, each ‘023 grains of copper, which falls to the normal amount ("006) on re-laying in another locality, and which is ‘‘ obviously caused by the mechanical retention of cupriferous particles” (Thorpe, Nature, p. 107). If Dr. Thorpe means by this that copper mud is entangled in the water and food passages of the oyster, is it not possible that, although the oyster is green, and copper is present, the colour may be due—as in most green oysters — to another cause? This mere entanglement (more or less accidental) of copper-bearing material in the passages of the oyster may also be the explanation of the extraordinarily high figure reported by Mr. Lowe—a figure (-04 grammes) as large, I may remark, as that of the foa/ ash in the case of some of my oysters investigated by Dr. Kohn. W. A. HERDMAN. Liverpool, February 6. Immunity from Snake-Bite. In regard to the immunity from the danger of a second bite | which a non-lethal dose of snake venom affords an animal, and also in regard to the question of antitoxin, I would suggest that | the comparatively simple case of the sting of bees might be investigated. The keeper of an apiary once told me that when he first took charge of it, he was laid up for some days by the intense in- flammation due to the stings, but that he soon became quite indifferent to the venom. I myself saw him stung several times during a few minutes while he was emptying one hive into another. He had no protection over his hands and face, and, except for the sharp prick of the actual sting, he suffered no ill-effects. May not the stinging liquid, generally assumed to be formic | acid, be of the same nature as snake venom? Might not formic acid have the same effect ? R. G. LT. Evans. SUBJECTIVE COLOUR PHENOMENA. ey a recent communication to the Royal Society,! I described a series of optical experiments which originated in an attempt to account for the colour phenomena exhibited by Mr. C. E. Benham’s “ Artificial Spectrum Top” (NATURE, vol. li. p. 113). The chief of these experiments are of an exceedingly simple character, and can easily be repeated without the employment of any special apparatus. They demonstrate the formation, under certain conditions, of transient bands of colour along the boundaries between light and dark surfaces. Let a hole, half an inch square, be cut with a sharp knife in the middle of a sheet of thick brown paper about 15inches square. The hole is to be covered with gummed white paper taken from the edge of a sheet of postage stamps (“stamp paper”); a small translucent window is thus formed. Across the middle of the window a common pin is to be fixed, like a bar, by means of narrow strips of stamp paper at its two ends. Holding the brown paper in the left-hand between the eyes and a lamp, the observer directs his eyes upon the translucent window ; then he conceals it from view by interposing a screen, such as a thin book with a dark cover. After a few seconds, and without moving the eyes in the meantime, he suddenly withdraws the screen ; then, if everything is right, and the observer is not unaccustomed to subjec- tive visual experiments, the window will, for a moment after its exposure, appear to be surrounded by a narrow red border, while the pin also will at first appear bright red, not turning black until after the lapse of about one- tenth of asecond. The effect is seen best when the lamp is at a certain distance from the brown paper. This dis- 1 “On Subjective Colour Phenomena attending sudden Changes of Illum- ination.” (Proc. Roy. Soc., December 17, 1896.) NO. 1425, VOL. 55] tance must be found by trial ; in my own case an eight- candle power lamp gives good results when it is about 12 inches behind the paper. The observer’s eye should be 10 or 12 inches away from the translucent window. When once the red border has been detected, it becomes very conspicuous; the difficulty in the first instance being not to see it, but to know that one sees it. The phenomenon is, without doubt, constantly met with, and habitually ignored, in daily life. Since my first observation of it I have many times noticed flashes of red upon the black letters of a book, or upon the edges of the page: bright metallic or polished objects often show a red border when they pass across the field of vision in consequence of a movement of the eyes, and it was an accidental observation of this kind that suggested an experiment like the following :— Holding the brown paper between his eyes and the lamp, as before, the observer moves it rather quickly either up and down, or round and round ina small circle an inch or two in diameter. The moving window will, owing to persistence, form a straight or circular luminous streak, which will appear to be bordered on both sides with bright red. No person, however unpractised, to whom I have shown this experiment, has failed to see the red border at once. As before, the intensity of the illumina- tion must be properly regulated ; so also must the speed of the movement. With strong illumination the red border is very narrow, and is lined with greenish-blue ; or the red colour may even be altogether absent. The above experiments show that when a luminous image (not too bright) is suddenly formed upon the retina, it appears at first to be surrounded by a red border. The following is a way of showing the same effect by reflected instead of by transmitted light. Two or three black lines, about as thick and as long as an ordinary pin, are drawn upon a small piece of white paper, which is placed upon a table and illuminated by strong lamp- light (not daylight). A black book is interposed between the observer's eyes and the paper, and then very suddenly withdrawn ; the lines, when first seen, appear to be red, quickly changing to black. So far the observation is a rather difficult one, but by a very simple device it is possible to obliterate the image of the lines before the redness has had time to disappear; the colour then becomes easily perceptible. A thin black book is held horizontally in the right hand by its left-hand bottom corner, the thumb being uppermost ; between the thumb and the book is inserted the right-hand bottom corner of a sheet of white note-paper; the upper right and left corners of the paper and the book respectively are separated, so as to form a triangular open space between them. The book is held an inch or two above the black- lined paper, covering it completely ; then the hand is quickly moved from left to right in such a manner that the lines are for a moment exposed to view through the gap between the book and the note-paper, the movement being stopped as soon as the lines are covered by the paper. During the brief glimpse that will be had of the lines while they are beneath the gap, they will, if the illumination is correct, appear to be of a brilliant red hue. It must be ascertained by a preliminary trial that neither the book nor the note-paper casts a shadow upon the black lines when the gap is passing over them. By a further simple contrivance the red images may be made visible almost continuously for an indefinite time. Upon a disc of white cardboard, from 3} to 6 inches in diameter, two straight lines are drawn from the centre to the circumference, containing an angle of about 45° ; the portion enclosed by the lines is cut out nearly up to the centre, a rim about + inch wide being left at the circum- ference ; the remainder of the disc is divided into two equal parts by a straight line from the centre to the circumference, opposite the opening, and one of these parts is painted black with ink. A pin is passed through 368 WATORE [lEBRuARY 18, 1897 the centre of the disc in sucha manner that the unpre- pared face of the disc may rest upon the pin’s head (a lady’s hat-pin is better for the purpose than a small one) ; the pin-hole must be sufficiently large to allow the disc to turn freely. Holding this arrangement by the pointed end of the pin (which should be directed vertically up- wards) above a design in black lines upon a white ground —any drawing, writing, or printing will do, provided that the lines are not too thick—the observer spins the disc by striking its edge tangentially with his finger in the direction such that the gap follows the black portion, and is followed by the white portion of the disc. If the disc makes five or six turns per second, and the before- mentioned precautions as to illumination and shadows are duly observed, the black lines of the design, seen through the opening in the disc, will appear bright red, and, owing to persistence, the impression will be almost continuous. When the disc is made to turn in the reverse direction, the lines appear to become (subjectively) blue instead of red. This appearance is partly, if not altogether, illusory. Careful observation shows that the subjective blue tint is not formed upon the lines themselves, which remain black, or rather grey, but upon the white ground just out- side them. This and other experiments detailed in the paper indicate that when a dark patch is suddenly formed upon a bright ground, the patch appears for a moment to be surrounded externally by a blue border. We have then to account for the two facts, that in the formation of these transient coloured fringes, the red originates in a portion of the retina which has not been exposed to the direct action of light, while the blue originates in a portion which is subjected to steady illumination. The effects must, I think, be attributed to sympathetic affection of the red nerve fibres. When the various nerve fibres of the Young-Helmholtz theory are suddenly stimulated by ordinary white or yellow light of moderate intensity, the immediately surrounding red nerve fibres are for a short period excited sympathetically, while the violet and green are not so, or in a much less degree. And, again, when light is suddenly cut off from a patch in a bright field, there occurs an insensitive reaction in the red fibres just outside the darkened patch, in virtue of which they cease for a short time to respond to the luminous stimulus, in sympathy with those inside the patch. The green and violet fibres, by continuing to respond uninterruptedly, give rise to the sensation of a blue border. There is reason to believe that with intense illumination, such as sunlight, these effects are reversed, the sympathetic affection of the red fibres being in such case less than that of the green and violet instead of greater. The above-mentioned are a few among many curious phenomena which exhibited themselves in the course of my experiments. It appears probable that a careful study of the subjective effects produced by intermittent illumination would lead to valuable results, tending to clear up many doubtful points in the theory of colour vision. : SHELFORD BIDWELL. A NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY. ARSE Marquis of Salisbury received at the Foreign Office on Tuesday a deputation of representatives of science who asked the Government to establish a national physical laboratory at a cost of £30,000 for buildings, and £5000 a year for maintenance. The Zimes gives the following report of the proceedings. The deputation consisted of Lord Raleigh, Lord Lister, Sir John Evans, Sir Douglas Galton, Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir Andrew Noble, Prof. W. G. Adams, Prof. W. Chandler Roberts-Austen (Iron and Steel Institute), Prof. W. E. Ayrton, Mr. J. Wolfe Barry (President of the Civil Engineers), Prof. NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | R. B. Clifton, Prof. G. H. Darwin, Mr. Francis Galton, Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, Prof. W. M. Hicks, Dr. J. Hopkinson, Prof. J. V. Jones, Prof. John Perry, Mr. W. H. Preece, Prof. William Ramsay, Prof. A. W. Riicker, Mr. Robert H. Scott (Meteorological Office), Mr. W. N. Shaw, Mr. J. Wilson Swan, Prof. Silvanus Thompson, Prof. W. A. Tilden, Prof. Michae} Foster, and Mr. G. Griffith, Secretary of the British Associa- tion. Lord Lister said it fell to his lot to introduce the deputation, as being President of the British Association, with which the idea of a national physical laboratory originated, and also of the Royal Society, which took an equal interest in the matter. Lord Kelvin desired him to say that he was unavoidably absent ; he was in full sympathy with their object, and would have been present had it been possible. Prof. Riicker said the scheme consisted of two parts, which, although closely connected, must be regarded as separate. The first was the proposal for the establishment of a national physical laboratory, and the second was a suggestion of a par- ticular method for giving effect to it. There were certain types of physical investigation which were too laborious and lengthy to be undertaken by individuals or by the staff of an institu- tion the primary duty of which was to teach, but which, on the other hand, were too closely connected with the advancement of knowledge and with research to be undertaken by the staff of a Government department. Of these types, the first was the in- vestigation of slow changes in the properties of matter which persisted through long periods of years. Lord Kelvin had made a beginning in the investigation of these in his laboratory at Glasgow, but it was not too much to say that, although the properties to be investigated might prove to be of great im- portance both to scientific theory and to industry, very little was known about them at present, or was likely to be known, except by an organised effort such as they now suggested. The second task they wished to undertake was the testing and verification of instruments useful alike to industry and research. Something had been done in this country to meet this want. Standards of various kinds were in charge of the Standards and Electrical Departments of the Board of Trade, but the work which they proposed had a wider scope than that of either of those most useful departments ; and the institution which in this country most nearly approached the ideal at which they were aiming was the Kew Observatory. But the permanent endowment of Kew amounted to only £447 per annum, derived from a bequest of the late Thos. Gassiot. Kew was the central observatory of the Meteorological Council, where meteorological instruments of all sorts, photographic lenses, compasses, and many other things were tested and verified ; and in the last two years the average number of instruments per annum submitted to investigation had exceeded 21,000. Paris was the seat of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; and some ten years ago the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt was founded near Berlin to carry out work of the type which he had just described. Like Kew, it received a private benefaction the gift of the late Dr. Werner Siemens, but this had been largely supplemented by the German Government. At Kew they had to thank the State for the site and the use of an old building. In Germany new buildings had been provided, at the cost of about £200,000, and the annual outlay upon the Reichsanstalt amounted to £15,000. The researches carried out, both in Berlin and in Paris, had in the comparatively short space of ten years produced remarkable results. To give one instance :—Mecurial thermometers were subject to errors which made them very difficult to use for accurate work. Researches on glass carried out in these foreign laboratories resulted in the discovery of a material free from many of the objections which might be urged against ordinary glass, and a prolonged study of the thermometer resulted in increasing the accuracy of mercurial thermometers five-fold. As a consequence of this no high-class mercurial thermometers were now made in this country, and we had to send abroad for them ; in fact, at Kew itself our thermometric standards were a series of instruments which had come from Paris, and would have to be sent there to be verified if any accident or careless handling should throw a doubt upon theirindications. At the Reichsanstalt there was a large department specially devoted to the investiga- tion of problems useful to industry, and it was understood that instrument-makers, when in doubt as to the best construction of some new and delicate instrument, could obtain help from the experts in the National Laboratory. They were very anxious, therefore, that at Kew, or elsewhere, an institution should be Fesruaky 18, 1897 | NATURE 369 provided which should do for the United Kingdom that which the Reichsanstalt did for Germany, and that which, so far as its inadequate endowment would allow, Kew had attempted to do for England. The third group of investigations which they wished to undertake was also carried out in the Reichsanstalt— namely, the systematic measurements on the physical properties of various bodies, which would hereafter be data of the greatest importance, both for science and industry. There was no pro- vision whatever for meeting this want in the United Kingdom. They thought the best plan would be to enlarge the Kew Obser- vatory so that the work carried on there might become more nearly equivalent to that undertaken at the Reichsanstalt. The government of the enlarged observatory might be in the hands of a committee appointed by the Royal Society, or a body like the visitors of the Greenwich Observatory, appointed by the principal societies which represented science and industry. They asked for some £30,000 for buildings, and £5000 per annum. Lord Rayleigh said the enormous sums which were being devoted in Germany in aid of science was a matter which was constantly being brought home to the scientific world; and he could not but feel that unless this country made some effort in the same direction there was very serious danger indeed that we might fall hopelessly in arrear. Sir Douglas Galton said the assistance they asked for was only a supplement tothe policy which the Government adopted a few years ago with the object of promoting technical education. Mr. J. Wolfe Barry said he felt very strongly that every branch of applied science was greatly in want of such help to its development as would be given by the establishment of a scientific laboratory of research. Sir Andrew Noble also supported the petition. Lord Salisbury, in reply, said:—I have listened with very great interest toa subject which certainly is not second in interest to any that I know of, and which has been developed by persons fitter than any others, probably, in this country to expound it. It differs in some respects from deputations that we often have to receive in that it hardly deals with any controverted matter. It is often the duty of a deputation to impress upon a Minister a policy of whose general expediency he is not entirely convinced, and the deputation may take a controversial form. No such development is possible in this case. We are all of us, as we all must be—anybody who has looked into the subject at all— heartily anxious for the attainment of the objects which you advocate so far as they are practicable. But, of course, such a question as you have laid before us to-day depends not for its acceptance upon those wide conceptions of public utility that you have explained; it rather depends upon the narrower issue of finance, for there is surely no Chancellor of the Exchequer in this country who, if he was _ possessed of a bottomless purse, would not send you out of the room with the concession of everything in this respect that you could desire. The question is as to the furnishing of the means. And there I am afraid I am not able to give you anything like a final or a conclusive answer. I had hoped that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have been here himself, but he has been forced to take the chair at a very important committee from which it was impossible for him to absent himself, and my courage is not equal to pledging him in his absence. I can only be quite certain that his sympathy is heartily with you, and that he would be very anxious to give such effect to the objects that you have in view as it is in his power to do. I do not think that the exertion which you require from him is quite of the limited kind which has been represented. Prof, Riicker was very moderate in his expressions, but he omitted some very important words in laying his estimate before you which he has printed in the document that he has circulated. He told you that the grant would be £30,000 for buildings, and £5000 a year. But what is said here? ‘‘It is thought that at first a grant of £30,000 for buildings and an annual grant of 45000 a year might meet the more urgent necessities of the case.” Those are very terrible words to a Chancellor of the Exchequer. They hold out to him indefinite prospects of con- troversy, in which he himself is not made to play the most agree- able part. Imever was a Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I should imagine he would look upon a deputation of this kind, not only from the high philanthropic and patriotic point of view from which he desires to regard it, but also rather as a body of men employed in contriving instruments of torture for himself. NO. 1425, VOL. 55] Therefore, I must reserve anything I have to say i so far as the effect of those figures on his mind may go. But there is one consideration which pressed itself upon me when I read these papers, and still more when I was listening to the interesting speeches that we have heard, and that is, that the kind of security that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would probably want is not assurances of moderation upon your part, which, even if they bind yourselves, will not bind your suc- cessors ; but some limitation of scope and area in the kind ot assistance that you desire from him, which shall prevent, or which shall destroy, that vista of growing and unlimited ex- pense which a Chancellor of the Exchequer is apt to associate with all great national movements of this kind. I have known movements begin with very modest thousands, and end with millions at last. There is a distinction in the objects which you seek, on which I should think it was worth while for you to lay some emphasis. So far as you are inviting the Chancellor of the Exchequer to contribute to an institution for general research, though there can be no question of the value of your objects or of their importance to the public weal, yet you will readily admit that research into the secrets of nature affords a horizon to which there is no end or bound ; and he may well be startled at the commencement of a new chapter in the Estimates of whose closing periods he cannot form any con- ception, But there is one duty of the State which it has to per- form in every age, and which it ought to perform now and to perform in increasing ratio as the demands upon it are increased by the widening aspect of science—I mean, if I may use a very grotesque word, which has been very happily used before by the authors of this paper, that the duty of standardising is a duty which the State has always performed—it is nothing but a standard institution. Sir Douglas Galton observed that the stopping of adulteration was really nothing but another form of applying a standard; and so it is in weights and measures and many other respects; and part of what you ask is really standardising, is really to furnish good standards and to furnish a means of ascertaining that the instru- ments are adapted to those standards and bear a proper relation to them. If the more limited work of standardising was pressed upon the State and the more extensive portion of your work, which involves general and unlimited research, was reserved—for the present, at all events—to such assistance as you might get from private munificence, I think we should have more chance of making a satisfactory beginning. This is, how- ever, only a suggestion. I observed that all the speakers dwelt upon the enormous magnitude of the task that was before us, and I have no doubt they represented accurately not only the facts of the case, but the impression that was made on their own minds. But, still, [think in dwelling on those considerations they hardly displayed the wisdom of the serpent. It is not the magni- tude of the task on which it is desirable to lay stress ; it ison the importance of those portions of the task which lay immediately to your hand and on their germaneness to the duties which the State has always acknowledged and has hitherto to a great extent undertaken. In the hope that it may be found possible in the greatest possible measure to concede to you the objects which you have in view, but without attempting to pledge the bearer of the purse to the extent to which that purse would be opened, I have only to thank you heartily for your presence here to-day and for the very interesting speeches which I have heard. _ Lord Lister thanked the Prime Minister for his kind reception, and the interview then terminated. NOTES. TueE object of the strong and representative deputation which waited upon Lord Salisbury on Tuesday claims the support of all who are interested in the progress of science and industry. We reprint the Zmes report of what took place at this important meeting, and shall return to the subject next week. M. GarLior has been appointed sub-director of the Paris Observatory, in succession to M. Loewy, who is now Director. Dr. YERSIN, who is now in Bombay, inoculating against the plague, has been made an Officer of the Legion of Honour. 379 ATOR [Fepruary 18, 1897 M. SEBERT has been elected a member of the Section de Mécanique of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession to tthe late M. Resal. A NEW research laboratory is to be erected in the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, Java, towards the expense of which the Government of Holland has allowed 6000 dols. THE first portion of the great museum building of the Brooklyn Institute, being the wing of which the corner-stone was laid in December 1895, will be completed about the middle of March. THE American scheme for a laboratory for botanical research in the Tropics appears to be assuming a definite shape, Prof. MacDougal having undertaken the duty of organising the Com- mission which shall visit various localities for the purpose of selecting a site. In a letter in the Botanical Gazette for January, Prof. Humphreys, of the Johns Hopkins University, advocates the claims of Jamaica, where there are already two botanic gardens, at Castleton and Gordon-Town, and where the Governor, Sir Henry Blake, is interested in biological science. WE have received a second paper by Dr. P. Zeeman, ‘‘ On the influence of magnetism on the nature of the light emitted by a substance.” But, with the exception of some theoretical speculations, it does not give much additional information on the experimental discovery announced in the preliminary notice, a translation of which appeared in our columns last week. The paper confirms, however, the main fact, that a sodium flame placed between the poles of a magnet shows a widening of the D lines equal to about one-fortieth of the distance between them. When examined by a Rowland grating, the edges of the widened lines are found to emit circularly polarised light, the direction of rotation being opposite on the two sides. THE Edouard Mailly prize has just been awarded by the Brussels Academy of Sciences for the first time. It was founded by the late M. Mailly, and amounts to 1000 francs, to be given every fourth year to the person or persons who have most assisted in the extension of astronomical knowledge in Belgium. The first award has been made to the editorial committee of Czel et Terre, viz. MM. C. Lagrange, E. Lagrange, A. Lancaster, L. Niesten, W. Prinz, and P. Stroobant. THE President of the French Republic visited the Pasteur Institute on February 10, and Dr. Roux was able to show him cultivations of the plague microbe. In the course of his remarks ‘to the President, Dr. Roux observed that the microbe has little power of resistance, and is easily destroyed by antiseptics and by a temperature of 140°. He pointed out, however, that the plague bacillus had the power of retaining its vitality in the soil, and it is on account of this property that epidemics favoured by ‘dense population and insanitary surroundings are perpetuated in Eastern countries. ACCORDING to the Rome correspondent of the Brétish Medical Journal, there appears to be no doubt that Dr. Giuseppe Sanarelli has discovered the bacillus of yellow fever. He will publish an account of his discovery in the next number of a leading Italian hygienic publication, which will be issued in the course of the next few weeks. La Maztone, of Florence, has published an article, sent by a correspondent in Montevideo, which states that for some little time Sanarelli hardly believed in his success, but in August his experiments were so clear that he was certain of the discovery of the microbe, and he then occupied himself with the preparation of the serum. His experiments were very extensive ; he vaccinated more than 2000 animals, including rabbits, goats, sheep, monkeys, and a few horses. The results of the treatment are definitely reassuring, and in NO. 1425, VOL. 55] October 1896 he decided to announce confidentially to the President of the Republic of Uruguay the results that have crowned his studies in the origin and cure of yellow fever. If this remedy be truly efficacious, Dr. Sanarelli will obtain the reward of 150,000 scudi (£30,000) offered by the Brazilian Government for the discovery of such a remedy. Sir H. TRuEMAN Woop will read a paper upon the “ Re- production of Colour by-Photographic Methods,” at the Society of Arts on Wednesday next, February 24. The paper will have special reference to M. Chassagne’s process of photography in colours, described in NATURE of February 4, and results obtained by this and other processes will be shown. The Council of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain have awarded the Progress medal of the Society to Prof. Lippmann, for his discovery of the process of producing photo- graphs in natural colours by the interference method. The rules by which this medal is given preclude the award of more than one in any year, and since its institution in 1878 ten medals only, including the one mentioned above, have been awarded. AN interesting paper was read on Thursday last, by Prof. J. C. Bose, at the Indian Section of the Society of Arts, on the promotion of advanced study of physical science in India. The lecturer made some valuable suggestions for the encouragement of original research in India, among which may be mentioned the establishment of post-graduate scholarships and fellowships by Indian Universities. One of the great drawbacks in the prosecution of physical research in India is the want of suitable laboratories. It is to be hoped that this vital want, which stands in the way of original investigations in science, will soon be removed. Scientific men in Europe are greatly interested in the recent contributions to science made by India, and they welcome Indian investigators as their co-workers in advancing natural knowledge. From the Gardener's Chronicle we learn with regret that Baron Constantin Ettingshausen, the palzeontologist and botanist, has died at Graz, at the age of seventy-one. Deceased was originally a doctor of medicine, but devoted all his time and energies to botany and paleontology. He was engaged for some time in arranging paleontological collections in the British Museum (Natural History). He was the author of several works on botanical subjects, and wrote a large number of papers, which were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, and of other learned bodies. WE notice also with regret the announcement of the death, at Headington, near Oxford, of Mr. Henry Boswell, the eminent bryologist. Mr. Boswell had not only studied the mosses of Britain, but had an intimate acquaintance with foreign species, and his knowledge was utilised by many correspondents in different parts of the world. In his early days his attention was directed to the study of flowering plants, but subsequently he developed a greater fondness for the study of bryology. He possessed a large collection of mosses, which it is hoped will be secured by the University. In recognition of his services to bryological science, Oxford University, in 1887, conferred upon him the honorary degree ot Master of Arts. THE following are among the announcements of the deaths of men of science abroad :—Dr. Nikolai Zdekauer, St. Petersburg, member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, and distinguished for his work to advance hygiene and the knowledge of epi- demics; Herr Alois Rogenhofer, formerly curator of the Imperial Natural History Museum in Vienna; Dr. Hermann von Noerdlinger, formerly professor of forestry in Tiibingen University ; and Dr. G. D. E. Weyer, professor of mathematics and astronomy in Kiel University. Fersruary 18, 1897 | WAT ORE WE are sorry to see the announcement in the Zzmes that Prof. Charles Tomlinson, F. R.S., a successful and distinguished teacher and writer in bothscience and literature, died on Monday, at his residence in Highgate, in his eighty-ninth year. He was elected on the Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1864, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867, a Fellow of the Chemical Society in the same year, and was one of the founders of the Physical Society. He was for many years Lecturer on Experimental Science at King’s College, held the Dante Lectureship at University College, 1878-80, and was Examiner in Physics to the Birkbeck Institution. In science he was the author of many handy text-books on natural philosophy, meteorology, and natural history, and contributed numerous papers, the results of original research, to the Zravsactéons of the Royal and Chemical Societies. In 1854 he edited ‘‘Tomlinson’s Cyclopedia of Useful Arts, Mechanical and Chemical, Manufactures, Mining, and Engineering.” In biography he wrote the lives of Smeeton, Cuvier, and Linnzus, and the notices of scientific men in “ The English Cyclopzedia of Biography.” In literature he was the author of ‘‘The Inferno of Dante, translated into English Tierce Rhyme” ; from the German Hexameters of Goethe into English Hex- ameters”; ‘‘ Essays, Old and New”; ‘‘The Chess Players’ magazines. AN announcement, which will arouse a good deal of interest among biologists, was made at a recent meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences. Mr. Bashford Dean reported that he had obtained a fairly complete series of embryos of Ade//o- stomum, including upwards of twenty stages from cleavage to hatching. Ade//ostoma, as the name is usually written, is a form very closely allied to AZyxine, the hag-fish, which is abundant off the northern coasts of Europe. Hitherto the develop- ment of the Myxinoids, with the exception of one stage of | segmentation, has been entirely unknown, though many European zoologists have spent much time and labour in unsuccessful endeavours to obtain material for its investiga- tion. The developing eggs of Sdellostoma, which are quite similar to those of JZyxzze, were obtained by Mr. Dean in the course of collecting operations carried on at Puget Sound, California, by a party of zoologists from Columbia University, New York, in the summer of last year. A number of the eggs and larvz of a form allied to Chimera were also secured. The results of the study of this material will be of the greatest interest and importance. After the mystery of the reproduction of the eel had been explained by Grassi, there were only two well-marked types of vertebrates whose development still baffled investigation ; and the difficulties in these two cases appear to have been at last overcome. THe first number of the second decade of the Kew Budletin of Miscellaneous Information is almost entirely devoted to a “List of Kew Publications, 1841-1895.” It consists of more than eighty pages of titles of independent publications, or of very numerous and important contributions to journals, con- taining a record of work done either by members of the Kew staff, or by others working in the Gardens, the Herbarium, or the Jodrell Laboratory. In addition to the Zcones Plantarum, Botanical Magazine, and other serials issued from Kew, the list includes all the more important Colonial Floras, such as Bentham’s of Australia, Hooker’s of New Zealand, Grise- bach’s of the British West Indies, Seemann’s of the Fiji Islands, Baker’s of Mauritius, Hooker’s of British India, and others ; also important monographs, such as Baker’s of the Fern-Allies, Bromeliaceze, and Amaryllidez, Massee’s of the Myxogastres, many of the orders in Martius'’s “Vora Brasz/iensis, NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | &c. When to this is added such works of first-class importance as Sir W. J. Hooker's ‘{ Genera Filicum,” Hooker and Ben- tham’s ‘*‘ Genera Plantarum,” Hooker’s ‘* Himalayan Journals ~ and ‘‘ Botany of the Zrebus and Terror,” Bentham’s ‘‘ Hand- book of the British Flora,” Hooker's ‘‘Student’s Flora,” Hemsley’s ‘‘ Handbook of Hardy Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants,” and, to crownall, the ‘‘ Index Kewensis,” it will be seen that there is some justification for the statement that the list “* represents a volume of work which probably is not surpassed by that of any other institution in the world.” We learn from the February Yournal of the Royal Geo- graphical Society that the first gold medal of the American Geographical Society of New York, the fund for which was given by the late General Cullum, has been awarded to Lieut. Peary, and was presented to the explorer at the recent annual meeting of the Society. Of Mr. Peary’s many services to the geography of the Arctic regions, that which is selected as the special ground for the award is his delineation, in 1892, of the coast-line of Greenland and the consequent demonstration of its insular character. Lieut. Peary, after returning thanks for the | a ded is plan for a new expedition, which «© Herman and Dorothea, translated | medal, proceeded to unfold his plan for a new exp on, W is to aim at reaching the North Pole, a plan which has already been endorsed by the New York Society. Having given it as en, : pega || his) opint results of recent expeditions serve to show Manual,” and many contributions to literary and scientific | Say nvens Une) Nine . P that the only feasible route by which to attain the North Pole is that by Smith Sound and the north-west coast of Greenland, he pointed to the important work to be done in those regions, in addition to the reaching of the Pole. He proposes the raising of sufficient funds to enable the work of the expedition to be continued, if need be, for ten years. It is proposed to go to Sherard Osborn Fjord, or further, in a ship manned by a mini- mum crew, and—having taken on board ev route several picked families of Eskimo—the people and stores would be landed, and the ship sent back. During the autumn sledging season he would advance supplies north-eastward along the coast by short and rapid stages, taking advantage also of the brilliant winter moons. The party itself would follow stage by stage, living like the Eskimo in snow-houses, so that in early spring it should have already reached, with the bulk of its supplies, the northern terminus of the North Greenland Archipelago, whence, ice con- ditions being favourable, a dash for the Pole would be made- with the lightest possible equipment, with picked dogs and two of the best Eskimo. Each succeeding summer the ship would attempt to reach the base, whence the series of caches already formed at each prominent headland would supply a line of com- munication with the advanced station. Tue Seismological Committee of the British Association has just sent out a circular inviting co-operation in an endeavour to extend and systematise the observation of earth-movements. The cost of an instrument to record such movements, with photographic material to last one year, is about 507. The first object the Committee has in view is to determine the velocity with which motion is propagated round, or possibly ¢/vough,. the earth. To attain this, all that is required from a given station are the times at which various phases of motion are recorded ; for which purpose—for the present, at least—it is considered that an instrument recording a single component of horizontal motion will be sufficient. Other results which may be obtained from the proposed observations are numerous.. The foci of submarine disturbances, such, for example, as those which from time to time have interfered with telegraph cables, may possibly be determined, and new light thrown upon changes taking place in ocean beds. The records throw light upon certain classes of disturbances now and then noted in magnet- ometers, and other instruments susceptible to slight movements 5. whilst local changes of level, some of which may have a diurnal 372 NATURE [ FEesruary 18, 1897 character, may, under certain conditions, become apparent. Persons who are willing and able to participate in the work of obtaining such records, are requested to communicate with the Seismological Committee, British Association, Burlington House, London, W. ’ WE have received from the National Observatory of Athens the numbers of the Bulletin Mensuel Setsmologique for August, September, and October last. The number of shocks observed in Greece during these three months are respectively 24, 27, and 24. The majority were very slight, and were felt by only a few persons ; but the large number recorded is a good test of the valuable work done by the new Geodynamic Section, which the Director of the Observatory has placed under the charge of Dr. Papavasiliou. Dr. JOHANNES BUCHWALD contributes to the AZ%¢theclungen vou Forschungsreisenden und Gelehrten aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten a paper on the distribution of plants in West Usambara, from observations made by himself during six months’ residence at Muafa, and on three journeys extending over the whole of the neighbouring mountain region. The floras of the plain and mountain districts are dealt with under separate headings, and special attention is devoted to the species which, while properly belonging to the one region, make their way into the other. A PLAN, on a large scale, of the newly-founded New York Botanical Garden, accompanies the Az//etzz of the Garden for January. The same number contains also reports of the Com- mittees to which were entrusted the plans for the arrangement of the Gardens and Museum, as well as Prof. Britton’s address on Botanic Gardens, given at the last meeting of the American Association, which comprises a slight sketch of the principal botanic gardens of the world. THE Botanical Gazette, the leading botanical journal of the United States, commences the present year with a staff of three editors and thirteen associate-editors, representing the four American Universities of Harvard, Cornell, Michigan, and Missouri, and the following foreign centres :—Geneva, Padua, Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, Bonn, Cambridge (England), Copenhagen, and Stockholm. The inclusion of Tokyo in the list is indica- tive of the great activity of biological studies in Japan. Besides original articles, the Gazette has admirable abstracts of im- portant papers published in foreign botanical journals. A BIBLIOGRAPHY of the published writings of Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., has been published as Bu//etin 49 of the U.S. National Museum. Many years ago the publication of a series of bibliographies of representative American naturalists was begun by the Museum, and five bulletins of this type had been published previous to the present one. Though the original intention was to confine the series to the work of naturalists carrying on researches in America, Dr. Sclater has paid so much attention to American ornithology that it was considered most desirable to widen the scope and devote a bulletin to his con- tributions to the subject. The result of acting upon this decision is a bibliography running into 135 pages, arranged chrono- logically, and in lists of new families and genera described, new species described, and species figured. THE meteorological observations made at Rousdon Observa- tory, Devon, during 1895, and the reduction of observations for the lustrum 1891-95 and the decade 1886-95, are contained in a volume which Mr. Cuthbert E. Peek has just distributed. In addition to the statistical contents, the report contains a valuable account of a comparison of the records of a Kew pattern Robinson anemometer with those of a pressure-tube anemometer. The sum of the mean hourly velocities obtained from the pres- NO. 1425, VOL. 55] sure-tube record was compared with the recorded run of the caps of the Robinson anemometer for each month. The results are, on the whole, very consistent, and show that, for almost all velocities, the pressure-tube record amounts to only about eleven-fifteenths of the mileage recorded by the Robinson. In other words, assuming the velocity shown by the pressure-tube to be correct, the factor of the Robinson should be 2:2. Mr. Peek thinks that the true factor of the Kew pattern, or standard size, Robinson anemometer is sufficiently close to 2*2 as to make it safe to accept that value for getting the real velocity of the wind from its records. A VERY attractive guide to Stockholm, containing numerous illustrations, and useful hints to tourists, has been issued by the Swedish Tourists’ Club. The guide should be seen by all who propose to visit the beautiful capital of Sweden during the forthcoming summer, when the great Scandinavian Art and Industry Exhibition will be open, A GENERAL index to the first fifty volumes of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, has been compiled and edited by Mr. L. L. Belinfante, Assistant Secretary of the Society. Part i., comprising the letters from A to L, has just been published. It need hardly be said that the complete index will be of great service to geologists. Another useful publica- tion issued by the Geological Society is the author’s and subject index to the geological literature added to the Society’s library during last year. THE first number of Zhe Afiddlesex Hospital Fournal has been sent to us, and it is a very creditable production. Among the contents is a paper, by Mr. Henry Morris, on the diagnosis and treatment of stone in the bladder. Referring to the use of R6éntgen rays in the diagnosis of renal and vesical calculi, it is shown that calculi compound of uric acid and urates are not likely to be revealed by the rays, especially if the rays have to pass through the adult skeleton to reach them. On the other hand, stones which have phosphates or phosphate or oxalate of lime in their composition can be discovered by Rontgen rays. A portrait of the late Mr. J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., reproduced by the Swan Elecuric Engraving Company, forms a striking frontispiece to the Fournad. THE Museums Association exists for ‘‘ the promotion of better and more systematic working of museums throughout the king- dom.” In order to promote this object, the Association meets ina different town each year. Last year it met at Glasgow, and the report of the proceedings at the meeting, edited by Mr. E. Howarth and H. M. Platnauer, has lately been published by Messrs. Dulau and Co. To curators of museums the volume is invaluable. Among the subjects dealt with in it are type speci- mens in botanical museums, by Mr. E. M. Holmes; colour tinting and its application to microscopic work, by Dr. G. Bell Todd; descriptive geological labels, by Mr. Herbert Bolton ; electrotypes in natural history museums, by Mr. F. A. Bather; . chemistry in museums, by Mr. G. W. Ord; and suggestions made by Huxley in 1868 for a proposed natural history museum in Manchester, contributed, with Huxley’s original pen and ink sketches, by Mr. W. E. Hoyle. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Macaque Monkey (JJacacus cynomolgus, 8 ) from India, presented by Miss M. Hewens ; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus rhesus,?) from India, presented by Mr. C. W. Hutchings; a Yellow-shouldered Hangnest (/cferus tibzalzs) from Brazil, presented by Mr. W. H. St. Quintin; a Ring- tailed Coati (Naswa rufa) from South America, deposited; two Painted Frogs (Déscoglossus pictus), South European, received in exchange ; four Varied Field Mice (/somys varéegatus), born in the Gardens, Fepruary 18, 1897 | NATURE S734 OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. Prizes IN ASTRONOMY.—The Belgian Government has offered a sum of 300,000 francs, without distinction of nation- ality, on the occasion of the Exhibition to be held this year in Brussels, to the authors of the best solutions of some important questions selected by special Committees of the different Sections. The problems which more especially interest us, namely those on astronomy, are as follows (the values of the Ist, 2nd, and 3rd prizes being 900, 600, and 500 francs respectively). A. Construct an apparatus by which relative measures of the value of g on board ship may be made. B. Construct an apparatus to show the effects similar to those of the germination of the canals on Mars, and which may explain the actual observed phenomena. D. Invent a means by which planetary details may be photo- graphed as clearly as they can be observed. E. Find a method by which the sun can be observed at any time as if it were totally eclipsed. F. Indicate a sure method of determining the amount and direction of movement of the solar system. Prizes of 300 and 200 francs are offered for the authors of the best answers to the following :— A. Investigate, from the point of view of computation of astronomical observations, whether the formule of Laplace, relative to the movement of rotation of the earth, are or are not more exact than those of Oppolzer. B. Improve in some way the measures made with the meridian circle (elimination or determination of personal error, instrumental corrections, &c.). C. Write a critical essay on the fundamental principles of mechanics, and differentiate between what is purely rational and what is in the domain of experience. D. Improve in some point the actual state of our knowledge of cosmogony. E. Improve our knowledge of gravity, either by a new dis- cussion of old observations or by new methods. F. Improve the magnetic chart of any country, either by a fresh discussion of old observations or by the use of new ones. G. The theory of the motion of rotation of the terrestrial pole. H. Give complete theoretical formule for the variation of | latitudes, and determine by them the periods theoretically. I. Investigate whether a new term for the secular acceleration of the moon can exist. DovusBLe STaR MEASuRES.—Vol. x. Part 1 of the publica- | tions of the Washburn Observatory contains the observations of double stars, made with the 4o cm. Clark equatorial telescope of | this observatory between the years 1892 and 1896. The stars selected were for the most part well-known binary systems in rapid motion; but additions have at times been made, among which were eleven stars of very slow relative motion included in the list of cireumpolar stars selected by Otto Struve for observation as comparison stars. Only nights on which the “*seeing”’ was sufficiently good for the employment of high magnifying powers were used. The director, Mr. George Com- stock, states, with regard to the possible error due to the position of the observer's head: ‘‘I have uniformly held my head in such a position during the observations that the line joining the eyes was either parallel or perpendicular to the line joining the star images.” The measurements of distance were made by placing the micrometer threads upon the discs of the stars. In the cases of very close and difficult stars, another method was adopted, applied only when the distances were below 05. A discussion of the probable errors shows that for distances less than 0”60, a single estimate of distance may be assumed con- stant and equal to + o”o40. The coordinates of the stars in the list are referred to the equinox of 1880'0. LuNAR PHOTOGRAPHS.—The February number of the Bu/- detin de la Soctété Astronomigue de France contains an interest- ing article, by M. Camille Flammarion, on lunar photography. The reader will find there some excellent reproductions of the Paris negatives, the latter equalling, if not surpassing, any photographs obtained. A magnificent phototype, from a photo- graph taken February 14, 1894, shows the moon nine days from the lunation, Copernicus standing out magnificently clear on the terminator. All the details are wonderfully sharp, and the con- trast leaves little to be desired. M. Loewy is to be congratulated on the high state of efficiency which he has attained in his photographic investigations of the lunar surface. NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | REPORT ON THE CORAL REEF AT FUNAFUTI! Prefatory Note by Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., Vuce- Chairman of the Committee. N presenting, as desired by the Committee, Prof. Sollas’s report on the attempts to ascertain, by boring, the structure of the atoll of Funafuti and on other investigations simul- taneously undertaken, I avail myself of the opportunity of expressing the gratitude which is felt by its members to our friends in New South Wales, who have given such real and substantial help, especially by the loan of machinery and skilled workmen, in putting the project into execution ; and among them chiefly to Prof. Anderson Stuart (who has been practically another Secretary in Australia), Prof. Edgeworth David, Mr. W. H. J. Slee (Chief Inspector of Mines), and Sir Saul Samuel (the Agent-General of the Colony in England). I shall venture also to acknowledge gratefully the services of Captain Field and the officers of H.M.S. Penguzn, and the unstinted labour which has been given by Mr. W. W. Watts, our Secretary in London, in carrying out our plans. In conclusion, may I express, speaking for myself, my earnest hope that another attempt will be made to determine the true structure of an atoll. I think, however. that our experience on this occasion shows that the attempt can be much more easily made, and with a far greater probability of success, if Australia instead of England be the base of opera- tions, and I trust that before long the colony of Sydney will initiate an expedition, and we shall co-operate with them as cordially as they have done with us. Report of Prof. Sollas, F.R.S. H.M.S. Penguin having come to anchor in the lagoon of Funafuti on the afternoon of Thursday, May 21, Captain Field at once landed with Lieut. Dawson, Ayles (the foreman of the boring party), and myself, and we proceeded to make arrange- ments for our work on the island. A site for boring was chosen near the sandy beach of the lagoon, conveniently situated for the landing of gear, less than half a mile to the south and west of the village of Funafuti, and near the village well, which supplies a small amount of brackish but drinkable water. The work of landing was commenced the next morn- ing, and completed by May 26. The erection of the boring apparatus was at once taken in hand, and on June 2, twelve | days after our arrival on the island, all was in readiness for s commencing operations. On June 3 the 6-inch tubes were driven into the sand, and by June 6 they had been advanced 30 feet ; the 5-inch pipes were then entered, and everything made ready for inserting the diamond crown and commencing to drill on Monday, June 8. On June Io it was arranged that the work should proceed by shifts, so that the drilling might be carried on continuously day and night. During the first shift the crown had been advanced 20 feet, making the total depth then attained 52 feet 9 inches ; during this shift, fragments of highly cavernous coral rock were brought up in the core barrel from a depth of between 40 and 50 feet. On June 11, a depth of 85 feet having been reached, it was found necessary to ream the hole preparatory to lining, and by June 15 the necessary reaming and lining had been completed. Up to this, although we had been somewhat disappointed at our slow rate of progress, occasioned partly by the unfavourable nature of the ground and partly by the frequent failure of our machinery, we had anticipated nothing worse than the possi- bility of finding our allotted time exhausted before we had reached a depth of 1000 feet; but now, on setting the crown to work, it very soon ceased to advance, and Ayles shortly afterwards came to me to announce that, in his opinion, the boring was a failure. Nevertheless, some further progress was subsequently made, and on Tuesday, June 16, a depth of 105 feet was attained. It then became once more necessary to ream and line the hole. Attempts to ream were continued all through Wednesday and Thursday, but without success ; sand poured into the hole, and the reamer could not be driven through it. Efforts were made to remove the sand by a sand- pump, but proved unavailng, the sand flowing in faster than it could be pumped out. Ayles assured me that it was impossible to descend another foot, and that he considered further labour as time and money thrown away. We decided therefore to 1 “* Report to the Committee of the Royal Society appointed to Investigate the Structure of a Coral Reef by Boring.” By Dr. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S., Professor of Geology in the University of Dublin. Received December 1895. Read, February 11, 1897. 374 NATURE [FEeBRuaARY 18, 1897 abandon this borehole, and to recommence operations on another site, if possible in solid rock. The structure of the ground passed through in the abandoned borehole was'as follows (Fig. 1) :— @| Sand with some coral blocks. F@ 3276. 9/723 Coral reefs and blocks with some sand. Sand with sore coral blocks. a... 1054. itn Fic 1.—Section of the abandoned borehole. | labour, at a cost of about £10. Although I knew of many places where solid rock forms the surface of the ground, it was very difficult to find one to which we could transport our machinery ; the difficulties of landing on | a rocky shore rendered several promising spots inaccessible by sea, while the absence of wheeled vehicles or even wheels, and the nature of the ground, seemed to put transportation by land out of the question. At last, however, Mr. Hedley pointed out to me a portage called Luamanif, and used by the natives for dragging their canoes from the lagoon to the seaward side of the island, which at this place is very narrow, about 70 yards across. As this seemed a good landing-place I submitted it to the consideration of Captain Field, who, after a personal examination, agreed that we might safely make use of it. Ayles and his party were then set to work to sink trial-pits on the line of the portage; one of these, situated 70 feet from the high-water mark on the seaward | face of the reef, was sunk 12 feet through sand and blocks of | coral, when operations were brought to a close owing to the influx of sea-water at high tides. Two other pits were then commenced nearer the sea and a little to one side (north) of the portage, at the margin of the solid platform of rock, which extends down to the growing edge of the reef, and which is covered by the sea at high water. These passed through sand and fragments of coral. In the most northern of the two pits the sand was somewhat consolidated, and so, proceeding a few | yards further north, as far in that direction as it would have | been possible to transport our machinery, we opened another pit, which was sunk for a depth of 11 feet through fragments of | coral, crystalline coral limestone, and partly consolidated sand. | The bottom of the pit was 2 feet below the seaward margin of the reef, and as we were not inconvenienced by an influx of sea-water, and Ayles was of opinion that the rock would ‘‘stand,” we decided to make our new venture at this spot (Fig. 2). Taking into consideration the difficulties of transporting our apparatus, I do not think a more favourable locality could have been chosen; it was close to the very edge of the rocky platform, which is so hard that Darwin, speaking of a similar platform in the case of another reef, says, ‘‘I could with difficulty, and only by the aid of a chisel, procure chips of rock from its surface”; and as near the sea as it was prudent, or even possible, to go. Indeed, we NO. 1425, VOL. 55] | mittee had considered it would have been completed. had at first some doubt as to whether our pumping pipes would “live” in the surf of the ocean margin, and feared that the high- | water spring tides might inundate the shaft ; our fears in these respects, however, proved to be groundless. Captain Field and myself were impressed with the need of additional boring apparatus, and he proposed that Ayles should go to Sydney to see if it could be procured. I gave much | anxious consideration to this project, and discussed it with my colleagues, Messrs. Hedley and Gardiner, and with Ayles. The information I received from Ayles was not encouraging. He stated that we should require a complete equipment of lining tubes, from 10 inches down to 23 inches in diameter, that 10-inch tubes were not to be had in Sydney, and that even if we succeeded in obtaining all the appliances we required, the success of the boring would even then by no means be assured. For a doubtful result I did not feel justified in incurring the certain increase in our expenditure which a journey to Sydney would have involved ; the question of time had also to be con- sidered, for had Ayles gone to Sydney we should on his return have been commencing our boring at or after the date the Com- Finally, it appeared that the new locality we had chosen for our work offered fair prospects of success. The shaft already sunk to a depth of 11 feet was then timbered with Pandanus logs, and arrangements made for carry- ing down a hole by jumping with a 6-inch chisel. Ayles spoke of getting as far as 50 feet by this means, and then lining the hole with 6-inch tubes, but after sinking 4 feet he declared it impossible to proceed further in this way; the chisel could not be made to continue sinking in a straight line, the labour was too exhausting, and progress very slow. It was decided, there- fore, to begin boring, Ayles being very hopeful, as the hole “stood” well. On Thursday, June 25, we accordingly made | arrangements to shift our boring gear to the new site, and by Saturday, June 27, this work was completed, chiefly by native The boilers were rolled along the beach, the rest of the machinery taken by water, and all subsequently dragged, rolled, or carried across the portage. Lieut. Waugh lent us valuable assistance, during the absence of the Penguzn, in this work. Boring was commenced on Friday, July 3, and by 5 o'clock we had sunk another 4 feet ; progress then became rapid, and on Saturday evening, when work was knocked off, we had descended in all 46 feet. Very little ‘‘ core” was obtained, however, and at times the boring bit met with very little opposition as it advanced, seemingly passing through a vacant space. Since the water pumped into the hole no longer flowed out above, but | found its way out by some communication with the sea below, it was impossible to determine whether or not some sand might have been present. It was clear, however, that the coral rock through which the ‘‘ bit” advanced was highly cavernous. On Monday the hole became filled with fallen fragments and some sand; it was evident, therefore, that the sides would not hold, and so recourse was had to lining ; by Thursday, July 9, the hole had been reamed and lined down to 45 feet, and the work of boring was resumed. On pumping, we had the satisfaction of seeing the water flowing out of the top of the hole; but our joy was short-lived, for, on Monday, June 13, the water was again lost. On Tuesday, July 14, we had reached 65 feet, passing for the last 20 feet through sand and coral. Subsequently we attained a depth of 72 feet, and could then proceed no further. We worked all Thursday and Friday with the sand pump, but with no success; the bottom of the hole was surrounded by » quicksand containing boulders of coral, and as fast as the sand was got out, so fast it flowed in and faster. The water pumped Trial pil 7 Site of Boring Bi Fic. 2: down disappeared through the sand, boring and a fortzorz,. reaming was impossible, and the tubes could not be driven owing to the interspersed boulders. Had the tubes been provided with steel driving ends, we might have forced them down ; as it was, the effect of driving them was simply to curl in the lower Fesruary 18, 1897] NATURE 375 o end. Had we been provided with 4-inch tubes we could have made a fresh start, and might have descended another 30 or 40 feet, bu ‘even then ultimate success would not have been ensured, for the chance of meeting again and again with inter- mixed sand and coral remained always open, and every such encounter would have required lining tubes of diminished calibre. Baffled in all our endeavours, and no other part of the island offering more hopeful prospects of success, we had no alternative but to abandon the undertaking, and on July 30 we were taken from the island in the Pezgzen and returned to Fiji. On landing there we had the mortification to learn that additional apparatus was then on the way to Funafuti, our friends in Sydney having, with great generosity, at once despatched machinery for driving in sand on receipt of a letter I had sent informing them of the failure of our first borehole. We had had no reason to expect such spontaneous assistance, and even had we been fortunate enough to have remained on the island till the machinery arrived, we should probably not have accomplished the object we had in view, though we might possibly have carried the borehole down to a depth of about 400 feet. A very free communication must have existed between the borehole and the sea, for whenever a big roller broke upon the reef the rods lifted, and after the lining had been withdrawn, water spurted out of the borehole with the fall of every wave. The open nature of the reef is further in- dicated by the fact that the sea-water rises with every tide to fill certain depressions, 4200 . The most important contribution, however, and one that I think must, in certain details greatly modify our views as to the nature of coral reefs, is afforded by the investigations of Captain Field. Never before have soundings, both within and without an atoll, been so closely and systematically made, and the results seem to me commensurate with the care and pains that have been taken to secure them. Four series of soundings, ‘ Sec- tions,” as they are termed on board the Penguin, have been run from the seaward face of the reef outwards. How close together the soundings were made is shown in the following table, which Captain Field has kindly permitted me to copy from his order book :— Depth o— 40 fathoms every 10 yards. » 40— 70 ” 20 5, ” 7O0—100 ” 39 55 ” 100—I50 ” 49 5, 58 I150—200 5 50" 55 55 200—300 5 60 ,, » 300—400 ” 79 355 3 400—500 » 80 ,, . ” 500—600 bh) 90 ” 5, 600—700 » 100 ,, “ 700—8o0o A 200) 5, The profiles obtained by the four series are closely similar, and, as regards one important feature, almost identical. This 4000 800 which occur in many places in the middle of the island; as the tide ebbs this water flows away down fissures, often so rapidly as to form little whirlpools. Wherever I have seen the reef growing it has always presented itself as clumps or islets of coral and other organisms with interspersed patches of sand, and the borings would seem to indicate that it maintains this character for a very con- siderable depth, and possibly throughout. The structure of the reef appears indeed to be that of a coarse ‘‘ sponge” of coral with wide interstices, which may be either empty or filled with sand. As regards the nature of this ‘‘ sand,” it is important to observe that it does not consist of coral débris ; this material and fragments of shells forming but an insig- nificant part of it ; calcareous algee are more abundant, but its chief constituents are large foraminifera, which seem to belong chiefly to two genera (Oréztol/étesand Ttno- porus). Tt covers a considerable area of the islands, and has accumulated during the memory of the inhabitants to such an extent as to silt up certain parts of the lagoon. This and the abundant growth of corals and calcareous algee, such as Halimeda, lead to the belief that the lagoon is slowly filling up. A suggestion has recently been made that more light is likely to be thrown on the history of atolls by a study of ancient limestones in the British Isles than by boring in existing reefs. The first essential, however, for such a study would appear to be a knowledge of the structure of living atolls, for, without this, the identification of others forming a part of the earth’s crust, might remain more or less a matter for conjecture. So far as the structure of Funafuti has been proved by borings, it is scarcely what a field geologist might have anticipated, and if deposits of a similar nature and origin should have been encoun- tered in, say, the mountain limestone, it is doubtful whether, previous to the borings in Funafuti, their interpretation would have been easily reached. While the boring has proved a failure, the other objects of the expedition have been attained with complete success. Messrs. Hedley and Gardiner have made a thorough investi- gation of the fauna and flora, both land and marine. Dr. Collingwood has obtained a good deal of information of ethno- logical interest, and we all have brought home a fairly com- plete collection of native implements and manufactures. A daily record was kept of maximum and minimum temperature, and of the readings of the dry and wet bulb thermometers. NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | 200 Wis ‘0 iY oH fphih, WG AAT | wa VN | TT TT Vg YM V Wi? 5 290 500 aonked ZA Be Fic. 3.—Section D—Horizontal measurements in yards ; vertical measurements in fathoms. The section is drawn to true scale. is the sudden change in slope that occurs at or about 140 fathoms. Speaking generally, one may describe Funafuti as the summit of a submerged conical mountain, the base of which, at a depth of 2000 fathoms, is a regular ellipse, 30 miles long by 28 miles broad. It rises witha very gentle slope, which gradually grows steeper as it ascends, till from 400 to 140 fathoms it has an angle of 30°; at 140 fathoms an abrupt change occurs, and the slope becomes precipitous, making an angle of from 75° to 80° for the greater part of its course, tillit passes into the shallow flats ot the growing reef. It is difficult to resist the impression that it is the upper 140 fathoms (840 feet) which represents the true coral reef. A convex curvature of the profile between 166 and 261 fathoms is probably a talus, produced by an accumulation of coral débris (Fig. 3). The conical mountain below the 140 fathoms line, with its parabolic slope, is suggestively similar to a volcano ; but, if so, its crater must have been immense, 10 miles across at least. A volcano, 12,000 feet in height, with a crater 1o miles in diameter, is, however, not an unknown phenomenon ; within the limits of the Pacific we may cite Haleakala, in Maui, Sandwich Islands, as closely comparable. A part of my work while on the island was the construction of a geological sketch map, part of which is shown in Fig. 4; its interest chiefly centres in a broad expanse near the Mission Station, where the two narrow limbs of the island meet, or, if it be preferred, whence they extend. Towards the seaward side this broad corner is occupied by a mangrove swamp, the floor of 376 NATURE [Frsruary 18, 1897 which is formed by a dead coral reef, constituted almost wholly of two species, one a massive Porites, and the other Heliopora cerulea, For a great part of the day this floor lies bare and dry, the frayed ends of the Heliopora standing like broken reeds, 6 inches above its surface, and the great clumps of Porites forming a series of stepping-stones of equal height. Neither of these corals stands long exposure to the air; on Funafuti they require constant submergence, and we are thus led to regard their upper surface as marking what was at one time the level of low tide in the swamp ; but since the present level of low tide is below the level thus indicated, some change must have occurred in the level of low tides. Not necessarily an elevation of the reef : Darwin has admirably discussed this explanation, and it is quite conceivable that some change in local conditions, such as the exclusion of the sea by the growth of the hurricane beach, may ABC. Mangrove swamp. BE OF ; (Rxtx] e//opora reer Consolidated cora/ VAY \¥orming part of the floor of the swamp. Sand. 5,0 Clinker Freld of P0"9)} cora/ Fragments. Fic. 4.—Corner of Funafuti, showing Mangrove Swamp and Heliopora Reef. have produced a local alteration in the height of the tides. The swamp communicates with the sea by pits in its floor, which enter subterranean channels running seawards. These passages are so narrow that the tide rises and falls in the swamp much more slowly than in the open sea. To determine whether any change of level has taken place, it thus becomes necessary to compare the highest and lowest water level of the swamp with that of the sea or of the lagoon. I accordingly levelled across the island from the lagoon to the sea, crossing the swamp on the way, and found that the high-water level at spring tides is 1 foot 10 inches below high-water (spring tides) of the lagoon, so that given free access of the sea, the Heliopora reef would be covered I foot 10 inches deeper than at present ; but it is now submerged from 10 inches to 2 feet 2 inches at high water springs, and NO. 1425, VOL. 55] would accordingly be submerged from 2 feet 8 inches to q feet, with free access of the sea. The range of spring tides is at least 6 feet, as I learn from Lieut. Dawson, but I am not quite sure that an extreme range of g feet 8 inches has not been ob- served. Taking, however, the smaller number, it becomes clear that for a considerable part of the day, the reef would be exposed to the air. It is not likely that under these con- ditions the corals would continue to live, and, I think, therefore, that the reef must have un- dergone some slight ele- vation, to the amount, ISLET FORMED CHIEFLY OF SANQ Fic. 5 SECTION THROUGH THE /SLET OF PAVA, FUNAFUT!, Ocal, Horizontal :- ¢ fathoms to O-4 inch. Vertical :-6 feet to Or inch, PLATFORM OF HARO CORAL BRECC/A CLIFF 7OCC/A TP COMingsS OUTER EOGE OF REEF perhaps, of 4 feet. This conclusion is in accord- ance with Dana’s view, and is supported by ob- servations on some other features of the island, such, for example, as the occurrence of an inter- rupted line of low cliffs, sometimes passing into a series of pinnacles, generally about 4 feet in height, as measured from low-water level. In the annexed section (Fig. 5) the cliffs are further from the land than is usually the case. These cliffs consist of a consolidated breccia of coral fragments, and are now in process of denudation, as is LEVEL OF LOW TIDE Fesruary 18, 1897 | NATURE 377 the coral platform which extends from them, up to and under the hurricane beach. This breccia was probably formed and cemented together when the reef stood at least 4 feet lower than at present, and was produced by the breakers driving fragments of corals from the seaward edge of the reef into the lagoon, as they are now doing over the isthmuses, submerged at high tide, which connect the several islets of the atoll together. If it should prove true, as I do not doubt, that one of the latest episodes in the history of the reef has been an elevation of, say, 4 feet, then in the immediately antecedent stage, the reef must have been a wash, or, perhaps, wholly submerged, and the present terrestrial fauna and flora mnst have reached it subse- quent to its elevation, as sea drift, or have been introduced by human agency. In conclusion, I would add that to myself the soundings obtained by Captain Field appear to support Darwin’s theory of coral atolls ; there remains, however, one very important branch of the subject which stands in need of renewed investigation, and this is the bathymetrical limit to coral life. Not till I had obtained a close acquaintance with the difficulties of dredging on the steep side of an atoll did I recognise on how frail a basis our accepted conclusions rest. It is a task difficult enough to get up corals from the lagoon in comparatively shallow water ; from the sides of the reef it is well-nigh impossible. To obtain dead corals from great depths proves little ; living corals are generally found with dead associates, and the latter are the more readily detached and brought to the surface. The weight of the evidence we already possess is admittedly in favour of a comparatively shallow bathymetrical limit, but much re- mains to be done before we can speak of any limit as definitely ascertained. THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. ON Thursday and Friday, the 4th and 5th inst., the annual general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers was held in the theatre of the Institution of Civil Engineers, in Great George Street. The President (Mr. E. Windsor Richards) occupied the chair. The Secretary read the report of the Council, from which it appeared that the Institution continues to grow in numbers and to accumulate capital, it having an income of over 7000/. a year, and an expenditure of about 5000/., the accumulated excess of receipts over expenditure being now over 46,009/. The Institution will shortly have a house of its own. Hitherto its offices have been a suite of rooms on the ground-floor of one of the buildings in Vic- toria Street, Westminster, a rent of 710/. being paid. The new building will be situated at the Storey’s Gate to St. James’s Park—that is to say, just at the bottom of Great George Street. The plans, which were exhibited at the meeting, show a handsome building, and as the front looks right on to the Park, the Mechanical Engineers will be very pleasantly housed. There will be a large lecture theatre, so that the Institution will no longer have to depend on the hospitality of the parent engineering Institution for a place to hold its meetings. Al- though this will naturally be a convenience, it will be with regret that the pleasant association between the two Institutions of host and guest will be severed. In looking at the new building of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the house of the Mechanical Engineers, now springing into existence only a few yards off, one cannot but think with regret what might have been done had the various Institutions devoted to engineering interests joined forces, and built a really commanding building, worthy, at the same time, of being a public monument to applied mechanical science. The Institutions of Civil Engineers, Mechan- ical Engineers, Naval Architects, Iron and Steel, and Electrical Engineers are all prosperous societies. Of course the Civil Engineers and Mechanical Engineers overshadow the others in wealth and influence, but they would have lost nothing by joining forces, for the accommodation afforded in the building could have been appropriated according to the amount con- tributed. There were naturally some difficulties in the way, but these could have been overcome. However, the chance of Great Britain, the birthplace of steam engineering, having a worthy home of engineering science is now past, and we can only look with appreciative interest on the efforts of the different NO. 1425, VOL. 55] societies to house themselves independently, but in a relatively modest fashion. The new building of the Mechanical Engineers will be finished in eighteen months. It has been kept back by difficulties with the London County Council. There were three papers set down for reading at the meeting. They were :-— (1) Fourth Report to the Alloys Research Committee. By Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen. (2) Partially immersed Screw Propellers for Canal Boats, and the Influence of Section of Waterway. By Henry Barcroft. (3) Mechanical Propulsion on Canals. By Leslie S. Robinson. The Report to the Alloys Research Committee alone calls for any extended notice. Mr. Barcroft’s paper was read; and it had, however, the good effect of calling forth from Mr. S. W. Barnaby a very clear exposition of some points in connection with screw propulsion ; and also a speech from Mr. Thornycroft, which, together, will serve to put the matter in a true light in the Proceedings. The report of Prof. Roberts-Austen gave, firstly, some general considerations respecting the present position of the research ; secondly, it dealt with the copper zinc alloys, known as the brasses ; and thirdly, with certain relations between the fusi- bility and strength of alloys; and this involved considerations as to the constitution of alloys generally. An account was also given of an experimental investigation which was undertaken with a view to measure the molecular mobility of solid and molten metals, known as diffusion. In the series of researches, of which a part was described in the paper, the author had attempted to find how far the properties of metallic masses are dependent on atomic movement and molecular grouping. This part of the paper contains so striking a lesson on the value of scientific investigation of problems of a constructive or industrial nature, that we will quote Prof. Roberts-Austen’s introductory passage to this section in full. It ought to be unnecessary to do so, but the self-called ‘‘ practical man ”—who is really the most short-sighted and unpractical man in existence—has been so much in evidence of late, and has received so much support from a section of the technical press, that a corrective may well be administered. Prof. Roberts-Austen, referring to the course followed in the report, says :— ““The mechanical properties of alloys of definite series of metals have assumed less prominence than the principles which affect alloys generally; and the result has been that, although the course adopted hardly needs justification, the practical bearing of the investigation may have seemed to be somewhat remote. The devotion of years of labour, for instance, to tracing the relations of alloys to saline solutions, would appear at first sight to be of less practical importance than determining the mechanical properties of alloys by the aid of testing machines. Establishing the analogy between alloys and saline solutions has, however, been eminently fruitful in practical results ; for it has enabled the mechanical properties of alloys to be explained, and even to be predicted. It has been easy to show that the property ofliquation possessed by saline solutions while freezing —which consists in rejecting a certain quantity, often very minute, of a fluid portion of the mass, and distributing or relegating it to a definite position in relation either to the mass as a whole, or to the individual crystals—is now recognised as being of fundamental importance in determining the mechanical properties of varieties of iron and steel and of alloys generally. This subject of liquation will always be identified with the work of the Alloys Research Committee, and its history is interesting. Its origin is French (Levol, Avnales de Chimie et de Physique, vol. xxxvi., 1852, p. 1933 vol. xxxix., 1853, p. 163); but much experimental work in this connection was published more than twenty years ago in a paper of my own (Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xxiii., 1874-5, p. 481) ; and the present Report will contain references to the latest phases of the inquiry, which may also be claimed as the outcome of the labours of this Committee. Attacking the problem of the constitution of alloys from the atomic point of view has, moreover, been fruitful in results ; for it has enabled the influence exercised by the relative atomic volumes of the alloyed metals upon the mechanical properties of the mass of metal to be clearly revealed.” The original problem proposed for consideration of the Alloys Research Committee was, ‘‘ Are the mechanical properties of metals and alloys connected with their atomic volumes?” This 378 TATURE [Fepruary 18, 1897 question, the author says, ‘‘ has been definitely answered in the affirmative.” In dealing with the copper zinc alloys, the author reminds us that it is seldom an alloy solidifies sharply or at one tempera- ture, as water does. There are generally at least two freezing points; and in the industrial brasses, which never contain more than 45 per cent. of zinc, only three of the freezing points were referred to at first, although the scientific interest of the rest was considered later on. The chief point of interest in the paper was the consideration of the eutectic alloys. Of the several breaks in the curves of cooling points of most alloys, the first usually represents the falling out of a more or less pure metal, or some compound of the metal, from the cooling alloy. A second and sometimes a third break indicates the solidification of a eutectic alloy, that is a fusible metallic or ‘‘ mother liquor,” which solidifies at a definite temperature. In the copper zinc series there are several of these eutectic alloys. Guthrie introduced the designation ‘‘eutectic” alloy to denote the most fusible alloy of two or more metals, comparing it to the mother liquor of a salt solution, which remains fluid after the bulk of the salt hascrystallised out. The recording pyro- meter shows that as regards alloys the case is really far more complicated. Many alloys consist, when fluid, of more than one solution ; and each of the several solutions leaves, on cooling, a solid deposit and a fluid mother liquor. These mother liquors, however, do not usually unite with one another; and a com- plicated set of conditions is established, when the temperature has fallen sufficiently low for the whole mass to become solid. Each of these metallic mother liquors is a eutectic alloy. Some alloys—the lead-tin for instance—are of a simple character, and when fluid have only one eutectic alloy, that is, the deposits fall out from a single mother liquor. All the alloys which are used for the sake of their strength appear to be highly complicated. Thus in the alloys of copper and zinc there are at least four eutectic alloys, and in the copper-tin series there are at least six. The composition of eutectic alloys does not in general corre- spond to simple atomic proportions of the component metals, and the author considers there are theoretical reasons for sup- posing that a eutectic alloy cannot possibly be a chemical com- pound, It should be noted that in the cooling curves of some alloys, solidification, as shown, takes place over a somewhat long range of temperature. The point at which one constituent begins to crystallise has been called the higher freezing point, and the temperature at which the eutectic alloy solidifies out is called the lower freezing point. These two points are indicated by separate evolutions of heat. That the lead-tin series has more than one freezing point, is illustrated in a familiar way which has considerable industrial importance. A plumber making a ‘‘ wiped joint” uses a solder containing 66 per cent. of lead, and its pasty condition is due to the fact that it has two widely separated points of solidification, the alloy consisting of granules of solid lead in a fluid mother liquor. The facts above given lead up to a consideration of the mechanical properties of brasses, and the relation of these properties to the freezing point curve. In dealing with this part of the subject, the author had recourse to a series of diagrams exhibited on the walls of the theatre. Without the aid of these it will be impossible for us to treat the matter at all completely, even from the point of view of a brief abstract. Indeed the report—which is of great length—is so full of matter that we cannot hope to do more than give a few of the most prominent facts, which may serve to afford our readers an idea of its scope. Those interested in metallurgical research will naturally go to the original for fuller information. The method of investigation pursued was to heat an alloy in a steel cylinder and squeeze out the eutectic by hydraulic pressure ; the temperatures being noted, until finally a comparatively infusible residue is left. The several portions were then analysed, and the results of the analyses were given in an appendix. The results were discussed by the author in detail ; the dominant fact disclosed being that the maximum strength in the series of cast brasses occurs in the alloy containing 60 per cent. of copper. This alloy has practically only one freezing point. Further additions of zinc cause a rapid diminution of tensile strength and extensibility. The explanation given was that in these alloys the compound CuZn is unaccompanied by free copper. . In a series the summit of the curve representing extensibility coincides with the first appearance of the upper eutectic which falls out from the alloy that contains 71 per cent. of copper. This NO, 1425, VOL. 55] eutectic probably consists of a mixture of copper with the com- pound CuZn. The mixture of these soft and hard substances produces great strength, as is evident from the fact that the strongest alloy of the series consists almost entirely of this eutectic ; but the presence of the eutectic naturally diminishes the extensibility of a mass which contains more than a small amount of it. The addition of small amounts of iron to certain alloys of copper and zinc (Sterro and Aich’s metal) is next discussed by the author. The reason of the remarkable increase of strength thus produced has hitherto been obscure, but the facts are dis- closed by a comparison of the cooling curves given in the report. The alloy selected contained 61 per cent. of copper and 39 per cent. of zinc; and in the absence of iron there was a low eutectic point in the cooling curve at about 450° C. or 842° F., evidently due to the presence of a eutectic, which constituted a source of weakness. The added iron, however, entered into combination with the eutectic, forming with it a less fusible compound; for a cooling curve then showed that the low eutectic point was absent, and that the source of weakness had been removed. Moreover, the main solidifying point of the Aich’s metal was higher than that of the brass: which in itself is an indication of augmentation of strength. The facts thus established are probably of wide importance in metallurgical practice ; and where strength is desired, it would appear to be advisable, whenever a cooling curve reveals the presence of a low eutectic in an alloy, to add some third metal which will diminish the fusibility of the eutectic. Aich’s metal, when compared with brass of the same composition but without the 14 per cent. of iron, is greatly superior in strength. If it owes this superiority to the fact that a eutectic alloy does not remain fluid as the mass cools, it might be anticipated that the relatively high tenacity of Aich’s metal would be maintained at temperatures at which the brass would become weak. We have not space to follow the author further in his valuable and interesting research. He shows how the action of impurities is made clearly evident in connection with eutectic points, and has some most instructive remarks on the diffusion of metals, the latter a most important section of the report. Healso gives an account of improvements in the recording pyrometer by which great delicacy in recording is secured. The report con- cludes with a comparison of the thermo-junction with the air thermometer. k A good discussion, opened by Sir William Anderson and Sir William White, followed the reading of the report; but we have preferred to devote the space at our disposal to the report itself, as containing the most important matter. It may be said, however, that the tone of the discussion was entirely favourable to the report, its practical importance and value being dwelt upon both by the engineers and metallurgists present. DR. VERSIN, AND PLAGUE VIRUS. N view of the importance which attaches to Dr. Yersin’s discovery of the plague virus and its anti-toxin, the follow- ing notes on his work may be of interest. When a youth of twenty, Yersin had the rare good fortune to obtain an entrance to the Institut Pasteur. The extraordinary ardour with which he devoted himself to his work, rapidly won for him the admiration and respect of all his colleagues. When little more than a student, Roux signalled him out to assist him in those important researches on the toxin of diphtheria which have since become so memorable, and which were communicated to the scientific world under the joint names of the master and his pupil. f While at Tonkin, in the spring ot 1894, he received the request from the French Government to proceed to Hong Kong to study the plague which had recently broken out there. Yersin started off on his mission, and arrived in Hong Kong a few weeks after the plague had commenced its terrible career in that city—a career which had already claimed the lives of 300 Chinese, and which was yet to exact a tribute of over 100,000. Yersin describes how, on reaching Hong Kong, he found the authorities busy rapidly erecting temporary hospitals, the exist- ing accommodation being quite inadequate to cope with the widespread dimensions of the epidemic. He obtained permis- sion to erect a small hut within the precincts of the principal hospital ; and there, in a concentrated plague atmosphere, he Fepruary 18, 1897 | WATORE 72) took up his quarters, and hastily improvising a laboratory, commenced his investigations. So far the plague had confined itself to the insanitary Chinese quarters of the city; and Yersin mentions that the wretched cabins occupied by the natives were often not only without windows of any kind, but were sunk below the level of the ground, which, combined with the shocking overcrowding which prevailed, converted such dens into plague-incubators of the most fulsome and dangerous character. In these infected districts, one of the first things which attracted Versin’s attention was the extraordinary number of dead rats which lay about in all directions in the houses as well as in the streets; but, on inquiry, he soon learnt that this rat- mortality was a well-known forerunner of the plague, that the latter usually attacks animals such as rats and mice, and in the country districts swine and buffalos, before it touches human beings. An examination of these dead rats showed that their symptoms differed in no way from those which characterise the plague in man, and the extreme susceptibility of these animals furnished Yersin at once with a valuable means of tracking out the virus. His first step was to make careful examinations of the bubonic material present in the tumours which accompany the disease, and here he discovered immense numbers of a short bacillus which appeared to be almost exclusively in possession of the field. These he found were readily stained, and could be cultivated with ease in the usual bacterial media. Further investigation showed that these same bacilli were invariably present in the ganglia and liver and spleen of plague patients ; that they were, however, rarely to be found in the blood, and then but in small numbers, and usually only in rapidly fatal cases a short time before death. Healthy rats and mice inoculated with pure cultures of this bacillus succumbed to the typical plague symptoms ; and Yersin had thus accomplished the first step in his investigation—the identification of the specific virus of plague. Yersin was at first of opinion that rats were the principal disseminators of the disease, for healthy mice shut up with a dead plague-stricken rat, rapidly developed the disease and succumbed; but he noticed later the curious fact that, in the little room where he carried out his fost-mortem examinations, immense numbers of dead flies were scattered about in all directions. He, there- fore, determined to ascertain if this wholesale slaughter of flies had any connection with plague infection; so taking some of these insects, and first removing the head, wings and feet, he pounded up their bodies in broth. An examination later of the liquid exhibited masses of bacilli closely resembling the now familiar plague microbe; to place their identity beyond doubt he inoculated some of this broth into mice, with the result that the latter died of plague. That flies materially assisted in the spread of the disease was thus established. With the slender accommodation and primitive means at his disposal, it was impossible for Yersin to further pursue his in- vestigations, and prepare a plague anti-toxin, and he, therefore, forwarded cultures of his bacillus to the Institut Pasteur, and from here, in the course of the following year, was published the memoir describing the production of the anti-plague serum which is now being so urgently requisitioned for service in India. The bacillus was found to be pathogenic for not only rats and mice, but for the other animals of an experimental laboratory, rabbits and guinea-pigs. The attempt was first made to vaccinate these animals by means of the toxin, but filtered cultures of the bacillus produced no effect whatever ; so that the plan was adopted of heating cul- tures to 58° Centigrade, and inoculating the dead bacilli. If the latter are injected in sufficient quantities, they are capable of killing the animal ; but if a smaller quantity of the liquid con- taining them is employed, then it acts as a vaccine, and the animal is protected from a subsequent lethal inoculation of the virus, and its serum subsequently acquires protective properties. From success with small animals the attempt was made to im- munise large animals, such as horses. For this purpose virulent plague-cultures, capable of killing a mouse in two days, were employed, and the liquid containing these living microbes was injected into the horse’s veins. The reaction was rapid and intense, and lasted a whole week, after which the fever abated, and the animal slowly recovered. A long interval—twenty days—was allowed to elapse before a second injection was at- tempted ; but this time, although an equally virulent culture was employed, in the same quantity as before, the symptoms were less pronounced, and passed away more rapidly, and it was NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | found possible to both gradually increase the quantity and diminish the interval between the several injections. At the end of six weeks the first trial was made of the curative pro- perties already attained by the serum, and the results were regarded as extremely satisfactory and encouraging. To confer immunity to plague infection on a mouse, it required 5th of a cubic centimetre of serum, administered twelve hours éefore the virus was injected ; to cure animals after plague infection, 15 cubic centimetres of serum were required to be inoculated twelve hours after the virus had been introduced. The large quantity of serum necessary in these first experiments for curative purposes, was due to the short time during which the immunising process had been carried on. It will be remembered that in diphtheria the time required to train a horse’s serum up to the proper pro- tective pitch is a question of months, and in the case of anti- venomous serum a matter of as much as fifteen months; thus a treatment of six weeks only is a very short time for the serum to exhibit immunising properties. That the most remarkable thera- peutic value attaches to anti-plague serum as now elaborated at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, is shown by the success which has recently followed its application in undoubted cases of plague at Amoy, by Yersin, now Director of a Pasteur Institute at Nha- Trang in Annam. In conclusion, it may be asked, How long is England to rest content to knock as a humble suppliant at the door of foreign institutes for assistance when overtaken by disaster, as is now the case in India? Why should Paris supply the means for relieving the suffering of our fellow-subjects in India? The answer and reasons for that answer are, alas! but too well known to require repetition here ; and we can only hope that in the future, at present dim and obscure, the barriers which now so formidably impede medical progress in this country may yield before the enlightened pressure of public opinion. G. C. FRANKLAND. THE “BAZIN” ROLLER BOAT. N Nature of December 3, 1896, we gave a short notice of the new roller-boat the Zynest Bazin. From a paper recently read at the Society of Arts by M. Emile Gautier (ournal Society of Arts, January 22), the following further particulars are taken. The Ernest Bazin was launched a few months ago at Saint- Denis, and was then taken down the Seine to Rouen, where she is being fitted with her engines and machinery. As soon as these are completed an experimental trip will be made across the Channel, and it is anticipated that the vessel will in the course of about six weeks be anchored in the Thames. This experimental vessel has a displacement of 280 tons ; its length is 131 ft. 3 in., and width 38 ft. 9 in. The framework and hull are supported on six lenticular hollow wheels 32 ft. 10 in. in diameter, about one-third of which will be immersed. The engines, cargo, cabins, Xc., are placed on a platform resting on a framework carried on the axles of the wheels. The engines are constructed to develop 750 horse-power ; 550 of which will be used for the propeller, and 200 horse-power for driving the three pairs of wheels. With this power an ordinary steamer of a similar tonnage would not steam more than 18 or 19 knots. It is expected that the Arvest Bazin will attain double this speed. The principle on which the vessel is constructed is the substitution of the rolling motion of great wheels for the ordinary gliding motion of the hull of the vessel through the water, in order to minimise friction. An ordinary ship with its hull gliding through the water represents the disc pushed forward without a rotary motion being imparted to it. ‘As it is compelled to cut the water in front of it, and to drive it back longitudinally, it would soon cease to move forward did it not receive a fresh impulsion at every moment. If, however, the vessel were supported by revolving buoys, it is contended that it would possess all the advantages of the disc, to which a rotary as wellas. a forward motion is given. The effort, instead of being exercised longitudinally, is exercised partially downwards, vertically, so. that the resistance is reduced in a considerable degree. ‘As the result of calculation the rotary speed of the wheels has been made one half greater than the speed of translation. In the discussion which followed the reading of the paper, the speakers, while declining to prophesy as to the results to be attained, seemed to be of opinion that the difficulty of con- struction would increase very rapidly with the increase in size, owing to the great strain which would be imposed on the NATURE [Fepruary 18, 1897 platform in rough weather, and that to obtain the necessary strength the weight would become excessive. Practically the carrying part of the structure rests on six floating vessels coupled together by a framework. It does not follow that because this principle as applied to the lightly-con- structed canoes used by the natives of the Polynesian Islands is successful, that it could therefore be applied to the enormous structure required for an Atlantic liner. The Ca/azs Douvre and other coupled boats which have been built for the cross- Channel passage, have certainly not proved a success. M. Bazin, the inventor, is an engineer well known in France for the originality of his ideas, and for the invention of a sub- marine machine that served for the attempt to raise the Spanish galleons sunk in Vigo Bay ; also for inventions in connection with gold-washing machinery, dredgers, cranes, &c. His roller- boat will no doubt attract a great deal of attention when it arrives in the Thames. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. CAMBRIDGE.—The degree of Doctor of Science will be con- ferred on Dr, Nansen at a special congregation to be held at I p.m. on March 16. Prof. E. E. Barnard, of the Yerkes Observatory, Chicago, is to exhibit his photographs of the Milky Way, and other celestial objects, in' the Lecture Theatre of the Cavendish Laboratory, at 4 p.m. on February 20. Dr. A. C. Haddon is this term giving two well-attended classes (one elementary and one advanced) in physical anthro- pology at the Anatomy School. An examination for scholarships and exhibitions in natural science and engineering will be held at Trinity College on March 15. Details may be learned on application to the tutors. THE Cornwall County Council have had to further increase the salary attached to the lectureship on fisheries to £350 per annum, to enable them to secure a competent instructor. AT a meeting of the Council of the Royal College of Sur- geons, on Saturday last, the following resolution was adopted (subject to the approval of the Royal College of Physicians) : ‘*That the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, in full accord with their previous action, express the earnest desire that her Majesty's Government will, at the earliest opportunity, reintroduce a Bill for the reconstitution of the London University by statutory com- mission on the general lines of the report of the Cowper Com- mission, and do assure the Government that such a course will have their approval and support.” It was further resolved that if the Royal College of Physicians adopted the foregoing reso- lution, copies of it should be forthwith forwarded to the Lord President of the Council, Mr. Balfour, and the Senate of the University of London. A PLEA for the establishment of a National University at Washington is made in Sczence of February 5. It is suggested that the University should be developed from the national in- Stitutions already existing at Washington. ‘‘ Workers in the dif- ferent Government divisions and others having the proper pre- liminary education could, on presenting a thesis showing original work and passing an examination, receive the doctorate of philosophy, and this would qualify them as a civil service examination for promotion. The present Commissioner of Education, and perhaps the Regents of the Smithsonian Institu- tion, could govern the University. Examiners could be appointed from leading representatives of science and learning, who would meet yearly for a week of convocation in Washington. We believe that, without radical changes, and with nominal expense, there could be established at Washington a National University likely to become the world’s greatest University.” AN annual report, received a few days ago, tells us that the past year was more than usually interesting in the history of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, as being the centenary of the foundation of Anderson’s College, which received its charter of incorporation from the magistrates of the City of Glasgow on June 9, 1796. Besides being the oldest member of this composite institution, the interest attaching to Anderson’s College—apart from the fame of its medical school, now a separate institution—lies in the fact that it was the pro- NO. 1425, VOL. 55] genitor of mechanics’ institutions and the pioneer of technical education in this country. The record of successes of past and present students testifies to the soundness of the instruction given. The College is extending its operations rapidly over the West of Scotland, and, as its name implies, it is now more than a Glasgow institution. We notice that Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot has been appointed lecturer in botany, in succession to the late Mr. Thomas King, who occupied that position for many years. THE fifth annual report of the Technical Instruction Sub- committee of the City of Liverpool, which has reached us, shows that the high standard of efficiency was maintained during 1896. Most educationists will agree with the Chairman, who says, in his prefatory remarks, that ‘‘it will be a considerable advantage to the cause of higher education generally when it is recognised, by legislative authority, that specialised technical instruction can only properly be carried on as part of a general scheme of secondary education, and when means are provided for en- couraging and developing general secondary education without attempting to force it too soon towards specialisation.” The detailed report of the Director shows that no part of the legitimate work of a local system of technical instruction has been neglected. The teaching of science and modern languages has been further improved and developed in the secondary schools, special attention being very properly directed towards the provision of every convenience for the necessary amount of practical instruction in chemistry and physics. Side by side with this provision for young boys and girls, we find an efficient system of evening classes in commercial and technical subjects for young men who have started upon the serious work of life. The Committee have shown their appreciation of their good fortune in having a University College at hand by helping it to the extent of £1700 during the past year, which has been marked by a much needed extension of the chemical laboratories, and by the establishment of a new Natural History Museum. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, January. —“On the stability of a sleeping top” is the abstract of a lec- ture delivered by Prof. Klein before the Society at the Princeton meeting, October 17, 1896. It will be remembered that Prof. Klein delivered four lectures ‘‘On the theory of the top,” at the sesquicentennial celebration of the University. In these latter an attempt was made to simplify the formule for the motion of a top by turning to account the methods of the modern theory of functions. The later lecture before us considers from the same standpoint a much more elementary question, viz. the stability of a top rotating about an axis directed vertically up- wards. The point of support is supposed to be fixed. When the rotation is very rapid the behaviour of the top is as if its axis were held fixed by a special force. Some interesting re- sults are arrived at.—Bibliography of surfaces and_ twisted curves, by Dr. J. E. Hill, consists mainly of extracts from a paper read before the Society in May last. It attempts to re- present a compilation and classification of all articles, with cer- tain exceptions, upon these surfaces and curves which have been published during the present century. The paper itself should be, judging from these extracts, extremely useful to students. — Linear differential equations is a review, by Prof. M. Bécher, of Schlesinger’s ‘‘ Handbuch der Theorie der Linearen Differen- tialgleichungen,” and, like the previous work by Prof. Bécher'’ in the Bz//etzz, is thorough. The writer’s conclusion is that though the book fails to meet some of the demands which it seems to him may fairly be made of a handbook, it is certain to fill an important place in a_ mathematical library, owing to the great amount of information which it contains in accessible form.—Messrs. R. W. Willson and B. O. Peirce furnish a table of the first forty roots of the Bessel equation J.(x) = 0. with the corresponding values of J,(«). This is a paper which was presented to the Society at its summer meeting, September I, 1896.—The final article, not counting the notes and publica- tions, is entitled ‘‘ Notes on the Theory of Bilinear Forms,” and is by Prof. H. Taber. It was read at the November meeting. Wiedemann’s Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 2.—On the dissipation of electricity from a conductor into the air, and on the influence exerted by an increase of temperature of the conductor upon this process, by A. Oberbeck. A thin wire, to which an electric charge is imparted, loses its charge more Frsruary 18, 1897 | IAT URE 381 readily in air when hot than whencold. The difference between a positive and a negative charge is also more strongly marked at high temperatures, the negative charge being more rapidly dissipated.— Point discharge potentials in air and hydrogen, by | K. Wesendonck. The quantity of negative electricity dis- charged into hydrogen is greater than the quantity of positive electricity discharged at the same potential, but the initial | discharge potentials are not necessarly different.—The atomic | theory in natural science, by L. Boltzmann. The conception of the atom cannot be finally superseded by the differential equation as applied to a cont/nwum, since the latter is itself | based ultimately upon the conception of a discrete structure, even in such applications as Fourier’s theory of thermal conduc- | tivity. The atom has also the advantage of greater immediate clearness and picturesqueness over the differential equation, | whether it really exists or not.—On discharge rays, and their relation to kathode and Rontgen rays, by M. W. Hoffmann. | Discharge rays are contained in the spark discharge in air, | have been made on window glass and ice. hydrogen, and nitrogen at ordinary or low pressures. They exert no photographic action, but may be discovered by their property of imparting luminescence to solid solutions of man- ganese sulphate in gypsum when heated to a temperature below incandescence (thermo-luminescence). They are intercepted by mica, quartz, fluorspar, and other solids, unless produced at low pressures. They proceed in straight lines, and are not deflected by a magnet. They differ from ultra-violet light in their power of penetrating air, and not fluorspar. They are not reflected by solids. —Platinised electrodes and determinations of resistance, | by F. Kohlrausch. The solution used by Lummer and Kurlbaum for making bolometers, viz. one part platinum chloride, to 0’008 lead acetate and 30 water, gives a platinum black, which is very useful for platinising electrodes. It facilitates the use of smaller electrodes for alternate-current resistance measurements, and gives a well-marked minimum of telephone effect.—Electric moment of tourmaline, by W. Voigt. This was determined by breaking the tourmaline into fragments, and was found to be 3374 C.G.S. units. —A new formula for spec- trum waves, by J. J. Balmer. The author substitutes for the infinite geometrical progression in Kayser and Runge’s formula a closed term, and gives the frequencies for the lines of each series in the form A—B/(z + c)*. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. LONDON. Royal Society, January 21.—‘‘On Reciprocal Innervation of Antagonistic Muscles.” Third Note. By C.S. Sherrington, F.R.S., Holt Professor of Physiology, University College, Liverpool. Received December 29, 1896. If transection of the neural axis be carried out at the level of the crura cerebri in, e.g. the cat, there ensues after a somewhat variable interval of time a tonic rigidity in certain groups of skeletal muscles, especially in those of the dorsal aspect of the neck and tail and of the extensor surfaces of the limbs. The details of this condition, although of some interest, it is unnecessary to describe here and now, except in so far as the extensors of the elbow and the knee are concerned. These latter affect the present subject. The extensors of the elbow and the knee are generally in strong contraction, but altogether without tremor and with no marked relaxations or exacerbations. On taking hold of the limbs and attempting to forcibly flex the elbow or knee a very considerable degree in- deed of resistance is experienced, the triceps brachii and quad- riceps extensor cruris become under the stretch which the more or less effectual flexion puts upon them, still tenser than before, and on releasing the limb the joints spring back forthwith to their previous attitude of full extension. Despite, however, this powerful extensor rigidity, flexion of the elbow may be at once obtained with perfect facility by simply stimulating the toes or pad of the fore foot. When this is done the triceps - enters into relaxation and the biceps passes into contraction. If, when the reflex is evolved, the condition of the triceps muscle is carefully examined, its contraction is found to under- go inhibition, and its tenseness to be broken down synchronously with and indeed very often accurately at the very moment of onset of reflex contraction in the opponent prebrachial muscles. The reaction can be initiated in more ways than one, electrical excitation of a digital nerve or mechanical excitation of the NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | | periods such as 1/10° second, its value is less than | and Minerals.” sensory root of any of the upper cervical nerves may be em- ployed; I have seen on one occasion a rubbing of the skin of the cheek of the same side effective. Similarly in the case of the hind limb. The extensor muscles of the knee exhibit strong steady non-tremulent contraction under the appropriate conditions of experiment. The applica- tion of hot water to the hind foot then elicits, nevertheless, an immediate flexion at knee and hip, during which not only are the flexors of those joints thrown into contraction, but the extensors of the knee joint are simultaneously ve/axed. Electric excitation of a digital nerve or of the internal saphenous nerve anywhere along its course will also initiate the reflex. January 28.—‘‘On the Capacity and Residual Charge of Dielectrics as affected by Temperature and Time.” By J. Hopkinson, F.R S., and E. Wilson. Received December 15, 1896. The major portion of the experiments described in this paper It is shown that for long times residual charge diminishes with rise of temperature in the case of glass, but for short times it increases both for glass and ice. The capacity of glass when measured for ordinary durations of time, such as 1/1ooth to r/roth second, increases much with rise of temperature, but when measured for short periods, such as 1/10° second, it does not sensibly increase. The difference is shown to be due to the residual charge which comes out between 1/50,000th second and 1/1ooth second. The capacity of ice when measured for periods of 1/100th to 1/1oth second increases both with rise of temperature and with increase of time ; its value is of the order of 80, but when measured for Sone: difference again is due to residual charge coming out during short times. In the case of glass, conductivity has been: observed at fairly high temperatures and after short times of electrification; it is found that the conductivity after 1/50,000tk second electrification is much greater than after 1/T0,000th, but for longer times is sensibly constant. Thus a continuity is shown between the conduction in dielectrics which exhibit residual charge and deviation from Maxwell’s law and ordinary electrolytes. February 4.—‘‘ On the Gases enclosed in Crystalline Rocks By Prof. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S. From the time of Sir Humphry Davy it has been known that many minerals contain gases as well as liquids enclosed in. | cavities, which are often large enough to be visible to the unaided eye. The liquid sometimes consists of water or saline solutions, occasionally of mineral naphtha, and not unfrequently of carbon dioxide, which is recognisable by its great expansibility and total * disappearance when the temperature is raised to about 31° C. The presence of gases other than nitrogen and carbon dioxide in natural crystals had not been observed, save in one or two isolated cases, until two years ago, when helium was discovered in certain minerals by Ramsay. In the course of experiments undertaken with the object of ascertaining, if possible, the condition in which this element, remarkable for its chemical inactivity, is contained in these minerals, I was led to the observation that granite when heated in a vacuum gives off several times its volume of gas, which is - combustible, and which consists largely of hydrogen and_car- bonic oxide. I now find that these two gases are contained, more or less abundantly, in all the crystalline rocks, and, to-- gether with carbon dioxide and small quantities of nitrogen and. marsh gas, are apparently enclosed in fine cavities which per~ meate the crystals of quartz, felspar, and other mineral con- stituents. ; Of twenty different rocks examined—granite, gneiss, gabbro, schist, or basalt of different geological ages and from widely different localities—all yielded gas in which hydrogen is present, and is usually the preponderant ingredient of the mixture. The total bulk of the gases extracted, varied from a volume equal to 1°3 times the volume of the rock to 17°8 times its volume. Lava also gave gas, though in smaller quantity, and this also contained hydrogen. Graphite, quartz, beryl and tinstone, as examples of definite minerals associated with the older rocks, gave a similar result. ; To account for the large proportion of hydrogen and carbonic oxide in these gases, we must suppose that the rock enclosing them was crystallised in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide and steam, at the same time in contact with some easily oxidis- able substance, probably a metal or metallic carbide, at a mode- rately high temperature. No free oxygen has been found in any 382 NATURE [Frepruary 18, 1897 of these gases, neither has helium been detected. This latter substance seems to be confined to minerals which contain the heavy metals, such as uranium and thorium, and at present it has not been found in any simple silicate. Physical Society, February 12.—Special General Meeting. —The chair was taken by Captain Abney, who, as retiring President, referred to some of the changes which had occurred in the Society during the past year. The annual subscription had been raised, but a satisfactory number of new Fellows had been enrolled. The Society had lost two by death. A good deal of work had been done in the direction suggested by the discoveries of Rontgen.—The Treasurer, Dr. Atkinson, then presented his report and balance-sheet for the year 1896. There was evidence of improvement in the financial position, but there was still a deficiency to be met. Profits from sales of publica- tions had been small ; it was desirable to reduce the price of the volumes of ‘‘ Collected Papers of Joule and Wheatstone,” and to call the attention of physicists to these valuable records of classical work. Mr. Walker suggested that physical labora- tories, especially those in London, should be visited by Fellows of the Society, with a view to comparing notes as to the con- struction of apparatus ; professors of colleges and other institu- tions should be invited to appoint visiting days for this purpose. — Votes of thanks were passed to the retiring President, Council, and Officers, and also to the Council of the Chemical Society for the use of their rooms at Burlington House.—In replying, Captain Abney said that the coming year would probably bring about further improvements in the system of abstracting and indexing, by co-operation withother Societiesat home and abroad. He then read the list of Council and Officers for the year 1897-8. President, Shelford Bidwell, F.R.S. ; Vice-Presidents who have filled the office of President: Dr. Gladstone, Prof. G. C. Foster, Prof. Adams, The Lord Kelvin, Prof. Clifton, Prof. Reinold, Prof. Ayrton, Prof. Fitzgerald, Prof. Riicker, Captain Abney, Vice-Presidents, Major-General E. R. Festing, L. Fletcher, Prof. Perry, G. Johnstone Stoney. Secretaries: T. H. Blakesley, H. M. Elder. Foreign Secretary (new office), Prof. S. P. Thompson. Treasurer, Dr. Atkinson. Librarian, C. Vernon Boys. Other members of Council: Walter Baily, L. Clark, A. H. Fison, Prof. Fleming, R. T. Glazebrook, Prof. A. Gray, G. Griffith, Prof. Minchin, Prof. Ramsay, J. Walker. The newly-elected President, Mr. Shelford Bidwell, then took the chair, and an ordinary meeting was held. Mr. Blakesley read a paper by Mr. H. H. Hoffert, ‘On the use of very small mirrors with paraffin lamp and scale.” For the mirrors of reflecting instruments the author prefers small rectangular strips of microscope cover-glass, chosen thin and plane. These are first silvered and then cut to shape bya splinter of diamond embedded in wax. They are about $8 mm. long, by 1°5 mm. broad, and are suspended so that their longest sides are vertical. Rectangular mirrors suspended in this way are lighter, and have less inertia than round mirrors of equal aperture. A paraffin- lamp flame placed edgewise to the mirror gives sufficient il- lumination. The image of the flame is focussed on the mirror by a lens midway between them, it is a right, vertical line, and thus conforms to the shape of the mirror. A scale is fixed upona screen between the lens and lamp ; and the screen has a circular aperture just below the centre of the scale, provided with a vertical cross-wire. The relative position of screen and lens is adjusted so that an image of the wire is formed upon the scale after reflection at the mirror. Mr. Boys said he had frequently used small mirrors constructed as described by the author, and he could not see what was new in the method, except that a paraffin lamp had been found sufficiently bright for the purpose. It is desirable to diminish jnertia by choosing extremely thin glass. Microscope cover-glasses are generally supplied in squares or discs very fairly equal in size; if they are dealt out on a table like a pack of cards, their relative thickness can be judged by the note produced as they fall. Flatness can be estimated nearly enough by balancing them one by one upon the knuckle nearly level with the eye, and observing the reflec- tion of an illuminated straight edge, such as a window bar. All rejected glasses should be broken. The good ones can be further examined by a telescope and artificial star. A common ** writing ” diamond is best for cutting the thin plates. Special care must be taken not to distort the mirror in fixing to the suspended system. If liquid shellac is used in the attachment, distortion will certainly occur, at any rate if it is applied through- out the whole length of the mirror. The best way is to make the NO. 1425, VOL. 55] attachment at a mere point, near the top of the mirror; using a speck of shellac as viscous as possible, and heating, if necessary, by radiation, not by conduction. Mr. Boys thought that a re- flecting prism near the mirror might be used in certain cases where a paraffin lamp with its inevitable vertical flame was required for horizontal projections. For general purposes, Mr. Boys prefers some such arrangement as the following: If the source of light is a point, a lens is employed, forming an image of the source upon the mirror. (If the source of light is a sur- face, this lens .is evidently superfluous.) The cross-wire is stretched near to the lens on the side towards the mirror. It is now necessary to focus the cross-wire upon the scale, and this is best done by a plano-convex lens fixed as near as possible to the mirror, with its plane face towardsthe mirror. The light passes twice through this lens. As it may be necessary to change the plano-convex lens from time to time, according to the distance of the scale, Mr. Boys attaches it with a little vaseline to a strip of plate glass in front of the instrument. One advantage of such an optical system is that it allows the instrument to be set up in the same position, with respect to the scale, at all times. Dr. Thompson pointed out that Mr. Hoffert had obtained his results using only ove lens, by properly chodsing the position of the cross-wire.—A vote of thanks was given to the author, and the meeting adjourned until February 26. Entomological Society, February 3.—Mr. Roland Trimen, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. F. Bates, Mr. D. D’A. Wright, and Mrs. E. Brightwen were elected Fellows of the Society.—Mr. Champion exhibited an extensive series of Coleoptera collected by Mr. R. W. Lloyd and himself in the Austrian Tyrol, and containing about 450 species, including 35 of Longicornia, and about 20 of Otiorrhynchus. He also ex- hibited about 85 species of Coleoptera from Cintra, Portugal, collected by Colonel Yerbury, the most interesting of these being Carabus lusttanicus, F.; also two specimens of the rare Zeugophora flavicollis, Marsh., from Colchester. Mr. Tutt showed, for Mr. W. H. B. Fletcher, typical Zygaeua ochsenheimert, Zell., from Piedmont, and hybrids between a female of that species and Z. filépendude. The progeny was fertile zzter se, the males closely approaching Z. ochsenhetmeri, the females Z. fidégendu/e in character. He also exhibited, for Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson, a number of obscure British Microlepidoptera, some of which had been described as new species. The determinations were criticised by Lord Walsingham, Mr. Bower and Mr. Barrett, and the former speaker strongly deprecated the practice of positively recognising or describing obscure species from single or worn specimens, particularly when JPritish—Mr. Barrett showed specimens of the true Platyptzlia tesseradactyla, L. (= P. fischeri, Zell.) new to the United Kingdom, and taken in Co. Galway.—Mr. McLachlan exhibited cooked locusts (Schestocerca peregrina) sold in the market of Biskra, Algeria, and received from the Rey. A. E. Eaton, They were cooked whole, but the abdomen only was eaten. The President, Mr. Barrett, and Mr. Blandford made some remarks on the subject. — A paper was communicated by Dr. A. G. Butler, on ‘‘ Seasonal dimorphism in African butterflies,” which led to a long discussion, chiefly on the so-called ‘‘ dry-season”” and ‘‘ wet-season forms.” Mr. Merrifield stated that he had been unable experimentally to modify the colour and markings of Lepidoptera by variations in humidity. Mr. Tutt believed that Mr. Doherty had obtained “* wet season forms” of Oriental species by keeping the pupa in a moist atmosphere. ; EDINBURGH. Royal Society, February 1.—Lord Kelvin in the chair.— A paper by Dr. J. Clarence Webster, on the changes in the mucosa of the corpus uteri, and in the attached foetal mem- branes during pregnancy, was laid on the table. Prof. D’Arcy Thompson described a very simple logical machine.—A paper by Lord Kelvin, Dr. Beattie and Dr. Smolan, on the conduc- tive quality induced in air by Réntgen rays and by violet light, was read. (See page 343.)—Lord Kelvin read a paper on crystallisation according torule. For example, as the beginning of a crystal forming from molecules moving freely in a solution consider a cluster of 13 balls, one touched by 12 neighbours around it (model shown). This presents 8 triangular beds and 6 square ones, on which a wandering molecule may lie down. Let a rule be that a wandering molecule takes the first square bed which comes in its way, but never takes a triangular bed if Fesruary 18, 1897 | NATURE 383 a square one is vacant. The 6 square beds thus become occu- pied, and an octahedron of 19 balls is formed, each plane face of which is an equilateral triangle of 6 balls with 3 in each edge. Each triangular face presents 4 triangular beds, of which the middle one is shallow, and the 3 around it deep (tried with a probe pin). There being now no square beds, wandering molecules take triangular beds; but the rule (to make the whole assemblage homogeneous and equilateral) must be that only deep triangular beds are eligible. Thus procedure according to rule adds 24 balls, and we have a cluster of 43 balls (model shown), which presents 2 kinds of triangular or 3-contact beds and 12 equal and similar 5-contact beds, but no square beds. The 12 5-contact beds are next to be filled. These give us a cluster of 55 balls (model shown), presenting 6 square faces of 9 balls, with 4 square beds, and 8 triangular faces of 6 balls each. The 24 square beds are next to be filled, and we have a cluster of 79 balls presenting 6 square beds. The next action, according to rule, fills these, and gives us a regular octahedron of 85 balls, with 15 balls in each face and 5. in each edge. Each triangular face contains 16 triangular beds, of which 10 are deep and 6 shallow. To continue the crystallisation, we may suppose all the deep triangular beds equally eligible; and any one of them may be taken by a molecule deposited from the solution, and any one of the 6 equal and similar q-contact beds between it and neighbours may be taken next. We shall never find any 6-, 7-, 8-, or g-contact beds formed if the following rule is rigorously observed in continuing the crystallisation. Five-contact beds must be occupied when any are vacant. When none of these remain, 4-contact beds must be occupied, and whenever no 5-contact or 4-contact beds remain, we shall find that we have a regular octahedron. To continue the crystallisation, any one of the deep triangular beds may be taken by a wandering molecule, and the process continued rigorously according to rule. The formation of garnet (rhombic dodekahedron) was illustrated on similar principles by cubic molecules cohering by attractions between ‘‘corners” and relatively oriented by quasi-repulsions between edges. Definite laws of force between molecules are suggested, according to which an ideal ‘‘ com- plete’” crystal of anorthic system, or of any system possessing symmetry, would be a figure of minimum potential energy, and would be of perfectly determinate figure. The number of such configurations would be infinite if the number of molecules were infinite; but practically for a crystal in nature the number that could probably occur might be hundreds, or might be only one. And fhe one configuration of absolutely least potential energy would be a perfect crystal of unique quality. PaRIs. Academy of Sciences, February 8.—M. A. Chatin in the chair.—On fictitious waterspouts, by M. H. Faye. It is con- tended that the name of waterspout (¢7oe) has been given to two quite distinct phenomena solely on account of their ex- ternal resemblance. The true waterspout is in rapid rotation destroying whatever it touches, has a definite direction, moves with a high velocity, has no aspirating power, and comes from above. The false waterspout is distinguished by having a small and uncertain rotation, no definite course, aspirating and ascend- ing movement, and also by the fact that its source of motion is at its base, on the earth.—New researches on the estimation of pyrophosphoric acid, by MM. Berthelot and G. André. The pyrophosphate is precipitated as the magnesium salt by a mix- ture of magnesium chloride, ammonium acetate and chloride, in the presence of a large excess of acetic acid. © The precipitate thus obtained is of complex composition containing sodium and ammonium in addition to magnesium. The composition of the precipitate, moreover, appears to depend upon the amount of washing it has received.—Some historical remarks on metaphos- phoric acid, by MM. Berthelot and G. André.—The reduction of nitrates in arable earth, by M. P. P. Deherain. As the result of the study of the destruction of nitrates in aqueous solutions by denitrifying organisms present in manure, it isshown that the treatment of farm manure with dilute sulphuric acid, previously recommended as a means of destroying denitrifyng organisms, is not only expensive, but is, moreover, useless and harmful.— Results of the solar observations made at the Royal Observatory of the Roman College during the second half of 1896, by M. P. Tacchini.—On the zeros of certain analytical functions, by M. Desaint.—On the comparison of the times of oscillation NO. 1425, VOL. 55 | of two pendulums of very nearly the same period, by M. G. Bigourdan. A. modification of the arrangement described by M. Lippmann, in which the pendulum clock is replaced by a chronometer, and in which no electrical apparatus is required. —On a new measurement of the coefficient of viscosity of air, by MM. Ch. Fabry and A. Perot. In the absolute electro- meter, described a short time ago, equilibrium was found to be only very slowly attained when the distance between the plates was very small (below 75 “), on account of the viscosity of the air between the plates. The experimental study of the motion produced by the addition of a small surplus charge on the centre of the moving plate has led toanew determination of the coefficient of viscosity of air, 1°73 x 1074 at 13° C.—Study of the variations of energy, by M. Vaschy.—On the principle of Avogadro- Ampere, considered as a limited law, by M. A. Leduc.—On the am- moniacal chlorides of silver, by M. R. Jarry. It is shown that solutions of silver chloride in ammonia contain the definite compounds AgCl.3NH, and 2AgCl.3NHs3, and the dissocia- tion pressure of the ammonia is the same in aqueous solu- tion as in a vacuum.—On some colour reactions, by M. E. Pinerua. Some colour reactions obtained by the use of £-naphthol-sulphonic-acid. Tartaric, citric, malic, and nitrous acids give characteristic reactions. —On a new method of prepar- ing primary amines, by M. Marcel Delépine. The alkyl chloride, bromide, or iodide is combined with hexamethylene amine, in presence of chloroform, and the product hydrolysed with aqueous hydrogen chloride. —Improvements in the match industry, with especial reference to the health of the operatives, by M. Magitot. The ameliorative measures proposed depend upon a good artificial ventilation, and a careful selection of the operatives, especial stress being laid on the necessity of the latter having no unsound teeth.—On the estimation of potassium bitartrate in wines, by M. Henri Gautier.—On the essence of basil, by MM. Dupont and Guerlain.—The argon and_ nitrogen in the blood, by MM. P. Regnard and Th. Schleesing. The gases obtained from a litre of blood gave 20°4 cc. of argon and nitrogen, 0°42 cc. of which was argon.—On the colours of irradiation in short luminous impressions, by M. Aug. Charpentier.—On a new method of electrification, by M. Charles Henry.—Research on the evolution of the Urzes, by MM. J. Kunstler and A. Gruvel.—On the gum disease of the cocoa plant, by M. Louis Mangin.—On an apparatus for measuring the refractive indices of minerals in rocks, by M. Fred Wallerant.—-On the granite of Pelvoux, by M. P. Termier.—Generalisation of a formula in probabilities, by M. C. Maze. SYDNEY. Royal Society of New South Wales, December 2, 1896.—Mr. J. H. Maiden, President, in the chair.—On the presence of a true manna on a “‘blue grass,” Andropogon annutatus, Forsk., from Queensland, by R. T. Baker and Henry G. Smith. The substance is found on the nodes of the stems in masses as large as marbles. This appears to be the first time that a substance of this character has ever been described from a grass. Not only is the grass indigenous in Australia, but occurs in tropical Asia and Africa. The manna is sweet, and nearly three parts of it consists of the substance mannite, which, although sweet, is not a sugar. Besides the presence of this interesting substance, a peculiar ferment was discovered in the manna, which apparently has the power to decompose cane-sugar without the evolution of carbonic acid or gases of any kind. It probably belongs to the Sacchoro- mycetes, and is allied to the ferments of which the yeast plant isa type. It has been isolated from the manna, and was shown at the Society working in a solution of cane-sugar, and also under the microscope. The investigations are not yet com- pleted ; but, so far, it appears to be probably the cause of the occurrence of the mannite in the manna, and not only has it the power to alter cane-sugar to mannite, but, with the assistance of yeast, to decompose mannite also—a fact of no little interest. —Remarkable hailstorm of November 17, 1896, in parts of parish of Gordon, by E. du Faur—On the determination of the meridian line by solar observations with any altazimuth instru- ment, by G. H. Knibbs. The paper dealt with the rigorous. mathematical theory of the subject ; tables and formule, for | facilitating the reducing of this class of observations with pre- cision, were supplied. The astronomical conditions of good results were fully dealt with, the matter being of considerable importance in practical geodesy. 384 NATURE [FEBRUARY 18, 1897 DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, Fepsruary 18. Royat Society, at 4.30.—On the Iron Lines present in the Hottest Stars (Preliminary Note): J. N. Lockyer, F.R.S.—On the Significance of Bravais’' Formule for Regression, &c., in the case of Skew Variation : G. U. Yule.—Mathematical Contributions to the Theory of Evolution. On a Form of Spurious Correlation which may arise when Indices are used in the Measurement of Organs: Prof. K. Pearson, F.R.S.—Note to the Memoir of Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., on Spurious Correlation : F. Galton, F.R.S. Roya InsTiTUTION, at 3.—Problems of Arctic Geology: Dr. J. W. Gregory. Society oF Arts, at 8.—The Mechanical Production of Cold : Prof. James A. Ewing, F.R.S. LINNEAN SOCIETY, at 8.—On certain Points in the Anatomy and Morpho- logy of the Nymphzacee: D. T. Gwynne Vaughan.—The Adhesive Discs of Ercilla spicata, Uog. : T. H. Burrage. CueEmIcAL Society, at 8.—The Oxidation of Sulphurous Acid by Potassium Permanganate : T. S. Dymond and F. Hughes.—Sodamide and some of its Substitution Derivatives; also Rubidamide: Dr. A. W. Titherley. Camera Cuvp, at 8.15. Practical Use of X-Rays: Sydney Rowland. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 109. Royat InstiTuTION, at 9.—The Approaching Return of the Great Swarm of November Meteors: Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S. GEOLOGICAL Society, at 3.—Annual Meeting. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20. Roya InstitTuTIoN, at 3.—Growth of the Mediterranean Route to the East: W. F. Lord. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22. Society oF Arts, at 8.—The Industrial Uses of Cellulose: C. F. Cross. ImperiaL INSTITUTE, at 8.30.—The Past, Present, and Future Sugar Supply of the British Empire: C. A. Barber. Sanitary INsTITUTE, at 8.—Law relating to the Supervision of Food Supply : A. Wynter Blyth. INSTITUTE OF ACTUARIES, at 7.—Governmental Supervision of Life In- surance in the United States of America : Sheppard Homans. ~ CamMeERA Cvvs, at 8.15.—Spitzbergen : E. T. Garwood. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23. \Rovav INSTITUTION, at 3.—Animal Electricity: Prof. A. D. Waller, F.R.S. ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, at 8.30. -INSTITUTION OF CIvIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—The Main Drainage of London: J. E. Worth and W. Santo Crimp.—The Purification of the Thames: W. J. Dibdin. : WRoyat PuoroGrapuic Society, at 8.—The //6 Stigmatic Lens and the New Astigmatic Corrector: Thomas R. Dallmeyer.—The Perfected Kroémskép: H. E Ives. Roya Victoria HALL, at 8.30,—X- and other Rays of Light: Dr. J. W. Waghorn. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24. Society oF Arts, at 8.—Reproduction of Colour by Photographic Methods : Sir Henry Trueman Wood. y f ZooLoGIcaL Sociery, at 8.30.—On the Nature and Origin of the Rauenthal Serpentine : Miss Catherine A. Raisin. (Communicated by Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.)—On Two Boulders of Granite from the Middle Chalk of Betchworth (Surrey): W. P. D. Stebbing.—Coal—A New Explanation of its Formation, or the Phenomena of a New Fossil Plant considered with reference to the Origin, Composition, and Formation of Coal Beds: W. S. Gresley. THURSDAY, FeBRuARY 25. \ Royat Society, at 4 30.—The following Papers will probably be read :— Note on the Dielectric Constant of Ice and Alcohol at very Low Tem- eratures: Prof. Dewar, F.R.S., and Prof. Fleming, F.R.S.—On the elation between Magnetic Stress and Magnetic Deformation in Nickel : Dr. E. T. Jones.—On the Relations between the Cerebellar and other . Centres (namely, Cerebral and Spinal), with especial reference to the Action of Antagonistic Muscles (Preliminary Account) : Dr. Max Léwen- thal and Prof. Horsley, F.R.S.—On the Action of Light on Diastase, and “its Biological Significance: Prof J. R. Green, F.R.S.—Fragmentation in Lineus gesserensis: A. Brown. : yRovac INSTITUTION, at 3.—The Problems of Arctic Geology: Dr. J. W. Gregory. ‘ A -Society oF Arts, at 8.—The Mechanical Production of Cold : Prof. James A. Ewing, F_R.S. : 4 INSTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Electric_ Interlocking the Block and Mechanical Signals on Railways: Reply of F. T. Hollins to the Discussion.—Relative Size, Weight, and Price of Dynamo-electric Machines: E. Wilson. y j SaniTarY INSTITUTE, at 8.—Sanitary Laws and Regulations governing the Metropolis : A. Wynter Blyth. 2 Camera Cxup, at 8.15.—Silchester, the Result of Recent Explorations: H. Jones. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26. Rovat InsTiTuTION, at 9.—Palestine Exploration : Lieut.-Colonel C. R. Conder. NO. 1425 VOL. 55] InsTITUTION OF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Rockers and Expansion-Bear- ings as applied to Girders of Short Span: A. F. Baynhamand F, B. H. Dobree. SATURDAY, Fepsrvary 27. Roya InstituTIon, at 3.—The Growth of the Mediterranean Route to the East : W. Frewen Lord. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. Booxs.—On Human Nature: A. Schopenhauer, selected and translated by T. B. Saunders (Sonnenschein).—Klements of Theoretical Physics : Dr. C. Christiansen, translated by Prof. W. F. Magie (Macmillan).—Zeit-und Streitfragen der Biologie: Dr. O. Hertwig, Heft 2 (Jena, Fischer).— Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Septalnectarien: J. Schniewind-Thies (Jena, Fischer. Beitrage zur Lehre von der Fortpflanzung der Gewachse: Dr. M. Mébius(Jena, Fischer) —Kainogenesis als Ausdruck differenter Phylogene- tischer Energien: Dr. E. Mehnert (Jena, Fischer).—Das Botanische Practicum: Dr. E. Strasburger, Dritte Umgearbeitete Auflage (Jena, Fische:) —Wasted Records of Disease: C. E. Paget (Arnold),—Farthest North: Dr. F. Nansen, 2 Vols. (Constable).—Physics, an Elementary Text- Book for University Classes: Dr. C. G. Knott (Chambers).—Hand- book for Mechanical Engineers: Prof. H. Adams, 4th edition (Spon).— Recuei! de Procédés de Dosage: Prof.G. Arth (Paris, Carré).—Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, Boston, Annual Catalogue, 1896-97 (Cam- bridge, Mass.).—Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year 1894-5, 2 Vols. (Washington). PampHLETs.—Photography as a Hobby : M. Surface(Lund).—Geological Literature added to the Geological Society's Library during the Year ended December 31, 1896 (Geological Society).—Tabellen fiir Gasanlysen, &c. : Prof. G. Lunge (Braunschweig, Vieweg). SeRIALs. — Engineering Magazine, February (Tucker). — Quarterly - Journal of the Geological Society, Vol. liii. Part 1, No. 209 (Longmans).— General Index to the First Fifty Volumes of the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, Part 1 (Longmans).—Bulletin de l’'Académie Royale des Sciences, &c., de Belgique, 1896, No. 12 (Bruxelles).—Minnesota Botanical Studies, Bulletin No. 9 (Minneapolis).—Journal of the Franklin pesetute, February (Philadelphia).—American Naturalist, February (Phila- elphia). CONTENTS. PAGE Our Marketable Marine Fishes. By Prof. W. A. — Herdman, F..RS.) ees =. «a a eee ‘The Life of James'CrolieBy FE. P..C. . . - saepemeegoe Elementary Meteorology . Aono os 363 Our Book Shelf :— Weisbach and Herrmann : “*The Mechanics of Pump- ing Machinery ” 5 0 Bee ke 364 Heawood ; ‘‘ Geography of Africa”. . . . . . . . 364 Qliver : “‘ Crags and Craters: Rambles in the Island of Réunion." —L Gai... se Oy “« Operator” : ‘* Everybody's Guide to Photography” 365 Graham: ‘‘Is Natural Selection the Creator of Speciesi?”?. = eames 5 >) 365 Letters to the Editor:— The Force of a Ton.—Prof. A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S, «. 0. Gee ol = tra Symbols of Applied Algebra.—C. S. Jackson. . . 366 Equilibrium of a Cylindrical Shell. (W2th Diagram.) Thos, Alexandextemer.. .- :. . < * Gemma Oysters and Copper.—W. F. Lowe; Prof. W. A. Herdman; FoRiSamte ns. APs fois BID Immunity from Snake-Bite.—R. C. T. Evans . .- 367 Subjective Colour Phenomena. By Shelford Bid- well, F.R.S.. _.. . (MBM ess oo) ote Cog A National Physical Laboratory ......... 368 Wotes:-. 6 ss, eee 6. (o> 0) fe Goes Our Astronomical Column:— Prizes in Astronomynme - 3): F< 373 Double;Star)Measiicesiememes: 2 3). < -! oy (rennin 373 Lunar PhotographSiememtem: = 5 =), s\temepiente 373 Report on the Coral Reef at Funafuti. (Wzth Dia- grams.) By Prof. W. J. Sollas, F.R.S... .. . 373 The Institution of Mechanical Engineers. . . . . 377 Dr. Yersin, and Plague Virus. By Mrs, Percy Frankland’. . 0). 3B... ws 3) eee The ‘ Bazin” Rollersieeteete. i. .° +, +) sO University and Educational Intelligence .... . 380 Scientific'Serials {ewe fe) ss oa eee 380 Societies and Academiesy. ©. 2... 5) ).9 ome. BSE Diary of Societies" ememee Aes |... em Od Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... 384 NATURE 385 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1897. THE NATIONAL PHVSICAL LABORATORY. HE case for the establishment of a National Physical Laboratory is very simple. The Kew Observatory began in a humble way, but became famous in the last generation for the work done there in connection with terrestrial magnetism. As the President of the Royal Society remarked, in his last annual address, the late Sir William Grove, more than thirty years ago, expressed the hope that Kew might become “an important national establishment.” ‘And if so,” he added, “while it will not, I trust, lose its character of a home of untrammelled physical research, it will have superadded some of the functions of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, with a staff of skilful and experienced observers.” In the interval which has elapsed since Grove uttered these words Kew has advanced. It has become a con- siderable standardising institution. Including a large number of clinical thermometers, about 21,000 instru- ments are now examined there annually, and in spite of this commercial success, it still maintains its character as a home of physical research. During the last ten years a similar institution has been established, on a much larger scale, at Charlottenburg. It is needless to describe the Reichsanstalt in these columns, It is sufficient to say that it is divided into two Departments—the one devoted to physical research, the other to technology. The work which the new Institution has done is very good, its reputation stands high, and after full consideration the chief scientific and technical Societies of this country decided to ask the Government to assist in placing Kew ina position to be similarly useful. A Committee was appointed, consisting of represent- atives of the Royal Society, of the British Association, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Irish Academy, of the Physical, Chemical and Astronomical Societies, and of the Institutions of Civil and Electrical Engineers. A memorial, prepared during the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool, was signed by a large number of representatives of science and industry. The request made to the Government suggested that the grant should be expended partly in improving the work of standardis- ing, partly in promoting researches of a kind which can- not be undertaken by individuals or educational estab- lishments. The terms in which this last request were made were almost a literal translation of those used in the memorandum in which von Helmholtz set forth the aims and objects of the Reichsanstalt. Lord Salisbury, however, entirely declined to accept this part of the programme, though he held out hopes that something might be done to help in the work of standardisation and verification. With this decision we do not quarrel. It is impossible for the Prime Minister to go beyond public Opinion in such matters. We hope that the good work done at Kew may receive State aid, but the outburst inthe Z’es of Saturday is sufficient to show that the in- nate tendency of the English people to distrust and reject all opinions based on special or expert knowledge is aroused by the terrible word “research.” It is curious NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | to observe in how many ways this tendency displays itself. The official head of science in this country is a man on whom a peerage has just been conferred for an appli- cation of science to surgery by which thousands of lives have been saved. Lord Lister is also the head of an Institute for Preventive Medicine, which, if properly supported, would give to England all the benefits which are to be derived from the most modern methods of con- tending with infectious disease. The reward that he receives for these further efforts to benefit this curious Anglo-Saxon race is that a monster petition is presented to the Home Secretary against the licensing of the Insti- tute for the performance of vivisection. If, therefore, a Pasteur Institute in London is anathema, we can hardly wonder if the gorge of the average Briton rises at the suggestion that there should be a Reichsanstalt at Kew. The “splendid isolation,” which we prefer to an alliance with either France or Germany, appears to include a rejection of their methods of avoiding rabies and correcting thermometers. Some measure of the logical weakness of the opposition is, however, afforded by the misrepresentations of the Times article. The allegation that the memorandum attributed the loss of trade in thermometers to improve- ments in verification made abroad, is absolutely incorrect. The assertion that the Reichsanstalt and the proposed institution would be very different, is made in spite of the fact that the published descriptions of the work of the one, and of the proposed work of the other, are almost identical. Absolute ignorance was displayed as to the part which official science has played in the development of improved thermometers. For those who care for the reputation of a great journal, the article was painful reading. But it is needless here to describe or to defend the idea of a National Physical Laboratory, and we prefer to discuss another point on which we are glad to be at one with the Zzmes. We agree that Germany beats us in scientific industries, not only because she fosters them, but because the examiner does not loom so large there as in this country. It is, however, absurd to tell scientific men to remedy this. Who is responsible for the delay in making the University of London other than the mere college of examiners which at present itis? Almost every scien- tific man in London has done what he can to bring about that desirable consummation. The delay is due to those who claim to represent the views of the average Briton, as represented by the average passman of the University. Who is it that refuses to receive from candidates for scientific appointments in the Civil Service any evidence of scientific ability other than that which can be displayed in an examination? Not the Professors, but the State. It is a common experience of every teacher of advanced students, that he has to advise some member of his class as to whether he should undertake a piece of practical work or prepare for a particular examination. The teacher has no right to play fast and loose with the future of those who have placed their careers in his hands, and, even at the risk of being called a pedagogue, he is too often reluc- tantly obliged to confess that the future will be better NS) 386 Wed RE [ FEBRUARY 25, 1897 assured by success in the examination than by investi- gation. This is no fault of his. It is the fault of those who having once grasped the fact hat ability of a certain kind can be tested, without any suspicion of unfairness, by marks assigned by examiners to candidates whose names they do not know, insist on applying this test, and this test alone, in as many cases as possible, without inquiry as to whether the ability of the examina- tion-room is the kind of ability for which they are in search, or whether other evidence could not be obtained, sifted and allowed to weigh in the final decision. It is the fault of the public, which regards the mystic letters B.A. or B.Sc. as an infallible test of the merits of a schoolmaster, but would not have a notion of the meaning of the words if he were described as the author of a memoir in the Zyamsactions of the Royal Society. Nowhere is a more strenuous condemnation of the defects of the examination system found than among sc’entific investigators who are also examiners in science. It is, of course, impossible to change suddenly a method to which the public assign a value far above that which it deserves; but if teachers of science suggest any mitigation of its severity, they are at once told that they are seeking to fill their class-rooms with candidates for their patronage, and that they are trying to evade the only satisfactory test of the value of their teaching. Under these conditions they are helpless. It is not they, but those whose motives cannot be misrepresented as self- seeking, whose opinions cannot be misrepresented as biassed, who can loosen the fetters which English public opinion binds around the intelligence of English youth, and, unfortunately, the majority of such persons are convinced that the present system is the best. We have followed the precedent set by the 7zmes in passing from the proposal for the establishment of a National Physical Laboratory to the discussion of the examination system, for we agree that the rejection of the scheme for carrying out research in the one, and the general acceptance of the other, are alike indicative of the present temper of the English people on such questions. They do not believe that scientific ability is worth the cost of training and using it. They refuse to supply laboratories for advanced students, such as German students possess. They make the advancement of a middle-class youth depend entirely on his success in examinations. As represented by the London County Council, they appear to think that the best use to which they can put a Huxley, when they are fortunate enough to secure his services, is to set him to lecture to evening students. They refuse to admit that there are certain conditions which must be fulfilled if the tasks of giving advanced instruction in science, and of advancing science, are to be carried out successfully, and then they turn and rend those who, in spite of these difficulties, have done some- thing to advance both education and learning. Truly, history repeats itself. . “He said, Ye are idle, ye are idle. Go therefore now and work ; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case.” NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | RONTGEN RAYS AND CONSTITUTION OF GASES. Rontgen Rays and Phenomena of the Anode and Kathode. By Edward P. Thompson, M.E., C.E.; with a con- cluding chapter by Prof. William A. Anthony. Pp. xiv + 190. (New York: Van Nostrand. London: Spon.) The Constitution and Functions of Gases, the Nature of Radiance and the Law of Radiation. By Severinus Ne Corrigan. Pp. viii + 127. (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1895.) LTHOUGH it is but a short time since Réntgen published his famous work on the X-rays, the very large number of scientific papers dealing with the sub- ject, which have been published in all parts of the civilised world, makes the labour entailed in the production of a book of this kind very large. Mr. Thompson, in his book on the X-rays, has en- deavoured to give as complete an account as possible, not only of Rontgen’s discovery, but of all the phe- nomena attending the passage of electrification through gases. With a view to make the subject intelligible to the lay mind, a short account is first given of induced currents and the discharge through gases at atmospheric and lower pressures. The author then passes to the consideration of the magnetic effects of the discharge, and the phenomena observed in the very high vacua of the Crookes’ tube. A detailed description is given of Lenard’s famous researches on the kathode rays, and of Rontgen’s discovery of the X-rays and their properties. Considerable space is devoted to experiments dealing with the photographic developments and the use of the Rontgen rays in surgery. In the concluding chapter, Prof. Anthony sums up the results, and gives a short discussion on wave motion, without, however, venturing to suggest any explanation of the real nature and origin of the X-radiation. A large number of X-ray photographs, or sciagraphs, as they are termed, are scattered throughout the volume, and some dust figures are also shown, a chapter being devoted to the description of them. The author has adopted the method of dividing the book into numbered paragraphs, each of which is headed by the experiment to be explained, while references to the original publication are in nearly all cases given. The consequence of this is that the chapters consist of a detailed description of a number of experiments which are quite independent of one another ; and as no attempt is made to criticise the results, or connect them together in any way, the result is somewhat confusing. The author, in many cases, lacks discrimination as to the re- lative importance which he assigns to the various experi- ments, and much of the earlier part of the book, notably the opening chapter, might be omitted with advantage. The part of the book which deals with the X-rays, and the recent experiments on the subject, is much the best, and great praise is due to the author for the accurate vésumé which has been given of nearly all recent work ; and it is as a collected and condensed account of recent experimental work on the. X-rays and allied phenomena that the book will be found most useful. FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | NATURE 387 oO In ‘The Constitution and Functions of Gases,” by Severinus J. Corrigan, an attempt has been made to advance a new dynamical theory of gases, and to do away with the necessity of a continuous ether for the transmission of radiation through space. In the ordinary kinetic theory of gases, which has been worked out so fully by Maxwell, Clausius, and others, the molecules of which the gas is composed are conceived to bein continual motion among one another, each molecule moving through a mean free path, while pressure on a surface is due to the continuous bombard- ment of the molecules. The theory which Mr. Corrigan advances is as strictly dynamical as the ordinarily accepted one, butis based on quite different assumptions. | The molecule, instead of being in continual motion to and fro, is at rest, but is made up of a large number of atoms, which revolve in orbits, approximately circular, round the centre of the molecule with enormous velocities. The atoms themselves are supposed to be “perfectly elastic, incompressible, spherical solids which are ar- ranged primarily in duads or combinations of two, and the atoms of each duad combination are mutually attracted by a force in each atom, which force, like that of gravity, varies inversely as the square of the distance between the members of the duad.” These two atoms are endowed with opposite polarity of some kind, probably magnetic, and are analogous to a system of binary stars of equal mass and volume, and their motion is governed by the laws of motion of celestial bodies. The molecule is supposed to be built up of an enormous number of these rapidly rotating magnetic couples with the planes of their orbits in all directions, so that the molecule is a hollow shell of gas, the surface atoms of which are in extremely rapid motion round the centre of the molecule. The pressure of the gas is assumed to be proportional to the mass of the gas and the angular velocity or vibration frequency of the atom, while a change of pressure alters the diameter of the atomic orbit. In a very rare gas, therefore, the diameter of the atomic orbit is immensely greater than at ordinary atmospheric pressure. Proceeding on.these assumptions, the author certainly makes his theory satisfactorily account for some of the properties of gases. Great stress is laid on the theoretical | deduction, from the hypothesis, of a law of radiation of identically the same form as the empirical formula of Dulong and Petit. The value of the constant is also deduced, and this is in complete agreement with the experimental value. The ether, instead of being the continuous medium demanded by physicists, is supposed to be molecular and discontinuous—practically a gas of excessive tenuity. A large amount of space is devoted to the consideration of a mode of transmission of radiation, from molecule to molecule of the gaseous ether, with the velocity of light ; but so many difficult assumptions are made in the course of it, that the explanation, though plausible, is not at all satisfactory. The impulse which the revolving atom receives from contact with a vibrating surface is supposed to be handed on from molecule to molecule with the velocity of light ; but it is not clear why an atom NO. 1426, VOL. 55] of an adjacent molecule should always be in exactly the right position for the transmission of an impulse. It will be of interest to mention a few of the results which the author deduces from his equations. The number of atoms in the atmospheric molecule is calculated to be about 10", and the orbital velocity of the atom of air at atmospheric pressure and temperature 500 million miles per second. The number of atoms per cubic centimetre of the gas agrees very nearly with the results deduced by Lord Kelvin and others. The density of the luminiferous ether (air = 1) is about 3:107!", and the diameter of a molecule of the ether ‘oo2 inches. As a consequence of the theory the conjugate atoms would be disrupted at an absolute temperature of 6679° Fahrenheit, and the author considers that disruptive electrical discharges, such as from an induction coil or in lightning, do break up the molecules, and it is the recombination of the dissociated atoms which causes the crash of thunder after the lightning flash. The most unsatisfactory portion of the book is where the author endeavours to explain electrical phenomena, like atmospheric electricity, and natural disturbances, like tornadoes, by his theory of gases. A table of the dimensions and weights of the atoms of the molecules of the air and ether, which are deduced from the equations, is given; while a supplement is added to the book, deducing the same results in a different manner, and various theories are advanced in regard to the solar corona and astrophysics generally. Though one may not agree with many of the author's assumptions, the fact remains that an interesting dy- namical theory has been advanced which accounts for some phenomena not explained by any other theory ; and for those who may be interested in speculations in regard to the nature and constitution of the gases and the ether, the book is well worth reading. Has IMPRESSIONS.OF OUT-DOOR NATURE. A Year in the Fields. Selections from the writings of John Burroughs. With illustrations from photographs by Clifton Johnson. Pp. ix + 220. (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1896.) A-Birding on a Bronco. By Florence A. Merriam. Illustrated. Pp. x + 226. (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., 1896.) Summer Days for Winter Evenings. ford, F.L.S. Illustrations by John Williamson. ix + 274. (London: John Macqueen, 1896.) By J. H. Craw- Pp. HE highest merit in any book of natural history is that it contains new and valuable information. Such books are often, but by no means inevitably, dry. Mr. A. R. Wallace may be named as one living writer who gives us new and valuable matter in a thoroughly readable form. Without being absolutely original, a book may yet be well worth writing if it contains a good deal of useful information served up in an attractive way. Then we come to the books which are attractive but not useful, and so tothe books which are neither one nor the other. None of the books»before us belong to either the 388 NATURE [ FEBRUARY 25, 1897 highest or the lowest class. The naturalist may search them through without finding any passage which throws new light upon an important question. Perhaps we may, rather doubtfully, put “A Year in the Fields” among the books that both amuse and instruct. Mr. Burroughs is most agreeable to read, and now and then he tells us something that we are glad to know. But he sacrifices a little too much to the necessity of pleasing, and his books are impressions rather than studies. Miss Merriam and Mr. Crawford definitely belong to the class which amuses and does not instruct. Mr. Burroughs has now found his public, and needs no lengthy notice at our hands. He writes as one who lives in daily contact with nature, occupying himself with her superficial aspects rather than with her problems. The reader of his books finds many pleasant pages, like the best descriptive passages of good novels, and occasion- ally a hint of some curious knowledge or reflection. Such a book as that before us (which, it is necessary to note, contains no new essays) is welcome to the naturalist in his less serious moods ; it is genuine literature with a strong flavour of the woods and fields. The volume is illustrated by twenty photographs, of which all but one contain the author's figure in some favourite haunt. It is cheerful to think that he has now escaped from the public office, and is entering old age as a fruit-farmer on the Hudson. Miss Merriam tells in a sprightly way her observations upon live birds in California. The Bronco is an old horse, from whose back she studied the birds with an opera-glass. The book is crowded with details, but they are hardly ever worth remembering ; it relies upon its literary qualities, which are good, but not excellent. There are many illustrations, chiefly of nests or birds’ heads. Mr. Crawford’s book is even thinner in substance than Miss Merriam’s. A facile writer could come home after sitting for an heur in a garden-chair, or sauntering along a lane, and write such sketches as these almost without effort. They incline to the sermon in some places, to the novel in others. The very best remark in the book, from the naturalist’s point of view, is this (p. 100) : “The feet [of the lark] are adapted for running. They cover so many of the grass stems at once, that not only does the bird get along very much as one does on snow- shoes, but the elasticity of the pressed-down herbage aids in the spring.” The illustrations have no natural history value. TL, (GaN OUR BOOK SHELF. Guide pour le Soufflage du Verre. By Prof. H. Ebert. Translated from the second German edition, with notes by Prof. P. Lugol. Pp. 191. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars et Fils, 1897.) THE utility and importance of even a small amount of knowledge in the art of blowing glass is perhaps best known to those who work in chemical, physical, and astrophysical laboratories. Tubes will crack, pumps will get broken, and many other similar mishaps will occur in the ordinary course of laboratory work. In such cases two remedies are available: either new apparatus must be bought, or it must be made. The former is doubtless the easiest, but the most expensive ; NO. 1426, VOL. 55] while the latter is, in many cases, a saving of both time and money. In England, Mr. Shenstone’s little book on the methods of glass-blowing is the one which is most generally used. Prof. Ebert practically based his first edition on this admirable little treatise, embodying in it both his own observations and methods and those of others. The second edition, however, was considerably altered ; in fact the book was practically reconstructed, as it was his intention to insert results of more recent experience, and give a strictly systematic course on glass-blowing. The book before us is a French translation of this second edition, and it will be found to give full details to its readers how to make all the more common glass apparatus in use in laboratories, and how to mend those when broken. Prof. Ebert has adopted a logical sequence of the chapters, leading the glass-blower gradually by easy stages to the more difficult operations. The reader is first made to understand the mysteries of the blow-pipe itself. He is next given exercises which involve the training of the hands, first singly and then together. More difficult exercises are then put before him, from the construction of a trap to some complicated forms of vacuum tubes. In each lesson the necessary steps are clearly described, and in many cases illustrations are given showing the appearance of the apparatus at its several stages. This is an important point, for the great difficulty that a beginner meets with at first is not so much the actual making of the apparatus (which is acquired after a little practice), but a lack of knowledge of the various steps that have to be accomplished before the final stage is reached. For example, to make a large bulb in the middle of a tube, the beginner generally tries to blow the bulb directly without adopting the more easy stages of blowing three small bulbs close together, and amal- gamating them into one large one. The appendix contains some additional information which will be found useful to those working with glass, such as engraving on glass, the graduation of tubes, &c. Some further notes have also been added by the translator. As a treatise on glass-blowing, Prof. Ebert’s book can be thoroughly recommended, and those who are unable to master the German edition will find Prof. Lugol’s translation an admirable substitute. WS a Saee Projectiles de Campagne de Siege et de Place: Fusées. By E. Vallier, Pp. 178. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars.) L Eclairage. Eclairage aux gaz, aux huiles, aux acides, gras, &c. By Prof. Julien Lefévre. Pp. 180. (Same publishers.) Les Succédanés du Chiffon en Papeterie, Pp. 179. (Same publishers.) THESE three volumes belong to the very practical series published under the editorship of M. Léauté, as the Encyclopédie scientifique des Aide-Mémoire. M. Vallier confines himself to dealing with the pro- jectiles from large guns. The first part of the book is concerned with field artillery (Arojectiles de campagne) ; the second with ordinary cast shells, shrapnels, and explosive shells (projectiles de siége et de place), and the third with fuses arranged to explode when the projectile collides, or at a given point of the trajectory. The volume is full of instructive information on the manufacture, pro- perties, and mode of employment of different types of projectiles used in ordnance pieces. In “ L’Eclairage,” Prof. Lefevre first describes the prin- ciples of various systems of illumination, excluding electric lighting. He deals with the many processes involved in the production of gas from coal, and shows how gas is distributed. The many methods employed to burn gas most effectively are also described. Lighting by special gases, and by acetylene, form the subject of two other chapters. #) In a similar way lighting with} candles, By V. Urbain. Fesruary 25, 1897 | NATURE 389 vegetable oils, and mineral oils are dealt with, the pro- cesses of manufacture and purification, and the various kinds of lamps being described. A brief comparative statement of the prices and efficiency of different systems of lighting concludes the book. The cellular substance of plants now used in the manufacture of paper, are known collectively as succéd- anés des chiffons. M. Urbain describes the different kinds of straw, Sparta grass, and wood used for this purpose ; the physical and chemical constitution, so far as it is known, of cellulose ; the manufacture of pulp from different cellular substances ; and the methods of bleaching the paper. His book should be of use in showing how the structural elements of plants are now utilised in paper manufacture. Alterations of Personality. By Alfred Binet. Translated by Helen Green Baldwin ; with notes and a preface by Prof. J. Mark Baldwin. Pp. xii + 356. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1896.) M. BINET’s volume originally appeared in the “ Biblio- théque Scientifique Internationale,” and was reviewed in NATURE in July 1892 (vol. xlvi. p. 219). The subject with which it deals is beset with peculiar difficulties, and great caution is necessary before coming to any definite con- clusions concerning the psychological phenomena in- volved ; for though many observers have recorded strange alterations and modifications of personality, the cause of this spontaneous somnambulism is much disputed. M. Binet holds “that in a great many cases, and in very diverse conditions, the normal unity of consciousness is broken up, and several distinct consciousnesses are formed, each of which may have its own system of per- ceptions, its own memory, and even its own moral character.” His book contains a detailed account of the results of researches by various psychologists on these alterations of personality. It is an authoritative state- ment of facts, and the translation, with Prof. Baldwin’s notes, will be read with interest by the more intelligent section of the general public, as well as by the student of psychology. The Hemiptera-Homoptera of the British Islands. By James Edwards, F.E.S. Pp. vi + 271. (London: L. Reeve and Co., 1896.) STUDENTS of the insects of the Homopterous sub-order of the Hemiptera will find this volume very serviceable in the determination of their captures. The work is a descriptive catalogue of the families, genera, and species of the Cicadina and Psyllina indigenous to Great Britain and Ireland, with notes as to localities, habitats, &c. Particular attention is given to the consideration of characters which are of the greatest service in deter- mining the several species and larger divisions of the insects described. Analytical Keys to the Genera and Species 07 North American Mosses. By C. R. Barnes. Revised and extended by F. D. Heald. (Madison, Wis. : published by the University, 1897.) ALTHOUGH a revision and extension of previous works by the same author, this is an important and valuable addition to the literature of bryology. It consists in the first place of a key to all the genera of Musci, including Sphagnacez, found in North America, and secondly of a similar key to all the species in each genus. Some idea of the labour involved will be gathered when it is stated that the genera number over 140; and that in some of the genera—e.g. Sphagnum, Orthotrichum, BLryum, Hypnum—there are from 50 to over go species. In a copious appendix is given a diagnosis of all the new species described between 1884 and 1896, NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. (Lhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by hts correspondents. Netther can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts tntended for this or any other part of NATURE. No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. | Dynamical Units, MAny of the writers of letters on this subject seem to have forgotten that the question Prof. Perry raised was as to the best system of units to use with a class of exgineering students. This question is very seriously complicated by the fact that all their books, and almost all their teachers, use a system of units which is of that of the poundal, but is essentially the one that Prof. Perry advocates. This is a very serious fact that every teacher of engineering students must take account of, and the question is, ‘‘What system shall the teacher use with engineer- ing classes?” I entirely agree with Prof. Perry in thinking that it is much better for the teacher to accommodate himself to the requirements of his class than for him to force his class to use one system when working for him, and another outside his class- rooms. This latter plan tends to perpetuate the prevalent notion that science has nothing to do with practice. As regards the question of why students find dynamics and the notion of mass in particular so difficult, I do not believe that this is due to any difficulties about various systems of units. In matters upon which their ideas are clear and distinct, such as length and time, the existence of different units, feet, yards, miles, &c., minutes, days, &c., presents very little difficulty. To British students these varieties of units in which to measure the same quantity are so familiar, that they naturally look upon varieties of units with contempt. It is only when the thing measured is not clearly and distinctly conceived, that confusion and all sorts of difficulties arise. Hence the importance of getting students actually to come into contact with the things themselves. Untila student has some ideas of density, accelera- tion, &c., as things to be measured, he will be quite certain to misapply the rules he has learnt for dealing with the black marks he makes on a piece of paper, and which he calls by their names. Now of all these dynamical quantities, of which students are generally expected to form clear and distinct ideas without any actual experience of the things themselves, the most abstruse, and the one about which the most metaphysical state- ments are made, is ‘‘ quantity of matter”’ or ‘‘ mass.” A priori, there is no way by which we can determine whether a quantity of gold is equal to a quantity of iron. In ordinary practice there are two kinds of equality which are commonly used : volume and weight. IfI tell any ordinary man to mix equal quantities of whisky and water, he will mix equal volumes. Itis quite as common to mean equal volumes as equal weights by equal quantities in common language. When a student is told, as an explanation of the word ‘“‘ mass,” that it means ‘‘ quantity of matter,” there is an appeal made from the obscure to the more obscure. It is a case of huggermugger. The student thinks the teacher must have seme clear and distinct idea of what he means by “‘ quantity of matter,” and is ashamed to say that to him it is no explana- tion of mass to call it ‘‘ quantity of matter.” Thus begins the demoralisation of the student. He is demoralised by having to swallow undigested a term of which neither he nor his teacher has a clear and distinct idea, and he naturally concludes that the whole subject is one that ‘‘no fellow can understand.” _ If teachers and books would give up this metaphysical notion of ‘‘quantity of matter,” and would deign to confine their attentions to actually measurable quantities, like volume, weight, and inertia, the student could be given, by making experiments, clear and distinct ideas of these properties of matter as actual quantities to be measured. Once he had these clear and distinct ideas, a variety of units for measuring each of them would not present any serious difficulty. That the inertia of matter is pro- portional to its weight, that the inertia of a body is the same here as inthe moon and Jupiter—these are most important physical facts to be proved by experiment, because we have no other way of ascertaining them. It is often asszed that the inertia of a hot body is the same as of the same body when cold; but I do not know of any accurate: experiments having ever been made to prove it, and I am quite certain that a great deal too little is known of the structure of matter, and of its relations with the ether, to be able to prove @ frzor7 that the inertias are the same. The suggestion would probably involve the further suggestion 390 INCI OI as [FEBRUARY 25, 1897 that we could make a machine to utilise some of the energy in the ether ; but does any one profess to know so much of that re- markable thing as to be quite certain that this isimpossible ? Any way, there is no doubt that to a considerable degree of accuracy inertia zs a constant property of a body, and equal inertias may consequently be very reasonably considered as equality of such a very important property of two bodies, that scientific people are justified in their shortly describing the bodies as equal, which 1s what they usually do, and is all that they can really mean when they speak of equal quantities of iron and gold. Why, then. trouble unfortunate students with the idea that there is some huggermugger metaphysical ‘* quantity of matter” called “mass,” of which they are supposed to have a clear and definite conception distinct from this equality of inertia? Why not call it inertia when it is inertia that is meant, and drop out of use that word ‘* mass,”’ round which such a tissue of indistinct and obscure ideas have grown, that it is almost hopeless to separate it from them, I hope some word more euphonious than ‘‘slug” will be found for the unit of inertia on the engineer’s system. I would suggest “ert” as a term that would easily recall the quantity inertia, GEO. FRAS. FITZGERALD, Trinity College, Dublin, February 10. The Flight of Gulls in the Wake of Steamers, MANY persons have remarked the extraordinary power dis- played by gulls of keeping pace with a steamer without any motion of their wings. A few days ago, I had a good oppor- tunity of observing this during a voyage from Alexandria to Marseilles. When the wind was blowing at right angles to the course of the vessel, having first gained some slight elevation, the gulls would glide downwards with expanded wings, making, during the de- scent, rapid progress in the same direction as the steamer. When quite near the water they would suddenly turn and face the wind, at the same time giving their bodies an upward incline, and the wind would lift them to their former elevation, after which the process would begin again. A wind blowing hori- zontally has the power of lifting, only because each stratum, so to speak, of air moves more rapidly than the stratum immediately below it. Consequently, as the bird rises, it has the inertia due to the fact that it has just emerged from the slower current below. Thus it may be compared to a kite, the inertia taking the place of the string. When gulls progress in this way, at right angles to the wind, the vessel does not in any way assist them, and, occasionally, when they are not following a steamer, they may be seen employing the same method. With a head-wind they advance with even greater ease. To understand how this is possible, some investigation of the air- currents behind the ship’s stern is necessary. If small pieces of paper are thrown overboard when a strong head-wind is blowing, they are seized by a tremendous down-draught, but, some few yards astern, they suddenly dart up again. In fact, as the vessel moves onward, the air rushes down to fill the vacuum, then rebounds off the surface of the sea, and forms an up-current. Placing himself in this up-current, the gull is lifted as if he were no heavier than a scrap of paper, then he glides downward and onward. But as the vessel moves on, the up-current advances, or, strictly speaking, the point at which the up-current is formed. At the end of his descent the gull finds himself in this, is again lifted, and the process is repeated. When the wind was not a due head-wind, but struck the vessel at a slight angle, now and then a gull would be seen apparently hovering motionless over the stern, of course really gliding onward with the vessel. Though I cannot speak with confidence of the explanation of this, the most wonderful of the methods employed, I wish to put forward what seems the probable explanation. The wind striking against the side of the vessel is deflected upwards, and it is this up-current which buoys up the gull as he floats over the stern. Though it may appear that his progress is perfectly uniform, I think it will be found that in advancing he descends slightly, that he often loses ground for a time, and that while losing ground he ascends. Thus the method in this case is really the same as in that last described. Unfortunately, I was not able to prove the existence of this up-current about 20 feet above the stern of the vessel. But there is good evidence of it in the fact that the gull remains suspended there without a motion of his wings. Without an NO. 1426, VOL. § ] up-current this would be an impossibility. It is to be hoped that good observers will give their attention to these very interesting phenomena. F. W. HEADLEY. Haileybury, February 8. Two Unfelt Earthquakes. On February 7, commencing at about 8 a.m., G.M.T., an unusually large, but, at the same time, unfelt earthquake was re- corded in the Isle of Wight. The preliminary tremors, which include three well-defined maxima, extended over twenty-six minutes. After these came two periods of heavy movement, each extending over fifteen or twenty minutes. The duration of the whole disturbance was about one and one-half hours. It was Japanese in character, and because it was recorded in Tochia by Dr. G. Grablovitz, and at the same time was so marked in ampli- tude and duration, it is not unlikely that it disturbed the entire surface of the globe. On the 13th there was a comparatively small disturbance, with preliminary tremors of three or four minutes, at about ro a.m. I should be pleased to learn whether these earthquakes were re- corded by bifilar pendulums in Edinburgh or Lirmingham, or at any of our magnetic observatories. JOHN MILNE. Shide, Newport, I.W., February 18. FOUNDATIONS OF CORAL ATOLLS. HE most regrettable failure of the boring lately attempted in the coral atoll of Funafuti has left us as wise as we were as to the actual structure of these forma- tions ; but the surveys carried on by H.M.S. Penguzn, both at Funafuti and in the regions round about, have afforded information which, I think, is of value in elucidating some of the problems to be solved, and which has certainly strengthened some of my own views on the subject. Funafuti, it may be mentioned, was selected for in- vestigation as being one of a great Pacific group of atolls, which must have a common great cause for the forma- tion of their necessary foundations, and for their develop- ment ; groups which had a great share in causing Mr. Darwin to conclude, from the lack of other explanation of banks in large numbers at a proper depth for the growth of an atoll, that subsidence on a large scale was the predominant agent in their production (‘‘ Coral Reefs,” 2nd ed., pp. 118, 119 ; 3rd ed., pp. 120, 121.) Firstly, the sounding carried on by the Penguin round Funafuti and between separate islands of the Ellice Group, show incontestably that each atoll is situated on a separate mound, rising from a more or less even bottom of great depth below the surface. This proves that there has never been anything of the nature of a range of continental land which has gradually sunk beneath the waves. Each atoll, if it has sunk, has sub- sided independently, with its own isolated volcanic peak. Secondly, the Penguin, while searching the seas some 250 miles to the south-westward of the Ellice Islands for several reported dangers to navigation, explored four banks, all of submerged atoll form, lying near one another. The remarkable thing about these banks is the abso- lute uniformity of the depth of water over their areas, inside the low rim of growing coral which encircles their edges in various degree. This depth is 24 to 26 fathoms. The banks are large: one is 22 miles by 10; another is 18 miles by 9; the third is 8 by 7; and the fourth 4 by 3. The plan of one of them is given on the next page as an example. Another bank, investigated a few years ago by H.M.S. Waterwitch, and lying 400 miles to the eastward, presents similar characteristics, and the same depth over its central area. All these banks are situated in a region exposed to the same conditions of wind and sea. What causes this remarkable similarity of depth and this extraordinarily even surface over these large banks? Is 391 mal URE FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | oOo". ie a 8 x sig, Sr Boe Rae MNVG WX31V say'w je2'gNeN FO BleIS SAIWEES OF she ZEC. 5 os Get S% : (ps _£E zz i ee ee J w2's tL. Ce re METI Ton aR R i ee SOI st ON EG OL IE Ee ei Ey SI O02 yz pz ro poe Sas yf I <-T-) PLO ey, peek p93 4y G91 80) i af 91 8/97 37 —eP~SE ayy pene fQER WY 7) Oz 91 884 1 S91 5, wt oils, 7 om We ea a SEE Gnoe BB gee 2 ae Li et 6 oa! Oz 20>” ee ie Bia ae ALLL, Heer it 1 Fe BU BEE NCL eevee ze oe hw ee we ae No STO pa RS nes PR Xora ae ley lly Pore Gy i : Ss ez Pos ee 4 ? o 124% > St ve - (py = eA a Fo ae Reece sz eH é PP gre 3 oe ae & ez EREeR ez, ptt + PID) ey EEO/ Sop a 6s Ptr on le Je € pe a3 BOTT SAD Re are Ply €7 oe jz CONES 2, caer & ee sere Ce Te eres oS! 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Pe ot ENG: 9 ye oye Cel Vene POPU, Ue) VE) EON Serie 96 \ge eer ue om: Nee ee pe be PE re we vt ot Vt VE ez ce AEN EAS ie ez ee ~ BF Lt 0% re MBER Sc eee Gy % We iss \ ee we Vows ica oe (2? 4 ve ve us ate wh —£ \ a4 ee ee RU Gy ” Gf OZ pe ve as VE ec ez we re ot t ad ze(9e er a2 \ G7 Wee wz rm eis ge PET Co ez, : Buo wee ee ee be MT we ee aoe 4 1) BOE HOC 8 GLI “SUCT | autoy asa, ‘ Te pars VO BE ass 02 .9E oll ey SF Wirz x zz [Ot op S,.0€.9€ pee ST wart a ee et we 6% peer CLIN EHO 2 sued ve yr Oe |e pe Cet eee 7a a ‘SuoUuyey ut sguipunos Zz ST SIS &T Pe €z Oz ¥ ai pr Cl—oz ft ee & vec OCR GY, c d Be / BF OC “oe pee O% oz By 3 968) 490 eG Br Nag Be 5 gi i ‘uin8ued ~S’W'H ef! 207 ye ET re ROL Ee IS : : ‘ uv y : . . jz OT os a A. stsoTFSO OD 8 PITA W'v 9deo fq pekKaeams —— ee pare, NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | 392 NATURE [FEBRUARY 25, 1897 it uniform subsidence of mounds, of identical height, over a great area? Is it building up of mounds to an identical distance below the surface? I cannot think that either can account for the conditions. I would venture to suggest the cutting down of volcanic islands by the action of the sea, and that this operation has a far greater share in furnishing coral foundations than has generally been admitted. The operation has not been overlooked. Mr. J. Murray says: “Volcanic mountains... like Graham Island, might be wholly swept away, and only a bank with a few fathoms of water over it be left on the spot. In this way numerous foundations may have been pre- pared for . . even atolls” (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. x. p. 507). Sir A. Geikie, in referring to Murray’s views, says, “those portions of volcanic mountains that rise above the sea-level are worn down by the atmo- sphere and waves, and unless otherwise preserved, must eventually be reduced to the lower limit of effective wave- action, which is probably nearly coincident with the lower limits of reef builders.” I can find, however, but little further reference to it, and prominence has not been given to it as a principal cause, as has been given to, on the one hand, subsidence, or, on the other, the building up of mounds by organisms other than corals. Darwin specially rejects it. He says (“Coral Reefs,” 2nd ed., p. 124): ‘‘ It will probably occur to those who have read Ehrenberg’s account of the reefs of the Red Sea, that many points in these great areas may have been elevated, but that, as soon as raised, the protuberant parts were cut off by the destroying action of the waves: a moment’s reflection, however, on the basin-like form of the atolls, will show that this is impossible ; for the up- heaval and subsequent abrasion of an island would leave a flat disc, which might become coated with coral, but not a deeply concave surface ; moreover, we should expect to see, at least in some parts, the rock of the foundation brought to the surface.” Let us now consider the general condition of the material piled up by a submarine volcano. I find that David Forbes (Geol. Mag., 1870, p. 323) is of opinion that erupted lava meeting water will assume the form of scoriz, tufa, ash, and similar loose and sub- divided matter, and I believe that many other geologists will agree. Instances of recently-formed volcanic islands add testimony to the correctness of this view. Graham Island, near Sicily, was all ash, and quickly disappeared. The new island in the basin of Santorin, formed in 1866, is all ash, as I know from personal investigation. Falcon Island, near the Tonga Group, which appeared in 1885, is all ash, and is now reduced to a small proportion of its original dimensions. Sabrina Island, on the flank of St. Miguel in the Azores, was formed in 1811, all of loose material, and was washed away to a depth of 15 fathoms in a short time. What water is now over it is not known. No doubt when an ash mound has assumed sufficient dimensions to resist the percolation of water, the lava will be poured out in a mass and solidify, and form a mountainous island of the familiar oceanic type; but it appears to me that all the evidence goes to show that an enormous proportion of the material ejected by a sub- marine volcano will be loose, until a great height above the sea is attained. If this be granted, here is an easy material for the sea to work upon. The next point is, to what depth does the action of the sea attain? To those unacquainted with the ocean it may seem incredible that it can be in motion sufficiently violent to, at depths of 50 and 60 fathoms, move material ; but I think that there is good evidence of it. An isolated rock exposed to the full strength of the sea from one of the great oceans will cause a heavy breaker on the surface, when it is submerged as much as Io NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | fathoms. Let us think fora moment what this means, and what the horizontal velocity of the water at the depth of the rock must be to cause such a disturbance at the surface. All who have studied the submarine contours of the land exposed to the great oceans, will know the remark- able fact that there is in the great majority of cases a sudden steeper fall at the depth of from 80 to 100 fathoms. This can only be explained on the supposition that the material eroded from the coasts can be moved and dis- tributed to that depth. The depth at which matter can be moved will, of course, vary with its size and tenacity. It is sufficient for my purpose if it is only fine mud and sand which is acted upon at such a depth as 80 fathoms, although submarine cables have been taken up which show evidence of having been moved and chafed at even greater depths. Cables have been recovered which show that breakage has occurred from their being moved in 260 fathoms, and, by the kindness of Mr. F. Lucas, 1 have in my own possession a steel wire forming part of the outer covering of the Brazilian cable, picked up from 140 fathoms, which is worn down on one side as with a file. The records of the Cable Companies can furnish numerous similar instances. While there are, as might be expected, banks in the oceans of every conceivable depth, there are a very large number with a depth over them, which is to my mind conformable to the depth to which wave action extends. I may instance the great bank on which the Seychelles Islands stand. This is roughly 16,000 square miles in area, and has a general depth over it of 30 fathoms, though it is not so absolutely flat as banks less gigantic. In the course of recent hydrographical operations it has been gradually borne in upon my mind that banks at great depth can reveal themselves upon the surface. Numerous instances have occurred where, on search being made for the cause of reported “ breakers,” deep banks, some lying as far below the surface as 800 fathoms, have been found on the spot, but nothing shoaler could be detected. “Rips” have, however, been seen in the course of the search, and steered for in the expectation that shallow water existed, but to no purpose. In such cases it seems probable that it is the tide (which extends to the bottom of the sea) meeting the obstacle of the bank, which is accelerated to such an extent that it affects the surface, I have, therefore, no difficulty in believing that volcanic ash can be moved at depths of 30 fathoms, or more, when exposed to the action of waves in an otherwise deep sea, over which strong winds are continually blowing. The effect will be to cut down an island more or less rapidly, according to its constitution, to a very consider- able depth below the surface ; the final result being a perfectly flat bank. Mr. Darwin, as above quoted, speaks of a flat bank as unrepresentative of the floor of an atoll; but I think that this was a consequence of the comparatively small amount of facts at his disposal. I have no hesitation in saying that a flat floor is an invariable characteristic of a large atoll, and I cannot find his “deeply concave surface” in any large atoll. On the contrary, a flat surface is found in all of these, whether the rim be above or below the surface. It is true that towards the sides of a lagoon the depth gradually lessens ; the encircling rim is not so steep as it is on the outside, but I think this is only what would be expected from the less vigorous growth of coral on the inner side of the rim as it rises, and from the gradual dissemination of débris from the rim thrown over by the waves. I fail to see how subsidence of a solid peak, or the elevation of a submerged peak by the growth of FEBRUARY 25, 1897] NATURE 393 organisms, will explain a flat floor, without bringing in the action of the sea at considerable depths. In a sub- siding peak with a barrier reef, there cannot be sufficient wave-action to level a large lagoon. In a bank rising by growth, why should it become level over its whole surface? A further point remains. Can coral settling on a bank, 30 fathoms or so beneath the surface, form an atoll? Mr. Darwin limits this possibility to “some fathoms sub- merged,” and considers that “it is an assumption with- out any evidence that at a depth at which the waves do not break, the coral grows more vigorously on the edges of a bank than on its central part.” I think that the experience of the years since Mr. Darwin wrote that, has given us evidence that this is not an unwarrantable assumption. The instances of shallow narrow rims, or of isolated patches of coral on the edges of such banks, are now innumerable. It is so well recognised that the edge of such a bank is the place to expect shoal patches, that in carrying out hydrographic surveys in coral regions it is the edge that is most minutely searched. On such edges are found evidence of coral colonies in every stage; complete ridges, broken ridges, and mere patches here and there. Always, where means have permitted, is evidence brought up that such colonies are alive. There may be dead rims, but they are the exception. The fact ofa current, whether tidal, or otherwise induced, being accelerated on meeting a submarine bank is, I think, sufficient to account for this. The water pours over the edge of the bank, and brings abundance of food to those corals which settle on it, to the dis- advantage of those settling further in. The phenomena of coral patches and ridges on the edge of these submerged banks is so frequent, that I know not how they can be otherwise explained. The great Seychelles Bank is lined all round its edge, so far as examined, with such coral ridges and patches. The small islands, in this case of primary rock, in the centre of this bank are lined with fringing reefs; and if the whole bank, 150 miles in length, has uniformly sunk, they must have sunk too, and the fringing reefs would be beneath the surface. Given these edgings of vigorous living coral on sub- merged banks, of which I consider we have indisputable proof, they will certainly grow to the surface and form the complete atoll. In the earlier stages calcareous organisms of all kinds will settle all over the bank, giving it a coating more or less thick according to circumstances. The only other point that need be mentioned is the steep slope that characterises some atolls. As to this, I believe that masses with irregular projections like broken coral, falling down in water, will entangle themselves, and lie at a steepness of slope unknown in similar falls on mountain sides, and though the aid of subsidence may be needed for the almost vertical walls which occasionally occur, that the slopes of most atolls can be explained without it. There seems no necessity to call in the aid of Murray’s theory of deepening and widening of the lagoon by solution, but I am not contending that it may not so act. What I am concerned to show is that without it, and without subsidence, deep and large atolls may be formed, and that we have abundant evidence of atolls so forming. I am not arguing that there has been no subsidence ; indeed, I think that a volcanic cone, from the nature of its loose material, will frequently subside, and that some of the deeper lagoons may owe their depths of 50 fathoms or so to such a movement, quite apart from sub- sidence of large areas which we know occurs. Nor do I say that volcanic mounds that have failed to reach the surface, may not be built up toa sufficient height for corals to flourish ; nor that all foundations and atolls NO, 1426, VOL. 55 | have been formed in the same way; but I put forward the hypothesis that the cutting down of volcanic islands. by wave-action and currents, has had a greater share in providing suitable bases for coral atolls than any other process of nature. I may further suggest, in defence of my views, that it tends to explain why, over vast groups of atolls, no central summit is left. W. J. L. WHARTON. FRIDTJOF NANSEN’S “FARTHEST NORTH.” + WHEN Gerrit de Veer published his “True and 4 perfect description” of Barents’ voyages for the discovery of a North-east passage, “so strange and woonderfull that the like hath never been heard of before,” he justified himself for doing so by several reasons :— “And also to stoppe their mouthes, that report and say, that our proceeding therein was wholly unprofitable and fruitelesse ; which peradventure in time to come, may turn unto our great profite and commoditie. For he which proceedeth and continueth in a thing that seemeth to be impossible, is not to be discommended ; but hee, that in regarde that the thing seemeth to be impossible, doth not proceed therein, but by his faint-heartedness and sloath, wholly leaveth it off.” This might not inappropriately be taken as an apology for Nansen’s popular account of his great Arctic journey, which in many ways finds its nearest prototype in the classic adventures of the Dutch explorers three hundred years ago, when the lifting of a ship on the ice without being nipped was first observed, and the nature and effects of ice-pressures were first clearly described. For an example of a Norse Arctic explorer visiting England and receiving a Royal welcome, we must go back a thousand years to the time when King Alfred entertained Othar, and gave in a gloss on his Orosius the first record of Arctic discovery ever written in the language of the English. But between the visits of Othar and Nansen the progress of Arctic discovery has been due mainly to our countrymen, who have purchased with their lives much of the experience on which the safe and successful voyage of the yam was planned. These large and handsome volumes, giving the full narrative of the vpyage, have been very rapidly prepared, too rapidly for the careful reader, who has been sacrificed to allow the eager public to revel in a story of adventure- More leisurely preparation might have left the book no less readable, and made it much more valuable, by including at least a few preliminary reports on the results of the voyage which must necessarily be of “great profite and commoditie” in many branches of knowledge. The revision of the text might have been more complete, the cumbrous title-page might have as- sumed a pleasing form, there might have been a pre- fatory note acknowledging the author’s debt to the translators, whose work certainly deserves recognition, and the maps might have been of a less provisional character. Scientific readers will, however, be content to await the full discussions by specialists, which are doubtless in preparation, and meantime they cannot dip into the narrative of the most successful of all Arctic voyages without becoming absorbed by its peculiar fascination. The glamour of the Arctic regions has been felt by almost every explorer, and not a few have suc- ceeded in passing it on to the readers of their books, but none so perfectly as Dr. »Nansen. Too often the tale 1 Fridtjof Nansen’s ‘‘ Farthest North,” being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship Avazz, 1893-96, and of a Fifteen Months’ Sleigh Journey by Dr. Nansen and Lieut. Johansen. With an appendix by Otto Sverdrup, Captain of the vam ; 120 full-page and numerous text illustrations, 16 coloured plates in facsimile from Dr. Nansen’s own sketches, etched portrait, photogravures and maps. 2 vols. Pp. 1200. (Westminster = Archibald Constable and Co., 1897-) 394 IN ATO RE [FrBRuary 25, 1897 of human suffering, and the tragedies of the retreat towards relief expeditions which have missed their mark, darken the records of Arctic travel. But here there is no tragedy. The necessary killing of the sledge-dogs to support the life of the rest is the harshest feature, and that seems to have seriously disturbed the equanimity of the kind-hearted explorers. To any but hardened sports- men the pathetic display of maternal and filial affection between polar bears or walruses and their young, brings the cruelty of hunting man into painful relief ; but happy, indeed, is that Arctic expedition in which sympathy for suffering is enlisted on behalf of the lower animals alone. The pictorial power of Nansen’s descriptions of the Arctic night, or the mysterious solitudes of the ice-fields, need not be dwelt on here, nor shall we linger on the psychological aspect of the expedition, the alternations of hope and doubt, the reminiscences of home as familiar anniversaries came round again and again, but proceed rather to point out some of the practical deductions to be made from the voyage. The preliminary scientific results having been already referred to in NATURE (vol. lv. p- 352), need not be repeated; but it is interesting to compare the actual experiences, detailed in the book, [Copyright by Archibald Constable and Coe., 18097. Fic. 1.—Cleaning the Accumulators before stowing away. with the original project as described in the Geographical Journal (vol. 1., 1893, p. 1) and summarised in NATURE (vol. xlvii. p. 65). The ship answered the purpose for which she was | designed exactly. The rudder was unshipped through the rudder-well, and kept on board during the greater part of the drift ; but it was not found necessary to un- ship the propeller, which sustained no damage from the ice. Despite the great strength of the ship, and the wonderful freedom from strain, even during the severest ice-pressure, a good deal of water found its way on board during the summer months, but the leakage was found quite insignificant when the ship was floated after her three years on the ice. The lifting of the vessel by ice-pressure took place exactly as predicted, and she lay on the ice on a nearly even keel almost all the time, recovering her position spontaneously after being heeled over by heavy pressures. The non-conducting walls of the saloon entirely obviated the bugbear of all former expeditions—the condensation of moisture on the roof and sides, which, running down, saturates the cushions and bedding. With the fire lighted, the saloon was perfectly dry, and so warm that the fire was usually dispensed with. The arrangement for the supply of light was not quite so satisfactory. The engine was taken to pieces when the /7avz was fairly beset, and the NO. 1426, VOL. 55] dynamos were worked for the first two years by a wind- mill, which gave good results. Early in the third winter the windmill wore out, and Sverdrup took it down ; the accumulators were cleaned (see Fig. 1) and packed away. The men on board had so much necessary work to do with observations, shifting the boats and emergency stores, which were always kept on the ice, and had to be closely watched on account of the appearance of cracks, that there was no time to work the dynamo by means of a capstan and multiplying gear, as originally planned, and so for the longest and darkest winter of all there was no electric light. The health throughout seems to have been perfect. The weight of all the members of the expedition in- creased. We read of Nansen suffering from lumbago for a day or two, of Sverdrup being laid up once with intestinal catarrh attributed to a chill, of a few slight frost-bites, a little snow-blindness, but nothing worse. There was no threatening of scurvy, and the doctor had no professional work to do beyond weighing himself and his companions, and counting the red blood-corpuscles once a month. ~All the food taken proved perfectly satisfactory, except some pemmican prepared with cocoa- nut fat, which even the dogs declined after once trying it. In every particular the equipment and provisions of the expedition were in excess of the actual requirements, and nothing not taken, except a long sounding-line, seems to have been wanted. Dr. Nansen attributes the good spirits and harmony of the expedition largely to the fact that all thirteen members lived together, eating the same food at the same table, and sharing the same work; he was much gratified with the complete success of this novel social experiment. The Fram left Vardé on July 21, 1893, embarked a number of Siberian sledge-dogs at Khabarova, and entering the Kara Sea on August 4, coasted along the north of Asia, discovering many new island groups, and encountering no serious difficulty until Sep- tember 25, when in latitude 79°, north of the Lena Delta, she was frozen into the ice-floe and commenced her drift. The first two months were spent drifting in various direc- tions, but mainly south-east. Then a change occurred, and a north-westerly drift set in very slowly and irregularly, with many diver- sions to southward, while the ice under the /7vam steadily increased in thickness. ; On February 2, 1894, the crossing of 80° N. was cele- brated ; on May 15 81°, on October 31 82°, and. on December 25 837 were successively attained. On January 6, 1895, the Aya was further north (83° 34’) than any previous expedition had reached, and it was a year and a half before she returned again to recorded latitudes. March 3 brought her to 84°, due north of Cape Chel- yuskin, and on September 22 she crossed 85°, going north- west. For four months she remained north of 85°, and . the sun remained invisible below the horizon for five and a half months—from October 8, 1895, to March 24, 1896. This was the longest and darkest winter ever experienced by man ; but Sverdrup, in his record of it, makes light of its tedium, and notices no decline in the general health of himself and his ten comrades. On November 15, 1895, the northward component of the westerly drift ceased to act in latitude 85° 55’, longitude 66° 31’ E., and from that date there was a southerly component, 1n- creasing until the drift was due south in April. On May 19, 1896, steam was got up for the first time, and the fight to escape from the ice-floe commenced. Sverdrup blasted the vessel free, and worked her slowly through the lanes, as they appeared in the breaking pack, for 180 miles, at length reaching the open sea and sighting FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | WATURE . o o5 the north-west poimt of Spitzbergen on August 13, 1896, after having been for 1041 days out of sight of land. While the yam was tracing out her intended path in comparative tranquillity the originator of the expedition, with one companion, was engaged on a far more adven- turous journey. Nansen and Johansen left the comfort and plenty of their safe quarters on board on March 14, 1895, and pushed northward over the hummocky ice with dog-sledges carrying kayaks, until April 4, when the failure of the dogs made it necessary to turn in 86° 14’, N., nearly 200 miles beyond any former seeker of the pole. No land was seen, only an interminable floe. By May 19 they were back at 83 20, and but for the mis- fortune of allowing their watches to run down, and so losing their longitude, they would in all probability have | reached Spitzbergen in the autumn of 1895. It was the one error of the expedition, and it was heavily paid for, crushed is always greatest when the floating ice is driven against a resisting shore. Possibly the #7 would have resisted any pressure, for even in the severest trial to which she was subjected, when the advancing pressure- mound rose high on the rigging and the noise of the crashing ice was louder than thunder, she did not sustain the slightest.damage. The photograph reproduced in Fig. 2 shows the crew of the Fram cutting away the pressure-mound of ice that had been hurled against one side of the vessel. Little as either Nansen or Sverdrup makes of the dangers, and cheerily as their comrades bore themselves. throughout, no one reading this book can fail to feel the profoundest respect and admiration for every one of them; and the public of this country has testified this to Nansen by a reception such as no scientific man or traveller has received before. ‘This is a tribute to the calm and unswerving pursuit of an idea based on sound (Copyrignt by Archibald Constable and Co., 1897 Fic. 2.—Digging out the Fvavz, March 1895. for it involved the dismal wintering in a miserable hut on “ Frederick Jackson’s Island,” living on bear and walrus meat from August 26, 1895, to May 19, 1896. A month’s journey southwards in the spring brought them to Mr. Jackson’s headquarters at Cape Flora, whence they sailed in the Windward on August 7, and returned safely to Vard6 on the 13th. a The more one thinks over the details of this expedition the more remarkable does it appear. The strong current which Nansen believed to cross the polar area was not indeed found quite as he expected it, but there was an average drift due to prevailing winds in the predicted direction and of the predicted velocity. No land what- ever was encountered, but a sea nearly two thousand fathoms deep. The resourcefulness of the leader is shown in his making a long sounding-line from one of his wire cables which was untwisted for the purpose in a ropewalk extemporised on the ice. The deep sea was fortunate, for the danger of a vessel being nipped and NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | reasoning, and carried into effect by the highest personal qualities of courage, faithfulness and brotherly kindness. Many points invite special notice, such as the interest- ing descriptions of the formation of pressure-mounds (hummocks) and cracks in the ice, even during the coldest weather. The occasional spells of high tem- perature in winter are suggestive of fohn effects ; but these will, of course, be duly discussed in the scientific report. One very extraordinary phenomenon, known as “dead water,” was noticed in the Kara Sea, and we hope that such observations were made at the time as will enable its true nature to be discovered. It is de- scribed (vol. i. p. 174) as a layer of fresh water which is _ carried along by the ship, slipping over the surface of the | salt water below, and retarding the progress of the vessel. How a steamer with the propeller working in strong sea | water can fail to cut through a superficial layer of fresh water, is very difficult to understand. HuGH ROBERT MILL. 396 WNeATIORE [FEprRuaryY 25, 1897 THE DISCOVERY OF ANOTHER CONNECT- watery fluid. The two generative cells, which have ING LINK BETWEEN FLOWERING AND FLOWERLESS PLANTS. N EWS has recently reached Europe, from Japan, of a botanical discovery of unusual interest and im- portance. Two investigators, Prof. Ikeno (Botan. Cen- trabl., 1897, 1) and Dr. Hirase (#é¢d., 2 and 3), working independently, have observed the formation of anthero- zoids—bodies which have hitherto been regarded as exclusively confined to flowerless plants—in two groups of gymnosperms. It is well known that in a large number of cryptogams, including all the higher forms, the process of fertilisation is intimately connected with the presence of water. The spores (or, at any rate, certain of them) give rise on germinating, sooner or later to cells from which free- swimming antherozoids are liberated. Each of the latter consists of a loosely coiled nucleus ensheathed in proto- plasm, which is especially abundant at the anterior end of the body, and from it arise the cilia which enable the antherozoid to move through water. In the flowering plants, on the other hand, with their special adaptations to a terrestrial mode of existence, it is of obvious disadvantage to depend on the precarious presence of water as the means of enabling the male sexual cell to find the female, and we find that the motile antherozoids are replaced by quiescent male cells, which are conducted to the female organs along a tube— the pollen-tube—which is a direct outgrowth of the spore -or pollen-grain. Now the gymnosperms, whilst they share with the rest of the flowering plants many characters in common, including the possession of a pollen-tube, yet differ from them in other important respects and approximate more nearly to the higher cryptogams. It is to the brilliant work of Hofmeister, more than forty years ago, that the recog- nition of this fact is primarily due, and it is, perhaps, a matter for surprise that a group occupying such an admittedly important position should not have been long ago subjected to a more searching scrutiny than it has received. It is true that Strasburger has added much to our knowledge ; but, perhaps, the first really illuminating discovery since Hofmeister’s time was that made by Belajeff in 1891, which was confirmed and extended by Strasburger in the following year. It was there shown that, whereas the similarity between the female pro- thallium and its products with the corresponding struc- tures in cryptogams had already been recognised, a closer investigation into the process of germination of the pollen-grain also yielded quite unlooked-for resemblances to the homologous stages in the lower plants, clearly confirming the near kinship of the two groups. But the presence of a pollen-tube, which would seem to render the formation of antherozoids superfluous, if not indeed directly disadvantageous, still appeared as one of the sharply-drawn distinctions between the zoido- gamous cryptogam and the siphonogamous phanerogam. It is in the successful bridging over of this gulf that the great importance of the new discovery lies. The two gymnosperms, Cycas vevoluta and Gingko 4iloba, in which antherozoids have just been found, are both ancient types, and closely resemble each other in the mode of the formation of their male sexual cells. At first the pollen germinates much as in the other higher plants, forming a pollen-tube which penetrates the ovule, and containing a group of cells from one of which the antherozoids are ultimately derived. But unlike other forms which have been thoroughly investigated, the pollen-tube remains short, and although it may branch, it does not reach the archegonia in which the female cells are contained. The archegonia themselves lie round the base of a depression situated at the apex of the pro- thallium, and the space above them is stated to containa NO. 1426, VOL. 55] travelled to the end of the rudimentary pollen-tube, now become differentiated into antherozoids. The nucleus, which is large and egg-shaped, lies enclosed in proto- plasm, and the latter alone supplies the material for the formation of the coiled anterior portion of the body. Cilia are formed on the coil in great numbers, and are able to impart a progressive, rotatory motion to the anther- ozoid. Dr. Hirase, who studied their behaviour in Gzmgko while alive, was able to watch them actually moving, and probably the same is true of Cycas, although, owing to the material having been killed, this, of course, could not be tested in the case of the latter plant. They are large bodies, measuring about 82x 49 », and escape from the end of the pollen-tube, reaching the necks of the arche- gonia by swimming through the intervening water. In reading the short account, as yet published, there isa point of especial interest which strikes one, namely, that the plant must have already begun to eliminate the element of risk which a dependence on a mere chance supply of water entails, by itself secreting the liquid necessary to enable the antherozoid to accomplish its mission. As soon as this habit has been developed it becomes intelligible how, in these more primitive examples, the spore might proceed to swell and finally put out a protuberance on the side nearest the water- supply. And the more effectively this was carried through, the less would be the chance of missing fertilisation Thus it becomes comparatively easy to reconstruct, at any rate theoretically, the transitional stages between zoidogamy and siphonogamy. J, Bae, HUMAN INCUBATORS. N a recent number of L’///ustration an account is given of an incubator used for rearing delicate children. The apparatus designed by Dr. Tarnier, Pro- fessor of the Faculté de Paris, was first used, in the year 1880, at the Paris Maternity Hospital: it is constructed on the same principles as the incubator used for hatching the eggs of poultry. The apparatus, as first designed, consists of a large cubical box of thick wood, standing on a pedestal. This box is divided into two compartments, of which the lower contains a reservoir of hot water, and the upper the bed of the infant. A movable glass shutter forms the top of the apparatus, through which it is possible to observe the changes occurring inside, and take the readings of the thermometer placed near the infant. One side of the compartment is so hinged as to open like a door. The whole of the upper part is warmed by means of the hot water underneath, the warm air rising through holes at each end of the bed, and escaping through orifices situated at the top. The temperature of the water is so regulated that the temperature of the apparatus never “exceeds 30 to 37° Centigrade. The weaker the infant is, the greater the temperature. required. Dr. Tarnier, with the help of his house surgeon, M. Auvard, lost no time in improving this apparatus. His latest design does not differ very much from the one described above ; it has, however, the advantage of being more simple in character, and also lighter i in construction. (Fig. 1.) The external dimensions measure 65 x 30 X 5¢ centimetres, the thickness of sides being about 25 mill metres. The upper part of the case is “divided into two sections, one being a wooden fixture, L, about 13 centi- metres wide, and having a circular opening 4 centimetres in diameter at its middle part, to which may be attached a small helix, H. The rotation of this helix indicates the existence of a draught of air through the case. The other section is a glass shutter, Vv, which also serves as door. The interior of the case is divided into a lower and + FEBRUARY 25, 1807 | NATURE 397 upper compartment by means of a shelf, D, extending | almost across. The circulation of the air is as fol. lows: air from the outside penetrates into the lower compartment through an opening, 1, in the side; it ac- quires there a suitable temperature from the heaters, M, ie a i Fic. 1.—Dr. Tarnier’s New Apparatus. and rises into the upper compartment, moisture being | obtained by its passage through a wet sponge, E. These heaters are capable of holding three-quarters of a pint of water. Five of these can be used at one time in the apparatus ; but four are found sufficient to main- tain the required temperature of 31° to 32°, provided the room is not less than 16°. The infant is generally kept in the incubator from | seven to fourteen days. This is about the average time, but it varies considerably, and cases have been known when the period has been extended to five weeks. The | child may be taken from the incubator every two hours to be fed ; but it must only be exposed to the air as | short a time as possible, and care must be taken that the room is of a suitable temperature. It is of interest to notice the decrease of mortality. The usual percentage of deaths of infants under 2000 grammes is 66 per cent., but by the use of the incubator this high figure is reduced to 36 per cent. Of those | children born prematurely, few only survive ; whereas it is now possible to save about 45 per cent. While great care is taken to help to maintain the heat of the body of the child, it is also necessary to allow its system to renew that heat. If, therefore, the child is not strong enough to take food, some means must be taken of injecting it. In this case a probe, consisting of an india-rubber tube, with a graduated glass funnel at the end, is used. This instrument is inserted in the mouth, and pushed gently down the throat, and going a distance of fifteen centimetres, reaches the stomach. The probe is pressed, and sends the milk into the funnel until a sufficient quantity has been administered, when it is rapidly removed to prevent the return of the ‘uid. Judging from the accounts which have been published, the improved apparatus seems to be very successful. NOTES Tue following remarks, abridged from an editorial in the February number of the Amerzcan Naturalist, will be cordially supported by many men of science on this side of the Atlantic :— ‘* While the primary object of the university is instruction, there are several reasons why original research is of more than inci- dental importance to its prosperity. The mastery of his subject, which is characteristic of the man who advances the knowledge | NO. 1426, VOL. 55] | Dr. of it, is an essential of a good teacher. The belief in this truth 1s So general, that the teacher who is known as a discoverer will more successfully attract students to his classes than he who is not so known, But, apart from this, the general reputation of a school before the public is more surely affected by the research work that issues from its faculty, than the managing bodies of some of them seem willing to admit. We believe that those universities which permit of the production of original work by those of its professors who have proven thomselves competent for it, are wise above those who do not do so. Those who load such men with teaching, so as to forbid such work, reduce their prosperity. The managers will be wise to preserve for these men sufficient leisure to enable them to advance the frontiers of the known, and thus to obtain juster views of things as they are, and to bring us ever nearer to a comprehension of the great laws, whose expressions it is their business to teach to the grow- ing intelligences of the nation.’ THE Société Industrielle du Nord de la France has awarded a gold medal to M. Moissan, in recognition of his scientific investigations. THE Council of the Sanitary Institute have accepted an invitation from the City Council of Leeds,to hold a Sanitary Congress and Health Exhibition in that city in the month of September next. ACTING under the provisions of a rule which empowers the annual election by the Committee of nine persons ‘‘ of dis- tinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or for public services,” the Committee of the Athenzum Club have elected David Ferrier, F.R.S., Professor of Neuro-pathology at King’s College, London, a member of the Club. THE Council of the Society of Arts attended at Marlborough House on Tuesday, February 16, when his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, K.G., President of the Society, presented the Albert Medal to Prof. David Edward Hughes, F.R.S., ‘in recognition of the services he has rendered to arts, manufactures, and commerce, by his numerous inventions in electricity and magnetism, especially the printing telegraph and the micro- phone.” THE new building for the South African Museum at Cape- town has now been completed, and fitted with the so-called ‘Dresden cases,” which are made entirely of glass and iron, and are believed to be absolutely dust-proof and air-tight. Under the superintendence of Mr. W. L. Sclater, the Director, the collections are in process of removal from their former quarters into the new building, which is expected to be opened to the public by March 1. WE regret to record the following deaths of men of science abroad :—Dr. Timothée Rothen, Director of the International Telegraph Bureau at Berne, and author of numerous treatises on telegraphy and telephony.—Prof, Karl Theodor Weierstrass, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Berlin, and Foreign Member of the Royal Society.—Prof. M. Klimm, Pro- fessor of Hydraulics in the Polytechnikum at Budapest. REFERRING to Mr. Evans’s letter in last week’s NATURE, upon immunity from stings of bees, Mr. T. A. Gerald Strickland sends us a note ona similar case. A bee-keeper, having accidentally upset a hive, was so badly stung that he was laid up for a few weeks, but afterwards the stings of the bees did not affect him, though before his involuntary inoculation they caused great pain | and swelling. The accident happened some years ago, but the bee-keeper was still indifferent to stings last autumn. 398 INA TYRE [ FEBRUARY 25, 1897 THE Royal Academy of Belgium has awarded gold medals, of value 600 francs, to Dr. C. De Bruyne, of Ghent, for his essay on the influence of phagocytes in the development of the In- vertebrata; to M. G. Cesaro, of Trooz (Liége), for his essay on Belgian minerals; to MM. J. F. Heymans and O. Van der Stricht, of Ghent, for their conjoint paper on the peripheric nervous system of Amphioxus ; and to M. Jean Massart, for his essay on the cicatrisation of plants. The prosperous Soczété de ? Industrie Minérale of Saint- Etienne invites original communications from its members on mining, metallurgy and mechanics, for which the Council will award premiums varying from 500 to 1000 francs. The subjects to be dealt with are : in the mining section, the working of thick coal seams, and underground haulage by compressed air or electric locomotives ; in the metallurgical section, the methods for removing dust from combustible gases, the manufacture of open-hearth steel, and the utilisation of the waste heat of furnaces for steam boilers ; and, in the mechanical section, the use of high pressure, cut-off gears, compounding and condensa- tion in winding engines, and the employment of superheating in steam engines. The papers must be written in, or translated into, French, and must be in the Secretary’s hands by December 31, 1897. THE international aerostatic ascents, which for some time past have been contemplated, took place on the 18th inst. at Paris, Berlin, and Strasburg. Three unmanned balloons were liberated at about 10 a.m. (local time) at each station. The German Emperor witnessed the Berlin operations, but the balloon burst. The Strasburg balloon disappeared in the north- east, and has not yet been recovered. The Paris balloon descended, after having travelled during a little more than two hours in the N,N. 4 E., and ran 102 kilometres. The tempera- ture recorded was 60°, at an altitude of more than 10,000 metres. An apparatus, constructed by Cailletet, for bringing back to land the air of the upper atmosphere, was successful, but the gas captured has not yet been analysed. The records are confused to some extent, but the balloons and instruments are safe. Mr. ALEXANDER WHYTE gives an interesting description of his travels in North Nyasa, in the Brztish Central Africa Gazelle, published at Zomba. Mr. Whyte stayed at Karonga for a short time, and then went through Napata to Chifungu’s village, where he obtained some interesting specimens ; among others, a fine oriole and a tiny little chestnut-backed owl, neither of which he had previously met ; also a pretty little squirrel, only one of which he had previously collected. The botany of the neighbouring hills and valleys he found most interesting. Journeying from Chifungu’s village, the hills became higher and only sparsely clad with stunted forest, short grass, and weird- looking deformed shrubs. One looked like a miniature four-foot baobab, afflicted with elephantiasis, the soft smooth-barked branches being abnormally thick and suddenly tapering to a sharp point. All the rocky ridges had a species of Velozia upon them. This species was similar in habit to the new one (V. splendens) discovered by Mr. Whyte on the Mlanje range, but the branches form a more acute angle with the stem, and it is believed to be another species. Near the Wyie River some interesting birds were collected ; among others, a bright little kingfisher very similar to Cayx tridactylus of India and Ceylon. Following the Wyie River the grand Nyika range was eventually approached, and, after a stiff climb, the plateau of the range was reached. Towards the end of last November, Mr. Whyte was collecting zoological and botan- cal specimens on the top of Mlosa mountain and plateau. He eports that he has procured some interesting specimens, NO. TA26, MOSS | several of which he thinks are new to science. The top of Mlosa plateau consists of rolling hills covered with fine short grass, well-wooded in the gullies, and with a plentiful supply of water. The plateau is not quite equal in extent to the Zomba plateau, but lies at about the same elevation (between five and six thousand feet above the sea), and the scenery is even finer than that of Zomba. Access is obtained to the Mlosa plateau by more easy gradients than the Zomba plateau or that of Mlanje. Tue Gold Coast, Ashanti, and Kumassi, is the subject of an illustrated article, by Mr. George K. French. in the Wa/zonal Geographic Magazine for January. Mr. French journeyed from Cape Coast Castle to Kumassi, through Prahsu, or the Prah River, and the Adansai country, and his descriptions of the natives, as well as his photographs, are very instructive. It is satisfactory to see the expression of an opinion that “‘England’s enlightened policy in other parts of Africa will undoubtedly be applied here, and will result in the ultimate spread of civilisation throughout this darkest part of the dark continent.” THE fourth number ofthe current volume of the A/¢¢thez/unger vor Forschungsretsenden und Gelehrten aus den deutscher Schulzgebicten contains.a number of notes of geographical and meteorological importance. An abstract is given of the results of several hundred boiling-point determinations made by Dr. Stuhlman and First-Lieut. Schlobach in Usaramo, Ukami, and Uluguru, during 1894-5: reduced with more intelligent care than is usually bestowed on such data. Lieut. Merker con- tributes a note, with sketch map, of two new lakes between Kilimandjaro and Meru. Further abstracts of meteorological observations at three stations in Konde—Manow, Wangemann- shdhe, and Ikombe—are given, and also at Jaluit, in the Marshall Archipelago. THE Board of Trade Journal makes the following announce- ments :—An Exhibition will be held at Bergen in Norway in 1898, to consist of an International Fisheries Section and of national sections for industries, agriculture, and fine arts. The grounds of the Nygard Park (Nygardsparken) have been selected as the site of the Exhibition.—A Transmississippi and International Exhibition will be held at the City of Omaha, in the Stat of Nebraska, in the year 1898, for the exhibition of the re- sources of the United States of America, and the progress and civilisation of the Western Hemisphere, and for a display of the arts, industries, manufactures, and products of the soil, mine, and sea.—The Parliament of New South Wales has de- cided to hold an International Exhibition at Sydney in 1899. According to statements made in the House, the cost of the Exhibition will be 250,000/., and the Australian products shown thereat will be sent to Paris in 1900. THE connection between relative humidity and the manufac- facture of cotton fabrics, is probably too slender to be seen by the ‘‘ practical man” in Great Britain, or to need any considera- tion from a practical British Government. In the United States, however, there are Government departments which frequently make inquiries into the bearings of natural phenomena upon in- dustry. A few days ago we received a ‘‘ Report on the Relative Humidity of Southern New England and other Localities,” prepared under the direction of Mr. Willis L. Moore, Chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau, by Mr. Alfred J. Henry. Upon the face of it, one would hardly expect more than meteorological statistics and conclusions from this Az//etin. But mark how the facts work out. One of the conditions essential to the greatest degree of success in the spinning and weaving of cotton fabrics is a humid state of the atmosphere, and the more constant the degree of humidity the greater is the measure of profitable spinning, especially as regards the finer numbers, The average FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | NATURE 399. spinning of England is finer than that of the United States, and the average of the latter varies greatly with geographical location, the finer spinning being done almost wholly in New England. The attention of the Weather Bureau having been called to the importance of the subject and to the probable extension of the manufacture of cotton over a much wider area than it has yet occupied, a comparison was instituted with a view of ascertain- ing how the natural humidity of certain portions of the United States, particularly the South, where the extension of the art is most pronounced, compares with that of the southern shore of New England. It is with the results of the investigation made in this connection that the Bz//e/772 deals, and we have no doubt that the observations and conclusions from them will be used to advance cotton manufacture in the United States. The idea that the tendency to concentrate the cotton manufacturing industry in Lancashire was originally due to the advantage of climatic conditions, is, of course, not entertained. Indeed, it appears from the report that thus far in the development of the cotton manufacturing industry too little account has been taken of climatic conditions as affecting the quantity or quality of the output. For the benefit of enterprising cotton manufacturers the suggestion is made that the control of both temperature and humidity by artificial means seems to be the final solution of the problem in all cases where the establishment of mills in a relatively dry district is contemplated. WE are pleased to notice a marked improvement in the first number of the new volume of the Azz7sta Sccentifico Industriale, published in Florence. The editor and founder, Dr. Guido Vimercati, has now the co-operation of Dr. Carlo del Lungo. The most noteworthy feature of the present number isa com- plete bibliography of all Italian works relating to Réntgen rays published in 1896. It is the intention of the editors to deal with other branches of physics in the same manner in subsequent issues. The number is accompanied by excellent stereoscopic figures of an optical bench for interference experiments, illustrating a paper by Prof. G. Grattarola. Dr. G. TOLOME!, writing in the same journal, describes an in- teresting series of experiments on the presence of argon in plants. The author inferred the absence of argon in fully-developed veget- abletissues. Experiments were also made with thenodule-forming Leguminose, and with their nitrifying bacteria, and the results were the opposite of that just cited. In the case of nitrogen obtained from the growing roots of a young pea, argon was obtained from the tissues, but in smaller quantities than from the culture of bacteria; and hence the author maintains that the argon fixed «by the bacteria does not enter into chemical combination, on the ground that if it did so, it would, if once absorbed, remain in the plant instead of disappearing in the older tissues. Pror. W. SOMERVILLE has carried out a series of com- parative experiments to test the value of the pure cultures of the various varieties of bacteria that inhabit the roots of our more important Papilionaceous plants, now sold under the name of “*nitragen.’’ The investigation was described before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh on January 14. Experiments were made with peas, broad beans, lucerne, and broad red clover. Only in the case of the peas did the application of nitragen result in an increase in the yield, and even then the variations in the weights of produce were too small to make it possible to say definitely that the inoculating substance affected growth either one way oranother. The experiments were carried out in a garden attached to the Durham College of Science, in which it may be assumed that peas and beans have frequently been cultivated during recent years. As the soil was thus well supplied with the bacteria that associate with the roots of these NO. 1426, VOL. 55] plants, Prof. Somerville agrees that it is not surprising that the application of a pure culture of these bacteria should have been inoperative. But as regards red clover and lucerne, neither of these plants has ever been cultivated in the garden, and the probability is that not a single plant of lucerne ever grew in the garden, or, indeed, in any fields in the neighbourhood. The conditions, therefore, were to be regarded as distinctly favour- able for exhibiting the action of the specific bacteria of these plants, and yet they failed to produce any effect. Apparently some improvements are required in the methods of manufacture or application in order to make nitragen of service in agriculture and horticulture. THE influence of intellectual work on the blood-pressure in man is the subject of a paper, by MM. A. Binet and N. Vaschide, in the January number of the Psychological Review. The instrument used by the authors was Mosso’s Sphygmomano- meter, which has the advantage of indicating the results by tracings. The method of experimentation consisted in taking the pulse under increasing pressure from 0 to 140 mm, of mercury : this test was made at first while the subject was in a state of rest, without excitement or preoccupation of any kind ; then the same experiment was repeated while the subject was absorbed ina difficult mental calculation. Two tracings were thus obtained for comparison, and the differences between them could be attributed to the intellectual labour, unless some chance cir- *cumstance—as an emotion, a shiver, &c.—prevented the two experiments from being strictly comparable. From the results obtained, it appears that the maximum amplitude of the pulsa- tion tracings was greater during rest than during intellectual work ; it was 5 mm. in the former case, and only 3°5 mm. in the latter. During all the mental calculations, there was evi- dently a diminution of the pulse, as the result of a more or less marked vascular constriction. In both states, the maximum amplitude of the pulse appears to have been reached when the blood-pressure was 80 mm. Beyond this pressure, the ampli- tude decreased more rapidly during the state of rest than during mental activity, and a pressure of from 100 to 120 mm. was found to completely suppress the pulsation both in a state of repose and in a state of intellectual labour. To determine the difference between the circulation in a state of intellectual labour and that of rest, a counter-pressure of 110 mm. was chosen. A register of the pulse with this pressure was made for about half a minute, and then the subject was told to commence a mental calculation. The first three or four pulsations after he was told to begin were of the same character as the preceding ones, but afterwards the pulsations became twice and, often, three times as great. This increase in amplitude maintained itself, in general, without increase or diminution, and with great regularity during the whole of the mental calculation. When the problem had been solved, the pulsation gradually diminished, and finally reached the original condition. THE fourth part of vol. ii, of ‘‘ Fresenius’ Quantitative Analysis,” translated by Mr. Chas. E. Groves, F. R.S., has just been published by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill. Tue following are the arrangements for science lectures at the Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Road, during March :—March 2, “A Lump of Salt,” by Prof. Holland Crompton ; March 9, “© Cyprus,” by Mr. A. H. Smith; March 16, ‘‘ The Valley of Kashmir,” by Mr. Walter R. Lawrence ; March 23, ‘‘ Marine Food Fishes,” by Mr. Gilbert C. Bourne; March 30, ‘‘ Quick- silver,’ by Dr. H. Forster Morley. Tue Boletin del Instituto Geoldgico de México, by Dr. C. Sapper, describes the geology and physical geography of Yucatan. It includes chapters on the mineral and agricultural productions of the peninsula, and meteorological tables. 400 THE fifth volume of the Journal of Malacology, founded by Mr. Walter E. Collinge, and now edited by Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, has been received. A valuable feature of each number is a descriptive bibliography of current malacological literature, compiled by Mr. E. R. Sykes and Mr. S. Pace. THE Bulletin de ? Herbier Boissiex, edited by Prof. Chodat, of Geneva, publishes a very interesting account, by the Belgian botanist Crépin and MM. Autran and Durand, of the plants cultivated by Boissier in 1885, the year of his death, in the gardens at Valleyres and Chambésy. The number of species enumerated is nearly 5000. WE have received an important excerpt from the sixteenth annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey (1894-95). The subject is “‘ Some Analogies in the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and America,” and the author, Mr. Lester Ward. Mr. Ward devoted four years to a somewhat careful study of the Lower Cre- taceous of America, especially of the Potomac formation ; and he also spent a year or so in examining the structure of Port- land, the Isle of Wight, and other typical localities. His own observations, and the work done by others, lead him to claim that certain general resemblances do exist between the Lower Cretaceous strata of America and those of Europe. L. Lorenz’s ‘‘(Euvres Scientifiques,” with notes by H. Valentiner, are being published at the expense of the Carlsberg Foundation. The first part of the first volume has just been issued by the firm of Lehmann and Stage, Copenhagen. It contains papers on the determination of the direction of vibra- tions of ether by polarisation of diffracted light, and also by reflection and refraction ; on the reflection of light at the separat- ing surface of two transparent isotropic substances; on the theory of light (two memoirs); and on the identity of the vibrations of light and electricity. The editor’s notes on the papers are very full. In the years 1889, 1892, and 1896, Prof. Carl Rabl contri- buted three important memoirs on the ‘‘Theorie des Meso- derms” to the Morphologisches Fahrbuch. These papers have now been brought together and published in volume form, under the same title, by Wilhelm Engelmann, of Leipzig. The volume deals with the development and differentiation of the mesoderm, a subject to which Prof. Rabl has devoted much attention. To complete the work, a second volume, dealing with the differ- entiation of the mesoderm in the higher vertebrates, from amphibia upwards, will be published in the course of this year. We propose to review this important contribution to vertebrate morphology when it is completed, and content ourselyes now with announcing the publication of the first volume. THE scheme which the late Emperor of Russia set on foot for constructing a canal through Russia from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and which has been in abeyance since his death, has lately been revived. M. Flourens, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, who in his private capacity was commissioned by Alexander III. to investigate the practicability of constructing a water-way for the passage of men-of-war from one sea to the other, has recently been to St. Petersburg, and had a con- ference with the present Emperor, and has been directed to consult the Ministers of Finance and Communication as to its practicability. The ‘proposed canal would be 994 miles long, and would have a depth of 29 feet. It would start from the Gulf of Riga, follow the course of the Duna, the Beresina, and the Dnieper to the Black Sea, thus placing the naval dockyards of Libau in the north and Nikolaief in the south in direct com- munication. The estimated cost is £20,000,000. There is at the present time a navigation for sn:all vessels and timber rafts NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | NATURE [FEBRUARY 25, 1897 along this route, but the way is interrupted by a long series of cataracts on the Dnieper, and very expensive works would have to be carried out to overcome these and the other obstacle in the way. THE following lectures will be given at the Imperial Institute during the month of March, on Monday evenings, at 8.30 p.m. : —March 1, ‘‘Ceylon in Ancient and Modern Times,” by Mr. H. W. Cave ; March 8, ‘‘Imperial Aid to Solar Research, with an account of recent Eclipse Expeditions,” by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S.; March 15, ‘‘ Some Indian Dye-stufis,” by Prof. J. J. Hummel; March 22, ‘* The Timber Supply of the British Empire,” by Dr. W. Schlich, Professor of Forestry at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper’s Hill. In addition to these lectures, which are open to Fellows and persons introduced by them, a popular lecture, to which the public will have free admission, will be given at 8 o’clock p.m. on March 2, on ‘‘ Queensland of to-day: some Notes on itS Progress and Resources,” by Mr. C. S, Dicken, C.M.G., Acting Agent-General for Queensland. INTEREST in science is encouraged by the scientific societies connected with many of our public schools. The twenty-seventh annual report of the Wellington College Natural Science Society shows that varied and instructive meetings were held during 1896. Phenological observations were made, meteorological observations continuously recorded, and collectors of insects, plants, shells and eggs, showed enthusiasm in collecting and in determining species. The late Sir John Pender left a bequest in his will to permanently establish the Pender Prize, annually given by the Society for an essay on a subject connected with any branch of science. Preference is given to essays containing original work of any kind. Prizes of this kind are far more likely to create investigators. and thus extend a knowledge of the true inwardness of nature, thanare prizes based upon the results of examinations, THE tenth annual report of the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee and their Biological Station at Port Erin, by Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S., is an excellent record of results. The large green 7halassema, of which several specimens, all more or less mutilated, were trawled from the deep water to the south- west of Port Erin at Easter, seems to be an undescribed form. Prof. Sherrington and Dr. Noél Paton have independently investi- gated the green pigment spectroscopically. They report that it is a very remarkable and apparently unknown pigment, which is not allied to hemoglobin or chlorophyll. It is not a respiratory pigment, and is apparently nearer to ‘‘ bonellein,” described by Dr. Sorby from the Gephyrean Sone//ia virtdis, than to any other known pigment ; but differs markedly in some respects, and cannot be identical with it. This is only one of the many interesting items in Prof. Herdman’s report on work accom- plished under the auspices of his Committee. Pror. S. P. LANGLEy’s report on the operations of the Smithsonian Institution for the year ending with June 1896, has just been distributed. As has been already announced, the Institution has now completed its first half-century of existence. To commemorate this event, arrangements have been made for the publication of a memorial volume, which will give an account of the Institution, its history, its achievements, and its present condition. The volume will be a royal octavo of about 750 pages. It has been prepared under the general editorship of the late Dr. Goode, and will be found as worthy of the Institution as was every other task entrusted to his hands. The division is into two parts: one on the history of the Institution, and the other containing appreciations of the work of the Institution in different departments of science, written by various a FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | NATURE 401 men of science in the United States. The Institution has renewed for three years the lease of the Smithsonian table at the Naples Zoological Station. The table has been constantly occupied since October 1, 1893, the date of the first appoint- ment, with the exception of May 1894. During the intervals of his official duties, Prof. Langley has continued to experiment with the aérodrome, until he has reached a measure of success which, he announces, justifies him in making the statement that mechanical flight has now been attained. On May 6 last, a mechanism, built chiefly of steel and driven by a steam engine, made two flights, each of over half a mile (see NATURE, vol. liv. p- 80). Since then Prof. Langley says this result has been doubled. In the astrophysical observatory Prof. Langley has continued his researches upon the solar spectrum. The results of the year’s work are summed up by the statement that an entirely new stage of accuracy has been reached by the elimination of sources of error, of long standing, in the spectro- bolometric processes, and that as a result of this accuracy it is expected that the positions of between 200 and 300 lines in the infra-red spectrum will shortly be published. By his further investigation of the reversible decomposition of hydriodic acid gas, published in the February number of the Zeitschrift fir phystkalische Chemie, Mr. Max Bodenstein removes all doubt as to the normal character of this change, thus adding another to the very small number of reactions between gases which are known to follow the laws of mass action. Ina former investigation he had found that, at a given temperature, the fraction of the hydriodic acid decomposed when equilibrium was attained was not independent of the pressure of the gas. Since the decomposition takes place with- out change of volume, theory indicates that, at constant tem- perature, the equilibrium should be unaffected by a change of pressure. This discrepancy is removed by the experiments described in the present paper. Known quantities of hydrogen and iodine are heated in sealed glass bulbs at a constant tem- perature until equilibrium is attained, whereupon the quantities of hydrogen, iodine, and hydriodic acid present are determined. This leads to the, at first sight, somewhat surprising result that equivalent quantities of hydrogen and iodine have disappeared. In one experiment neither hydriodic acid nor iodine were found in the heated bulb, the whole of the iodine used having dis- appeared. The cause of this loss is found in the combination of hydriodic acid with the glass ; part of the iodine is found as sodium iodide; the greater part, however, appears to form some compound insoluble in water. When the diminution in the concentration of the hydriodic acid gas, to which the combina- tion of part of it with the glass gives rise, is taken into account, it is found, in accordance with theory, that the fraction of the hydriodic acid decomposed, at constant temperature, when equilibrium has been reached, is independent of the pressure. IN a second paper, on the decomposition of hydriodic acid gas by sunlight, it is found that on prolonged exposure the whole of the hydriodic acid is decomposed ; the change is thus not reversible. The intensity of the light remaining constant, the quantity decomposed in unit time is simply proportional to the quantity of undecomposed hydriodic acid present, and is not affected by its pressure (within the limits 0°5 and 1 atmo- sphere approximately). These are the characteristics of a mono- molecular reaction, and it therefore follows that each molecule of hydriodic acid is decomposed independently, each ray of light, of proper vibration frequency, simply breaking up the hydriodic acid molecules in its path. THE addition to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Green Monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus, 6 ) NO. 1426, VOL. 55] from West Africa, presented by Mr. John Laxson; a Rhesus Monkey (Macacws rhesus, ?) from India, presented by Mr. W. H. Camm; a Grey Lemur (Hapalemur griseus) from Mada- gascar, presented by Mr. W. B. Dyer; a Greater Vasa Parrot (Coracopsis vasa) from Madagascar, presented by Surgeon Lieut. - Colonel F. H. Gelbresa ; an Upland Goose (Ch/oephaga magel- fanica, 8) from the Falkland Islands, deposited ; five Azara’s Opossums (Déidelphys azare), ten Burrowing Owls (Speotyto cunzcularza) from South America, eight Guira Cuckoos (Guzra Pirtrigua) from Para, two Uvean Parrakeets (Mymphicus wveenses) from the Island of Uvea, Loyalty Group, a Smew (Mergus albellus, 9) from Holland, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. PERIODICAL COMETS.—The present year seems to be some- what barren of appearances of periodical comets, while, on the other hand, the two following years will be distinguished by the returns of several well-known comets. This year’s visitors are limited to three altogether, namely, 1890 VII., D’Arrest’s, and Swift’s. The first named seems, from all accounts (Oéservatory, No. 249), to be most probably very feeble in intensity, since at its appearance in 1890 it was an excessively faint object. The comet was described by Dr. Spitaler at Vienna, and a computation showed that it had a period of 6°4 years, so that it should make its perihelion passage on March 11. Those who wish to search for this comet will find an ephemeris in Ast. Wach., No. 3370. D’Arrest’s comet, discovered at Leipsic in June of the year 1851, has also a period of nearly the same length, namely, 6°5 years. This comet has not been observed at every period, having been seen only in the years 1857, 1870, 1877, 1890. It is probable that even this year it will be missed, in consequence of its unfavourable position. A daily search’ ephemeris (March to August) for this year will be found to be given by M. G. Leveau in the Bzdlete Astronomigue for last month (January). Swift’s comet will not be seen, owing to the fact that it will be lost in the sun’s rays, as the earth will be in the opposite part of her orbit to that nearest the comet at perihelion passage. Acomet that may be picked up again this year is Brooks’ 1886 IV., and observations of this comet are wanted, as the period is not yet accurately determined. A list of the comets which are due to appear in the next two years is quite a formidable one, as given by Mr, W. F. Denning in the current number of the Odservatory :— 1898. Comet. 1899. Comet. April Pons-Winnecke. Jan. Denning (1881 V.). May Encke. Mar. Tempel (1886 I.). June Swift (1889 VI.). April Barnard (1892 V.). June Wolf. May Tuttle (1858 I.). Sept. Tempel (1867 II.). | May Holmes(1892 IIT ). July Tempel (1873 II.). OBSERVATIONS OF Mars at Mreupon.—M. Perrotin, whose observations of Mars are very well known, commenced at Meudon, in December of last year, a series of observations of that planet. The instrument he used had a diameter of 0°83 metres, and he has been able to make some very interesting observations, which have been communicated to the Comptes vendus for February 15. Acareful survey of the planet has led him to state that the disc is apparently divided, as regards general aspect and colour, into four zones lying parallel to the equator. Two of these comprise the equatorial regions. Further, he has noticed that at equal distances from the centre of the disc the surface details do not appear with equal facility in the four zones. The canals are always most distinct towards the middle of the disc, and they are visible for a further distance along a meridian than along a parallel. M. Janssen remarks, with regard to the latter point, that the observations show that the atmosphere of Mars contains bodies capable of condensing, and thereby of increasing the transparency of the atmosphere, as the polar regions are approached, which is in accordance with observations of the water vapour in the atmosphere of the earth. We may mention that the above observations are of special interest, since M. Perrotin is observing with a different instrument from that with which he has made all his previous observations. 402 NATURE [FEBRUARY 25, 1897 THE EMBRYOLOGY OF THE NAUTILUS# NAUCTILOS macromphalus is the species of nautilus charac- teristic of the New Caledonian Archipelago, which com- prises the islands of New Caledonia, the Isle of Pines, and the Loyalty Group. I took up my residence on the shores of Sandal Bay, Lifu, in August 1896. Having collected a number of nautilus, I placed them in captivity in a large native fish-trap, specially fitted up, fed them twice or three times a week with fish, land-crabs, Palinurus, and Scyllarus, and on December 5, 1896, commenced to obtain the fertilised ova. It is not necessary at present to describe the details of manipulation, and I therefore proceed at once to give a brief account of the more obvious features of the eggs as illustrated by the accompanying figures. The eggs are laid singly and at night, in concealed situations, and ate firmly attached by a sponge-like reticulate area of attachment placed towards their hinder inflated extremity, usually on one face of the egg-case, but sometimes quite posteriorly to a suitable surface. I supplied the latter to the nautilus by fixing pieces of old sacking to the walls of the fish-basket, leaving loose, overhanging folds, beneath which the eggs could be well concealed. The fibres of the sacking were deftly employed by the nautilus in cementing their eggs, The ovum is enclosed within a double casing, an inner closed capsule, and an outer capsule more or less freely open in front. The material of which the capsules consist is of a bright milk- white colour, and of firm cartilaginoid consistency. The capsules do not collapse, but retain their shape when allowed to dry. For convenience of description, the exposed surface of the egg may be spoken of as the dorsal or upper side, while the Fic. 1.—Fertilised egg of Nautilus macromphalus in the natural attached position. The pectinate ridges and fenestrations, together with the slit in the wall of the outer capsule, are well seen. The arcuate thick- ening in the middle ofthe posterior half of the egg is due to the fusion of the outer with the inner capsule. In this ovum the anterior mem- branous prolongations of the outer capsule were unequal, the larger of them having the ferm of a thin flattened expansion. attached side may be referred to as the lower or ventral side. The outer capsule is separate from the inner capsule below and for about two-thirds of the upper side, but is fused with it in the postero-dorsal region. Where the two capsules are fused together the covering of the ovum is much thickened. The egg with outer covering complete is of remarkably large size, attaining a length of 45 mm., everything included, with a width of 16 mm., and a maximum height of 16°25 mm. The length and the width are fairly constant in normally shaped eggs, but the height varies somewhat, some eggs being a good deal flatter than others. In Fig. 1 an egg is represented as seen in its usual natural attached position. The depressed or ‘‘ anterior” end of the €gg is, asa rule, directed vertically upwards. The outer cap- sule is continued in front-into two thin, translucent, terminal processes. For nearly half the length of the egg on the upper side the two halves of the outer capsules are separated by a narrow slit from one another and join together behind the 1“ The Oviposition of Nautilus macromphalus.” By Arthur Willey, D.Sc., Balfour Student of the University of Cambridge. Communicated by Alfred Newton, F.R.S., on behalf of the Managers of the Balfour Fund. Received at the Royal Society February 3. Read February 11, 1897. NO. 1426, VOL. 55] centre of the egg. The dorsal ridge or suture of the inner cap- sule can be seen through this slit in the outer capsule. On the lower side of the egg the two halves of the outer capsule are continuous across the middle line throughout the length of the egg, except at the extreme anterior end. The surface of the egg in the posterior inflated region is smooth, with a few slight folds like the folds of drapery, giving it a graceful appearance. The anterior depressed region is characterised by the presence of a number of pectinate ridges and of fenestrations in the wall of the outer capsule (Figs. 1-3). Fic. 2.—The same egg from the side, showing the inflated posterior or proximal portion and the more flattened distal portion, as also the spongy area of attachment. Sometimes, however, the pectinations are obscure and the fenestrations may be absent. Hardly will any two eggs present an exactly similar appear- ance. Sometimes there are shred-like processes from the surface of the outer capsule, lending a more or less tattered appearance to the egg. In Fig. 4 another egg is shown with the above-described slit in the upper wall of the outer capsule, widened out so as to disclose the inner capsule to view. The inner capsule has a regular oval shape with anterior pointed extremity and a generally smooth surface. Its wall has a finely striated structure, the striz having a watery appearance. There are three distinct seams or sutures, representing lines of least resistance, in the wall of the inner capsule, namely, a median suture on the upper side (z.e. the side directed away from the attached side of the egg), and two lateral sutures placed towards the lower surface of the capsule (Figs. 4-6). The dorsal suture is marked by a prominent ridge which is produced in front beyond the anterior extremity of the main body of the inner capsule into a slender terminal appendix. The lateral sutures are marked by less prominent ridges, and Fic. 3.—The same egg as in the preceding figures, from below. Behind is the somewhat irregularly shaped spongy area of attachment. are continued into one another anteriorly, immediately behind the anterior extremity of the inner capsule. In consequence of the continuity of the lateral sutures, the lower side of the egg can be raised up like a cap or an operculum. The inner capsule is often easily ruptured along the sutures. In the middle line of the lower surface of the inner capsule there is a slight longi- tudinal groove, and other unimportant grooves often occur. Where the outer capsule is united to the inner capsule there is usually a depression or flattening in the wall of the latter. FEBRUARY 25, 1897 | NATURE 403 The vitellus (Fig. 6) does not fill the entire cavity of the inner capsule, but is surmounted by a layer of colourless, somewhat cloudy, viscid albumen which is massed up, as it were, at the two extremities of the egg. The yolk isof a rich brown colour, of very fluid consistency, and sub-translucent. The surface of \ ( \ Fic 4.—Another egg of N. macromphalus, seen from above, with the longitudinal slit in the upper wall of the outer capsule widened out so as to expose the inner capsule.to view. the vitellus is quite smooth. The length of the inner capsule is about 26 mm., while that of the enclosed vitellus is 17 mm. I am not ina position to say much about the embryonic area at present, but I have observed an area pellucida about the lis Fic. 5.—Inner capsule of another egg to show the dorsal ridge along the dorsal suture (@ 5) with its anterior terminal prolongation, and the lateral suture (2s). oc, remains of outer capsule. middle of the lower surface of the vitellus in an egg which had been allowed to develop for twenty-four hours after being first seen. The large quantity of yolk points to the occurrence of a long period of incubation. Fic. 6.—The inner capsule of the same egg, seen from below (é.e. from the side directed towards the surface of attachment). Half the lower wall of the capsule has been removed by slitting along one of the lateral sutures, and along the median groove (mentioned in the text), to show the brown-coloured vitellus lying in the capsule. The continuity of the lateral sutures in front is well seen. The shaded area represents a depression which occurred in the wall of the inner capsule in the region of the area of attachment of the outer capsule. Sometimes the capsules of the egg are malformed, and, on opening such an egg, the vitellus is found to be already ruptured. , From the fact that in New Britain I obtained mature males of Nautilus pomPilius, carrying a spermatophore in the cephalic NO. 1426, VOL. 55 | | way as V. pomprliius does. | Island. region throughout the year, I came to the conclusion that the reproduction of nautilus took place all the year round. It now seems probable that the breeding of nautilus, as of so many other forms, is subject to a definite law of periodicity. Finally, it may be mentioned that 4. szacromphalus varies with regard to the position of the spadix on the right or left side, and also as to the origin of the siphuncular artery, in the same The male of WV. macromphalus carries a spermatophore in the same position as in WV. pompilzus ; and, in fact, the only essential difference between the two species that I know of at present, is the difference between the shells in the umbilical region. SIXTY VEARS OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHY. SIXTY years in sixty minutes—for thus Prof. Ayrton opened the lecture which he gave on Monday, the 15th inst., at the Imperial Institute. The undertaking seemed arduous, but, in reality, only the pioneer cables were dealt with, since later submarine telegraphy has no nistory—‘‘ Happy is the cable that has no history.” Another difficulty lay in the character of the audience; some were there knowing practically everything about telegraphy, while others were absolutely unfamiliar with the whole subject, except as regards the modern sixpenny wire. Prof. Ayrton, however, by a happy mixture of mathematics and magic lantern, electricity and elocution, seemed to entirely satisfy all classes among his audience. The lecture opened with a letter of W. F. Cooke’s, written in February 1837, in which he mentioned having seen Wheat- stone—‘‘ a music seller in Conduit-street, but an extraordinary fellow.” This acquaintance speedily ripened, for in the same year a partnership was formed between these two men, and the first telegraph line was constructed in this country ; they also began to consider the possibility of laying an insulated wire under water. : The actual date of the commencement 0. subaqueous tele- graphy seems, however, to be rather uncertain. Baron Schilling is said to have exploded mines under the Neva by means of an electric current as early as 1812, while it is certain that Colonel Pasley used this method to blow up the wreck of the Royal George at Spithead in 1838. But, as Prof. Ayrton pointed out, ‘‘it is to Morse that we can with certainty give the credit of having first used a wire under water insulated with india-rubber.” In 1842 this celebrated American inventor, then struggling in most dire poverty, laid with his own hands two miles of india-rubber coated wire between Castle Garden and Governor's In the morning he found his cable broken, but not be- fore he had successfully sent a series of the first subaqueous telegraphic messages. It was not until after the introduction of gutta-percha into this country that submarine telegraphy became of practical im- portance. Sir Wm. Siemens first recommended the use of this * wonderful stuff” for insulation purposes, and in 1847 the firm of Siemens and Haske began to coat wires with gutta-percha, by means of a machine on the macaroni principle. Shortly afterwards such cables were laid in the harbour at Kiel and in the Iudson. The history of submarine telegraphy, from a commercial standpoint, may be said to commence in June 1845, when Jacob Brett registered the General Oceanic Telegraph Company *: dee Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy. By Prof. W. E, Ayrton, F.R.S. . | Sec ROMO i Cen coche 5 The Value of Irrigation CanalsinIndia. ..... 404 University and Educational Intelligence ..... 405 Scientific Serials WARM es a sls Sete aeeegOO Societies and Academies. - 3 -\.. . . |. 2 ai 406 Diary of Societies’ 7 Sees als) 2. ss jh eet 405. Books, Pamphlet, and Serials Received, . . . . . 408 meal URE 409° THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1897. THE NEED OF ORGANISING SCIENTIFIC OPINION. Ie “* Dear Sir, —You wish to know my notions On sartin pints thet rile the land ; There’s nothin’ that my natur’ so shuns Ez bein’ mean or underhand ; I’ma straight-spoken kind o’ creetur Thet blurts right out wut’s in his head.” ‘There is a point where toleration sinks into sheer baseness and poltroonery. The toleration of the worst leads us to look on what is barely better as good enough, and to worship what is only moderately good. Woe to that man, or that nation, to whom mediocrity has become an ideal!” LOWELL: ‘* Biglow Papers.” ‘“ When a nation is unhappy, the old Prophet was right and not wrong in saying: Ye have forgotten God, ye have quitted the ways of God, or ye would not have been unhappy. It is not according to the laws of Fact that ye have lived and guided yourselves, but according to the laws of Delusion, Imposture and wilful and unwilful AZ¢staée of Fact. We must have more Wisdom to govern us, we must be governed by the wisest, we must have an Aristocracy of Talent. . . but how to get it? . . . done nevertheless, sure enough, it must be; it shall and will be.” CARLYLE: ‘* Past and Present.” M R. WILLIAMS'S little book, “‘ Made in Germany,” 1 has considerably ‘“‘riled the land,” for, as most will know, it has attracted much notice. Shortly after its appearance, Lord Rosebery took it under his im- mediate protection, and discoursed upon it in public in a most interesting manner; and the fashion being thus set, many other politicians directly or indirectly referred to it. The Press throughout the country has contained articles innumerable discussing more or less superficially the issues which it raises. A rival volume has been pub- lished, under the title “The German Bogey,” to refute, if not its conclusions, its recommendations. Last, but not least, it has pricked even the departmental con- science ; and so great did the scare become, that the President of the Board of Trade felt justified, as he has lately told us, in ordering an inquiry into the matter. If report do not belie them, Sir Courtenay Boyle and Sir Robert Giffen entered on the inquiry with the desire and with the conviction that they would be able by the elastic agency of statistics to burst the big bubble blown in public by Mr. Williams ; and if this be really the case, the very guarded tone of their Report is particularly noteworthy. Whatever desire they may have had to curse, if they do not bless, they at least show no cause why fault should be found with his implied main con- tention—which is, not merely that we are being beaten in this or that direction by commercial rivals, but that we are fast proving ourselves incapable of understanding the altered conditions under which the world now works, and of acting in accordance with such altered conditions. Although the attention of the British public must have been in some degree attracted by all this cackling, yet there is no reason to suppose that the effect will be other- wise than ephemeral. It is clearly impossible to properly awaken John Bull from his stupid easy state of inordinate self-complacency, and whatever uneasiness he may feel fora time, he is soon reassured by comfortable optimism such as that displayed by political speakers like Lord Herschell and Mr. Ritchie in their recent addresses on NO. 1427, VOL. 55] foreign competition and trade, and when told that the- fiscal returns show that business is improving, and that after all we are not doing so badly. In fact, although ill at ease, the nation is incapable of appreciating the true depth and nature of its “ unhap- piness.” Few of those Who have criticised Mr. Williams, . or even of those who have applied his arguments, are capable of fully understanding their force ; the condition: which he diagnoses as existing throughout the country must be judged by criteria other than those which mere Statistics afford, or which are patent to politicians and the present race of statesmen. Nothing could be further from the truth than a state- ment such as that recently made in the Z7zes that it is. too often forgotten that foreign countries are simply making up leeway. German industry is developing and: prospering because it is conducted by methods almost exclusively forged in Germany, and which she alone of all. nations knows how to use systematically, regularly and. generally; because she has learnt how to organise and to: discipline and to properly officer her forces ; not because: she has paid attention to “technical” education—but because she alone has known how to organise a true system of education, and has introduced a valid discipline into her schools ; in short, because the nation has enjoyed a scientific education during practically the whole of the century, and is in consequence a cultured nation. The story told by Sir Philip Magnus and his colleagues, in their interesting and most valuable letter to the Duke of Devonshire, contains absolutely no element of novelty : we merely see from it that we have to congratulate Germany on her continued attention to the advice and guidance of that “Aristocracy of Talent” which only she, of all nations of the world, has seen fit to create, to, encourage and to properly utilise. But we are not alone in our despondency. France, equally with ourselves, is alarmed at and envious of the success of Germany ; her position is singularly similar to- our own, as she also suffers from the want of a true national ideal of education. That two peoples such as the French and the English should lapse into such a state of flutter, however, is more than passing strange, and betokens great uneasiness of conscience, as we can- not either of us possibly imagine that we are to be left alone to manufacture for the world, or that those whom circumstances have so long unfortunately prevented from contributing their fair share are for ever to be kept under. The ungenerous character of our complaints against articles made in Germany ought to be more obvious to us than it clearly is at the moment ; to say the least, it is disgraceful that we should use the selfish arguments we do, in order to rouse a feeling of responsibility in our country, especially as we thereby withdraw attention from the true nature of the evil. Germany has but done her duty and lived according to the laws of Fact, and guided herself thereby ; whilst we have followed the laws of Delusion, Imposture, and wilful and unwilful AZzs/ake of Fact—for however unpleasant Carlyle’s pessimism may be, it is impossible to deny the relevance of his conclusions to the present situation. Let us, then, awaken toa sense of our duty, and to a sense of the real source of the danger which not only a 410 NATURE [ MarcH 4, 1897 menaces us, but by which we are already, in part, over- come. In the future, we have to fear not German com- petition but that of our own colonists beyond the seas, and perhaps that of our American cousins most of all, besides that of the cheap labour of the vast populations of climes where Europeans cannot work with advantage. It is folly to suppose that Lancashire can continue much longer to spin cotton forthe world ; but America, Egypt, India, Japan and, sooner or later, China also will de- prive us of the trade—not Germany, for she will suffer proportionally with ourselves. It is all very well to congratulate ourselves on a tem- porary improvement in our iron trade, and to argue that an increase of a few per cent. in our output is more than equal to the whole output of a country which, may be, is advancing its production at a far greater rate than we are; but it cannot be forgotten that we largely im- port our iron ores, that fuel is got with increasing difficulty, and that wages are likely to rise considerably. In America, on the other hand, wages are likely to fall rather than rise, and ores and tuel are to hand in in- exhaustible quantities, so that it cannot be long ere American iron will successfully compete with English and foreign.’ In a Trade Review Circular before me, I find the words :—“ Tin-plates: The majority of the ‘orders primarily came from the United States, but every day brings us further proof that the time is not far distant when this will almost disappear.” We must recognise that, at no very distant date, this will have to be said of articles of far greater importance than tin-plates. It is well known that shipbuilding, long a staple industry of this country, is fast being developed, not only in Germany, but also in the United States. America is bound, in fact, to develop, and not only on account of the restless energy of her people: her Government departments have attached to them many active men engaged in initiating or conducting scientific inquiries ; and when the various departments are organised zn/er se, the country will have in its service a highly-trained body of scientific experts guiding all branches of public work, and cooperating to minimise the faults of democracy. And universities are arising all over the country, in which German models are being followed, not English. It is safe to predict that, ere many years are past, the United States will suddenly burst into prominence, and prob- ably into predominance, as a nation promoting scientific inquiries of all kinds, so surely is a foundation being laid. Mistakes will frequently be made, perhaps, but they will soon be recognised and remedied in a country instinct with advance. It is useless to consider mere statistics and to con- trast the money values of our imports and exports ; we must consider rather the extent to which our established industries have developed in response to modern require- ments, and the extent to which new industries have been 1 The following paragraph from 7he Ties of March 1, is an interesting confirmation of my arguments :— THE AMERICAN STEEL Rait TRADE.—With reference to the recent break up of the steel rail pool in the United States, it is said that the first cost to American makers of such rails is at present $15 per ton, but that probably the Carnegie Company's latest improvements in labour-saving machinery will enable it to produce them at something like $r2 per ton. All steelworks are said to be making a great effort to conquer the European, and especially the South American markets, which latter had heretofore been almost monopolised by England. . . . With the help of these facilities Messrs. Carnegie and Rockefeller believe they will be able to control all markets, and to beat English railmakers on their own ground. NO. 1427, VOL. 55] developed. When this is done, it is difficult—nay, im- possible—to resist the conclusion that we are becoming less and less capable of helping ourselves, and more and more the victims of chance. In the engineering trades, which have always necessarily been conducted on fairly scientific lines, being based on exact measurements, we can still hold up our heads—as witness the marvellous development of the cycle industry. But in most, if not all those in which chemistry indirectly or directly plays a part—and in which does it not?—we are daily getting more and more behind the times: the research spirit practically does not enter into our industries ; scientific method has no real place in most of them. The few brilliant exceptions which may be quoted but serve to prove this rule. But these are points which entirely escape Board of Trade officials and politicians and the general public; only those who have to do with our manufacturers are aware how entirely conservative and unprogressive are their views and actions. In English works, as a rule, the sole effective man- agement rests with the capitalist and man of business. This class of man places himself entirely in the hands of his works-manager or foreman, whose doings he too often cannot in the least criticise ; and, consequently, a commanding position is taken in this country by the so- called practical man—one who knows how to do one thing, perhaps, very well, but being without scientific training and theoretical knowledge cannot advance, and if things do not go on as they should, is at a loss to know what exactly is wrong. And such men, unfortunately, are doing their very utmost, even at the present day, to prevent the entry into works of those who, having been scientifically trained, are capable of investigating the processes in charge of which they are placed, as well as of devising improvements and of preventing waste. How different is the state of affairs elsewhere. To quote evidence given before the Sub-Committee of the London Technical Education Board by Dr. Messel, a well-known English manufacturer conversant with both the foreign and our system, not only is the importance of science far more acknowledged by manufacturers abroad than it is here, but it is accorded a consulting and deliberating voice in the management of their industries ; furthermore, at the head of affairs you mostly find people who, however little they may now be able to devote themselves to scientific pursuits, possess a thorough scientific education, which befits them to select such scientific assistance (in chemistry, engineering, con- struction, &c.) as their work may require, who are capable of appreciating it, and who remain in touch with | scientific teachers’ teaching and progress. As Matthew Arnold wrote in 1874, in the preface to the second edition of his “ Higher Schools and Univer- sities in Germany”: “German practice is governed by the notion that what is to be done, should be done scientifically, as they say; that is, according to the reason of the thing, under the direction of experts, and without suffering ignorance and prejudice to intrude.” The same writer, in the first edition of his work pub- lished in 1868, remarked : “Our rule of thumb has cost us dear already, and is probably destined to cost us dearer still. It is only by putting an unfair and extravagant strain on the wealth Marcu 4, 1897 | IA TORE All and energy of the country that we have managed to hide from ourselves the inconvenience we suffer, even in the lines where we think ourselves most successful, from our want of systematic imstruction and science.” True at the time, these words are now doubly true. In the interval we have absolutely wasted the opportunity that was ours of securing the more important share of the coal-tar colour industry, which must be regarded as the most far-reaching of all the industries established in the Victorian era, as it carries in its train the production of synthetic products generally. Ours by right of first inception, ours as being by far the largest producers of the raw material—it has slipped away from us through sheer disregard of elementary first principles of defence, and insular narrowness of purview. Had we but appre- ciated and properly encouraged Hofmann and _ his school, how different the result might—nay, must—have been. Instead, however, of providing him with means adequate to his talents, we allowed him to languish for years in a poor one-storied building in Oxford-street. and only when too late began to think of treating him as he deserved. No foreign Government would have ever permitted such a man to be tempted away from its service. Although he returned to his native country only on a three years’ visit, with the option of resuming his professorship here, on leaving our cold irresponsive atmosphere and finding himself in the warm glow of scientific enthusiasm of his fatherland, in presence of a Court at which science was deeply respected and at home, a nature such as his could not but feel the difference and elect to remain. Seeing and seizing his opportunity, he not only created a great school in Berlin, but also organised chemical science throughout Germany by the share he took in the establishment, in 1868, of the | German Chemical Society, of which he remained the active leader until his death in 1892. Had he returned to us, we should have had a great chemical school, as the present Royal College of Science was built to plans | drawn under his advice, and it was intended to devote the whole of the building to chemistry ; but competition set in over the bones he had left, and they were divided without satisfying any one. We can never repair the evil wrought in those days. And all this was done under Government! Board of Trade statistics take no account of these little details, and the figures are in no way weighted thereby. A grievous mistake was made also by the pioneers of the new industry—a mistake which was slavishly copied throughout the country, and continues to be down to the present time. It was not realised here, when laboratories were converted into manufactories, that manufactories must be conducted as laboratories if they were to remain virile institutions—that researches had to be carried on, both in order to improve the processes in use, and to discover new products to satisfy an ever-expanding public demand ; no proper scientific staff was provided ; and that English bugbear, the practical man without a vestige of theory in his composition, was allowed to become master of the field. Consequently, strangers stepped in who were more alive than ourselves to the necessity of working scientifically, and new prizes were instituted which they carried off: we being left in proud NO. 1427, VOL. 55 possession of a very honourable historical shield, but one which had become so battered that it retained little decorative value. What does it matter—we can get our colours cheaply enough from abroad, say many; let the Germans cut each others throats, if they are so minded, in the com- petition to supply us at prices which, in very many cases, cannot be remunerative to them. And after all, it is worth but a few millions. But these good people forget that the loss of the colour industry implies in- ability to conduct any industry requiring the application of scientific skill, if it be one which must either develop or decay: and in these days there are few close boroughs in industry—secret processes are impossible. Moreover, where is the argument to stop? We may con- gratulate ourselves that although we eat mostly foreign bread and butter and cheese, we yet drink English milk ; but we must not forget that in the future sterilised milk may perhaps be conveyed to us in tank vessels as petro- leum is from America. In fact there will be no limit to the distance over which perishable articles of diet may be carried, unless our public analysts intervene more effectively in checking the introduction of preservatives such as boric acid and formic aldehyde into food materials—a modern fashion whereby, it can scarcely be doubted, the foundation is being laid in a most insidious manner for universal dyspepsia. In short, the application of science to industry has orought the whole world into competition, and only those who fully understand and can apply all the rules and every detail of the game can hope to succeed init. It remains to consider why we play the game so badly in many respects, and how we may learn to play it properly. HENRY E. ARMSTRONG. (To be continued.) COMPRESSED AIR ILLNESS. | Compressed Air Iliness ; or, so-called Caisson Disease. By E. Hugh Snell, M.D., B.Sc. (Lond.). 6 Figs. (London: H. K. Lewis, 1896.) R. SNELL, the London County Council medical officer to the Blackwall Tunnel, has had ample clinical opportunity of observing the results of working for various periods of time in compressed air. The book before us must be regarded as a literary 7¢éswmé of what is known upon this subject, to which is added Dr. Snell’s own experience. : Chapter i. contains an historic account of ca sson disease. The interest of this chapter is not purely medical ; it will have to the general reader a distinct value as an account of the progress made in the applica- tion of compressed air for the purpose of building the foundations of bridges, and in subaqueous tunnelling. In this connection the references to the reports of the engineers, &c., are of special value. Chapters ii, and iii. relate exclusively to the Blackwall Tunnel, a short description of the engineering works being followed by clinical abstracts of fifty out of the two hundred cases of compressed air disease which came under the author's own observation. In the chapter which treats of zti- ology, Dr. Snell discusses the relative potency of the Pp. vill+251. 412 NATURE [Marcu 4, 1897 different factors at work in the causation of compressed air illness. He inclines to the view that too much im- portance has hitherto been attached to the length of the “locking-out” process. Other observers have laid great stress upon the necessity of the workers passing gradually from the compressed to the ordinary atmo- sphere, and have always advised employers to make arrangements accordingly. A factor of great importance, according to the author, is the ventilation of the com- pressed air space in which the men work. Tables are given, from which it appears that an increase from 4000 to 12,000 cubic feet in the supply of fresh air per man per hour was followed by a reduction, in the cases of illness per 100 days, of from 28 to wz. The length of -stay in the compressed air, and the height of the pres- sure, especially the former, are factors the importance of which is confirmed by the author. At the conclusion -of a criticism of the theories hitherto advanced to ex- plain the symptoms occurring in compressed air illness, Dr. Snell, relying chiefly upon the experimental results of Bert, suggests that the symptoms are due to an escape from the blood, under ordinary atmospheric pressure, 0 the excess of gases which were dissolved in it, wzé the pulmonary capillaries, during the stay in the compressed air. The different constituents of the compressed air atmosphere have different coefficients of absorption, carbon dioxide, for instance, being eighty-eight times as soluble as nitrogen, and forty-five times as soluble as oxygen. The value of ventilation—z.e. frequent removal of carbon dioxide—as a preventive of compressed air ill- ness is, according to Dr. Snell, due to its great solubility, a relatively large quantity of this gas entering into solution in the blood, in a given time, as compared with oxygen and nitrogen ; hence a larger escape of gas takes place, upon reaching the normal atmosphere, when the atmosphere of the compressed air space has been rich in carbon dioxide. Thus it is owing not to its chemical, but to its physical properties, that carbon dioxide acts injuriously in this instance. Under the head of treatment the author discusses prevention and cure, the most important remedial agent being re- compression. The medical air lock, used atthe Blackwall Tunnel, is described. A comprehensive bibliography and an accurate index conclude the work. FF. W. T. THE ZOOLOGICAL RECORD. The Zoological Record. Vol. xxxii. Being records of zoological literature relating chiefly to the year 1895. By many authors. Edited (for the Zoological Society of London) by D. Sharp, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., &c. 8vo. Pp. 1180. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1896.) HE tthirty-second volume of the Zoological Record, containing an account of the oological literature of 1895, was issued shortly before the close of last year, with its customary and most praiseworthy regularity. It is edited for the Zoological Society of London, whose property the Record is, and at whose expense it is carried on, by Dr. David Sharp, F.R.S., the Curator in Zoology | | number of new generic terms would stand 1639 for 1894, of the Cambridge University Museum, with the assistance of fourteen other naturalists in different departments of the subject. The volume is rather thicker than those NO. 1427, VOL. 55] which have preceded it. In the first place, as the editor apologetically explains, this is in consequence of the literature of two years, in the case of four out of the eighteen departments left in arrear last year, being included in the present volume. But the amount of zoological work performed every year also increases as science progresses. More volumes and more papers are published, and new scientific periodicals are continually being started. All these contribute to the annual increase in size of the Zoological Record. To form an idea of the number of periodicals which the much harassed recorder has now to consult, it is only necessary to cast one’s eye over the alphabetical list of the abbreviations of their titles, which the general editor has prepared and printed in the present volume. Each of these abbreviations is accom- panied by the full title of the periodical, the place of its publication, and the most accessible libraries in London and Cambridge in which a copy of it is to be found. This list occupies fifty-four closely printed pages in the present volume, and numerous additions are made to it every year. As regards the eighteen different reports referring to the various departments of the animal kingdom, which are included in the present Record, it is difficult to com- pare one with another—at any rate, for one who does not profess to be intimately acquainted with all the eighteen subjects. There can be no doubt that Record xiii. on the Insecta, which is undertaken by Dr. Sharp himself, is the bulkiest. It contains no less than 387 closely-printed pages, and the task of preparing it must have involved much time and very serious labour. But if we had to give a prize for the best of the eighteen records (putting Insecta on one side), we should rather be inclined to bestow sucha reward on Mr. Lydekker, because we think his introduction is the best. Mr. Lydekker’s introduction gives a short summary of the principal events in the history of mammals during the year 1895. Other recorders also give introductions, but not, we think, in so complete a form. Dr. Sharp gives us no introduction to “ Aves,’ and Mr. Boulenger omits this very essential feature in his two records. Other authors give a few lines only, which are hardly sufficient, but many of them, we regret to see, omit it altogether. We are strongly of opinion that a summary account of the most remarkable zoological publications and discoveries of the year should be prefaced to the list of publications in every subject and recommend the general editor to insist on this being done in the future. Many naturalists are sufficiently interested in a particular subject to read such a summary, but do not care to go into the mass of details. Dr. Sharp himself sets his recorders a good example in this respect. At the close of the volume will be found a most useful alphabetical list of the names of new genera and sub- genera in zoology established in 1895, and mentioned in the present volume. The total number of such names in this volume is 1906. Last year the total number was 1438 ; but, allowing for the four records omitted in the last volume, and duplicated on the present occasion, the and 1707 for 1895, showing, as is usual, a gradual but steady increase. Marcu 4, 1897 | NATURE 413° OUR BOOK SHELF. The Story of the Weather. By George F. Chambers, F.R.A.S. Pp. 4 +232. (London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1897.) In a few words of preface, the author pretty distinctly indicates the object with which this little book is written. The construction, which we put upon a short imaginary conversation there given, is, that the object is as much to sell a book as to teach meteorology. But in the author’s own words, the object is “to present in a handy form, | and in an unconventional style of language, a certain number of elementary facts, ideas, and suggestions, | which ordinary people, laying no claim to scientific | attainments generally, are usually glad to know.” If the author has gauged the aim of ordinary people correctly, it would seem that they are “glad to know” a quantity of miscellaneous information that some people are glad to forget. This remark applies more particularly to a stock of old world weather signs, which are introduced, | not as curiosities of weather lore, but are gravely given as a trustworthy means of foretelling the coming weather. Apparently with satisfaction, and as a justification for mentioning the habits of animals as affording true weather indications, the author quotes Mr. Inwards to the effect, that these creatures seem to have been fitted with what is to us an unknown sense, informing them of minute changes in the weather. We suppose it is this additional sense which instructs a mole, when a severe winter is approaching, to be more industrious in storing up worms and food than at other times. The moon is not allowed to have any effect on the weather, or to be useful as a weather indicator, perhaps with the exception of the Easter full moon, which, on the authority of Lord Grim- thorpe, has some connection with cold weather. The stars, however, do fulfil a useful purpose in indicating the character of approaching weather, and the few rules given are, it is to be presumed, among those which ordinary mortals are “glad to know.” We believe that the book would be greatly improved by the omission of all these so-called weather facts and predictions. able. It gives, generally, a description of meteorological instruments, a brief history of the plan and method followed in making storm and weather predictions, and just such a sketch of elementary meteorology as one would expect to find within a moderate compass. Applied Bacteriology - an Introductory Handbook for the use of Students, Medical Officers of Flealth, Analysts, and others. By YT. H. Permain and C. G. Moore, M.A. (University Series.) Pp. xiii + 360, and plates. (London: Bailliére, Tindall, and Cox, 1897.) “THIS work,” so the authors write in their preface, “jis intended to be an introductory handbook for the use of students, medical men, and others who require a practical acquaintance with bacteriology without having at command the necessary time for a comprehensive study of the mass of work which it comprises.” After a careful perusal we must confess that the teacher, who is both | theoretically and practically acquainted with the bacteri- ology of disease and hygiene, would hesitate to recom- mend this work to students and medical men, however useful it may prove to those described as the “others.” The introduction, which treats of bacteria in general, is fairly sound, so far as it goes; but it is somewhat superficial, and adapted rather to the requirements of the Extension Student or County Council Lecturer than to those of the serious inquirer. Chapters it. and il. deal with the apparatus and methods used in bacteriological work, and just as well might have been omitted, because, as we have pointed out on previous occasions, the ¢echnzgie can be learnt only in the labora- NO. 1427, VOL. 55 | The earlier part of the book is unobjection- | | tory, and “those who have little or no previous know— ledge of the subject,” that is those for whom, according | to the authors, this work has been written, could not pos- sibly acquire a knowledge of methods from the meagre and not always lucid instructions given. The etiology of infective lesions and the problems of immunity are | discussed in a manner which shows an almost total disregard of the principles underlying preventive medi- cine, undoubtedly the most important branch of applied bacteriology. Until we come to the chapter on fer- | mentation it is always the same unsatisfactory reading : superficial and often careless reasoning, incorrect statements, dogmatic deductions which are irritating in the extreme to those acquainted with medicine. One of the worst chapters is that on the typhoid bacillus; it is misleading and full of errors of judg- ment and of fact ; the chapter on cholera is not much better, and, in fact, little can be said in praise of any section dealing with disease. Names are also frequently misquoted : thus we read of Griiber instead of Gruber, Corbett instead of Cobbett, and Prof. Marshall Ward is accused of having swallowed pure cultures of Koch’s comma bacillus. The chapters on fermentation and on the examination of water and filters are the least faulty,. but they also treat their respective subjects in a super- ficial and more or less off-hand manner. The bacterial chemistry, if considered at all, should be discussed fully and critically, and such an error as “deriving the | ptomaines from the base pyridine” is almost unpardon- able. The source of the coloured plates at the end of the book, which are all taken from the Atlas recently published by Lehmann and Neumann, is not acknow- ledged. The work cannot be recommended to students and medical men, because the authors have not fully appreciated the serious importance of their subject, and although their own reading, judged by the references sup- plied, appears to be considerable, they are not sufficiently familiar with medicine, physiology, and pathology to _advise those who possess some knowledge of these subjects. A. A. KANTHACK. Ostwald’s Klasstker der exakten Wissenschaften, Nos. 80-85. (Leipzig : Wilhelm Engelmann, 1896.) No more serviceable or comprehensive series of reprints of scientific classics could be desired than the one to | which the six volumes before us have just been added. No. 80 contains Helmholtz’s paper, published in 1860, on | the “ Theorie der Luftswingungen in Réhren mit offenen | Enden.” The mathematical theory of the vibrations of | the air in organ-pipes, or tubes with open ends, is well developed in this paper, and Prof. A. Wangerin, the editor of the volume, adds to it nearly fifty pages of notes on difficult points. No, 81—“ Experimental-Un- tersuchungen iiber Electricitaét”—is a translation into German, of Faraday’s paper on his.electrical researches, from the PAzlosophical Transactions for 1832. It is edited by Dr. A. J. von Oettingen, who adds also a short biographical notice of Faraday. The same editor is responsible for the two succeeding volumes, Nos. 82 and 83, which contain Steiner's masterly contributions to. geometry, under the title of “Systematische Entwick- | lung der Abhangigkeit geometrischer Gestalten von einander.” In this work, Steiner reviewed the proposi- | tions of other geometers on porisms, projection-methods, transversals, duality and reciprocity, &c. Paty, Nos. 84 and 85 of the series contain Caspar Friedrich Wolff's “ Theoria Generationis,” published in 1759. Both volumes have been translated into German, and edited, by Dr. Paul Samassa. In the first of the two volumes 1s- the general explanation of the plan of Wolff's theory of organic development, and the section on the develop- ment of plants ; the second part deals with the develop— ment of animals, and general conclusions. 414 NATURE [Marcu 4, 1897 Inorganic Chemical Preparations. By ¥. H. Thorp. Pp. 238. (Boston, Mass.: Ginn and Co., 1896.) THIS work is divided into two parts, the first being an ntroductory chapter on general chemical operations such as solution, precipitation and filtration, and the second containing detailed directions for the preparation of 100 inorganic salts. The instructions in the first paper are very minute, and are apparently intended for elementary students. In the second part the arrange- ment followed is alphabetical, and it is stated in the preface that no attempt has been made to observe any particular grouping or sequence in the preparations. Thus the first preparation described is that of an- hydrous aluminium chloride, and this is followed by aluminium hydrate and sulphate, preparations of quite another order of difficulty. This lack of arrange- ment and want of gradation seriously detract from the value of the book for teaching purposes. Little or no stress is laid upon the purity of the product, although the removal of one impurity is occasionally given, such as copper in the preparation of lead acetate. The preparation of pure iodine or silver, or even of pure water, according to the methods of Stas, would possibly be of higher educational value, and certainly be more interesting to the student than the formation, say, of ‘barium and lead chromates by precipitation. Journal, March (Chambers).—Contemporary Review, March (Isbister).— Good Words, March (Isbister).—Sunday Magazine, March (Isbister).— Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Vol. xx. Parts 2 and 3 (Edinburgh).—Brain, Part 76 (Macmillan).—Century Magazine, March (Macmillan).—Scribner’s Magazine, March (Low).— Muret-Sanders Encyclopadisches Wérterbuch, Lfg. 1, Teil 2 (Grevel).— Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Manchester, 1806-7, Vol. 41, Part 2 (Manchester).—Lloyd’s Natural History: Butterflies, W. F. Kirby, Parts 7 and 8 (Lloyd).— Astrophysical Journal, February (Chicago).—J ournal of Physical Chemistry, Nos. 3, 4, 5 (Ithaca). CONTENTS. The Need of Organising Scientific Opinion. I. PAGE By Dr. Henry E. Armstrong, F.R.S. .... . 409 Compressed Air Illness. By F.W.T. .... 41T The Zoological) Recordmys') .%. . - a Gate Cte Our Book Shelf:— Chambers : ‘*The Story of the Weather” .... . 415 Permain and Moore: ‘Applied Bacteriology.”— Dr. A. A. Kanthacky. . .. . . . eee “© Ostwald’s Klassiker der exakten Wissenschaften” . 413 Thorp: ‘‘ Inorganic Chemical Preparations”. . . . 414 “ The Practical Photographer”’ «say ee Schooling: ‘* Life Assurance Explained ” cst ee Paget : ‘‘ Wasted Records of Disease” . . . ? 414 Letters to the Editor:— Specific Characters.—Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell. . 414 The Force of a Ton.—O. J. L. ... . hag ELS Immunity from Snake-Bite.—Dr. Dawson Williams 415. Copper and Oysters:—W. F. Lowe ...... 415. Miss Kingsley’s Travels in Africa. (J//ustrated.). . Notes’ .. 5c RMEIIERIRI So r,s) 5) oy rete RRS Our Astronomical Column:— The Orbit of Jupiter’s Fifth Satellite ....... 420 The Ellipticity of the Disc of Mars . . . .... . 421 The Rotation\ofiWemnsie =< > - . . cae eee Photographic Reproduction of Colours. .... 422 On the Alternations of Generations in Plant Life. By Right Hon. Sir Edw. Fry, F.R.S. .. . 422 University and Educational Intelligence ..... 427 Scientific Serials oc 1 RBRORORIPPEED oS 6 Societies and Academies ......... Diary of Societies 4 1 (ADO BO dealer Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... 432 THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1897. THE NEED OF ORGANISING SCIENTIFIC OPINION. Il. HATEVER may be the deductions from statistics, it cannot be denied that, as a rule, the attitude of our manufacturers has hitherto been antagonistic to the introduction of a scientific element into our indus- tries ; and it is beyond question that the country at large has never learnt to favour the introduction of such an element into our affairs generally. Admitting that our strongly-marked individuality, our insular habits and prejudices, over-reliance on our powers, and our prosperity and unchallenged commercial preeminence throughout a long period, in some or even a large measure account for our worship of King Rule of Thumb and our apathy as a nation to science, we must go further to find the full explanation. There can be no doubt that such apathy arises from the fact that “the idea of sctence has been absent from the whole course and design of our education ”’—words used thirty years ago by Matthew Arnold. It is still true that, as the same writer said, ‘‘ we hardly even know the use of the word science in its strict sense, and only employ it in a secondary and incorrect sense.” We are, in fact, an uncultured nation ; which is mainly, if not entirely, the fault of our Universities—for although but a small proportion of English attend the Universities, it is from the Universities that the teachers, as well as the heads of our public schools, are taken, and these set an example which permeates our whole educational system. Whilst, however, our Universities have fazled to help us, Germany undoubtedly owes her success to her Uni- versities ; but hers are real Universities, not “superior boarding-schools”—“ places where the youth of the upper class prolong to a very great age, and under some very admirable influences, their school education.” They are Universities in which “ Lehrfretheit and Lern- freiheit, \iberty for the teacher and liberty for the learner, and Wissenschaft, science, knowledge system- atically pursued and prized in and for itself are the fundamental ideas.” Although, in comparing the condition of education in the two countries, Arnold recognised that our Univer- sities were in the main but superior schools, he failed to point out the origin of the difference—that long before he wrote, at the beginning of the century, in fact, they had succumbed to the colleges, so that we had no Universities in the German sense; whilst Germany, happily, was without colleges. But this fact was re- cognised over fifty years ago by Charles Lyell, who drew special attention to it and discussed the consequences in a most interesting chapter in his “Travels in North America,” published in 1845. Higher education in Germany, in.so far as secondary schools are concerned, may be said to date from the 1 Continued from page 411. NO. 1428, VOL. 55] mel URE 433 reforms introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt during the brief period (1810-12) in which he was Prussian Minister of Education. Although less well known than his re- nowned younger brother Alexander, he appears to have been a man of remarkable philosophical power and in- sight, whose administration of public instruction was clearly based on the fullest understanding of its immense importance, and who recognised that it must be con- ducted scientifically. We should probably be well satisfied even now if we could secure a Minister of Education, and he were no more than an animated phonograph ; one who could repeat with understanding words the Prus- sian Minister of Education used near ninety years ago —“ The thing is 7o¢ to let the schools and Universities go on in a drowsy and impotent routine ; the thing is, to raise the culture of the nation ever higher and higher by their means ”—words so striking that Arnold attaches them as a motto to his report, would throw the whole body of educational enthusiasts among us into wild delirium, but the country at large would certainly rate him unpractical, if not as a lunatic. Probably the greatest service to education rendered by von Humboldt was the establishment of a State ex- amination for all schoolmasters ; he also, as Arnold points out, took the most important step towards making the Abiturienten or school-leaying examination—which plays so vital a part in the German system—what it now is. But von Humboldt was not the only statesman in Ger- | many to take the most enlightened and active interest in the affairs of higher education, and those who followed him in the work of organising public secondary educa- tion were able to achieve success because German Universities generally had laid the necessary foundation : otherwise, a satisfactory system could not have been called into life. In witness of this, take the following passage in Carlyle’s review of Heeren’s “‘ Life of Heyne,” in reference to the celebrated scholar’s activity, now a century ago, at Gottingen :— “We have long details of his procedure in managing the Library, the Royal Society, the University generally, and his incessant and often rather complex correspond- ence with Minchhausen, Brandes, or other ministers who presided over this department. Without detracting from Heyne’s skill in such matters, what struck us most in this narrative of Heeren’s was the singular contrast which the ‘Georgia Augusta,’ in its interior arrange- ments, as well as its external relations to the Government, exhibits with our own Universities. The Prime Minister of the country writes thrice weekly to the director of an institution for learning! He oversees all; knows the character not only of every professor, but of every pupil that gives any promise. He is continually purchasing books, drawings, models ; treating for this or the other help or advantage tothe establishment. He has his eyes overall Germany ; and nowhere does a man of any decided talents show himself, but he strains every nerve to acquire him. And seldom even can he succeed ; for the Han- overian assiduity seems nothing singular ; every state in Germany has its minister for education, as well as Hanover. They correspond, they inquire, they negotiate; everywhere there seems a canvassing, less for places than for the best men to fill them. Heyne himself has his Seminarium, a private class of the nine most distinguished students in the University; these he trains with all diligence, and is in due time most probably enabled, by his connexions, to place in stations fit for them. A U 434 WALTORE [| Marcu 11, 1897 hundred and thirty-five professors are said to have been sent from this Seminarium during his presidency. These things we state without commentary ; we believe that the experience ofall English and Scotch and Irish univer- sity-men will, of itself, furnish one. The state of educa- tion in Germany, and the structure of the establish- ment for conducting it, seems to us one of the most promising inquiries that could at this moment be entered on.” So wrote Carlyle in 1828! In truth, a lesson is slowly learnt in this country. And how many of us even now are able to appreciate the value of the services rendered to their nation by Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt and by Liebig, and the way in which they have been the true founders of Germany’s industrial success—the Moltkes of scientific method. One of the requirements of a teacher who Its a candi- date for the Government certificate of Oderlehrer in Germany is that he has spent a¢ /east¢ three years in study at one or more of the Universities ; and in the memor- andum submitted by Mr. Findlay to the late Secondary Education Commission, we are told that most candidates spend four, many five years there, before presenting them- selves for the test. I cannot discover that they are re- quired to prove capacity to take part in the school games —either cricket or football—the primary qualification in an English secondary schoolmaster, if I am not wrongly informed. The difference appears marvellous when we note the extraordinary extent to which the teacher is required to prepare himself for his office in Germany and then reflect on the conditions prevailing here— on the fact that but a few months ago, through a great Royal Commission, we openly confessed to the world that we had absolutely no organisation of secondary education, no check whatever on the competency of the teachers in our schools ; and the indifference with which such disclosures have been received, shows what is still worse—that as yet we have no public opinion formed throughout the country which can be brought into opera- | tion to enforce the necessary changes. Nor is this surprising when we consider what our Universities have done for us. To take the case of Oxford. At the close of last century, owing to the opera- tion of causes which cannot be considered here, both teachers and students were thoroughly demoralised, and it became necessary to introduce drastic reforms : exam- inations having proved useful in some few of the colleges in maintaining orderly habits, to improve matters, in 1800 an examination statute was enacted for the Uni- versity ; but it soon turned out that this had been so framed that it was to be worked by the College tutors, on whose behalf the range of studies was advisedly restricted, all the more progressive branches of know- ledge being excluded. As Lyell tells us, the new statute did not pass without a severe struggle. The rector of Lincoln College, in particular, opposed it, as a measure that would extinguish all “thirst of knowledge.” ‘ There would thenceforth,” he said, “be no Uzzversity at all, but a system of cramming and partial teaching, after which the student would go out into the world with a narrow mind and darker understanding.” Never was prediction more thoroughly fulfilled ! It is clear, indeed, that there NO. 1428, VOL. 55 | was “wisdom” at disposal even in those black days; and had wisdom been allowed to govern, the nation might now have been in a very different position. Instead, the horrible system of competitive examinations was allowed to grow up, and worst of all, a new aborted species of teacher, the “coach” or ““crammer” »was evolved, and the highly lucrative business of “cramming” was established. “The examinations for degrees were made more and more stringent, and emulation at length stimulated to so, high a pitch that health was often sacrificed in the effort to gain the prize. Useful habits of application were often acquired, but the system was not calculated to foster a love of knowledge for its own sake. To some there was even danger of injury both bodily and mental ; for if they succeeded, they were tempted to believe that they had already achieved something great; if they failed, their abilities were underrated, both by themselves and their contemporaries.” Notwithstanding the many changes introduced within recent years, whereby some of the defects which Lyell deplored have been remedied, these words of his still afford an accurate presentment of the state of affairs. Moreover, the professoriate still occupy an entirely sub- ordinate although an improved position: for how can they be otherwise than mere mechanical units in a system so long as we fail to recognise that the sole aim of University education should be to develop faculties and to give training in research—so long as “students are treated more as boys and children than as men on the very point of entering on their several duties in life, and who ought, without loss of time, to be acquiring habits of thinking and judging for themselves.” We are so absolutely given over to dogmatic and didactic methods of teaching in order to meet the inexorable requirements of exam- iners, that research work is an entirely post-graduate exercrse—a luxury in which but very few indulge, there- fore, and the consequence is that a nation priding itself on individuality and originality has an educational “system” in which everything operates towards deadening and maiming the spirit of inquiry, of self-helpfulness, and of thoughtfulness. How different is the University system abroad. There examinations occupy an entirely subordinate position. From the outset, the student has forced upon him the fact that he cannot gain admission to the degree examination until he has completed a satisfactory thesis embodying some piece of original work ; his A7ée77 is the one absorbing subject of contemplation fillimg his mind, and the almost daily topic of conversation ; and knowing that he cannot count on completing it in any fixed period, and desiring to economise time as much as possible, he devotes himself to his preliminary studies with assiduity and care in order that he may as early as possible secure the necessary permission to commence research. The work accomplished may often be very trivial as a contribution to science, but this matters little : the spirit it evokes is the main consideration—of chiefest importance is the fact that thoughts are always directed forwards with the desire to solve a problem, and that instead of attention being confined to text-books original literature is freely consulted and studied. It is not surprising that teachers so trained have evoked in turn the proper spirit in their pupils, and that Marcu 11, 1897 | VAT RL: 435 with such material at their disposal manufacturers have been successful in maintaining their businesses fully abreast of the times. The post-graduate career is equally different abroad. A graduate is not worshipped as a young god because he happens to have passed examinations with distinction, nor is he damned for life by being termed a second or third class man because he did indifferently well. Nor is he a prig, for although sufficiently proud of being dubbed “ Herr Doctor,” he knows full well that his future success depends on what he does, not on what he has done in some examination. In fact the examination is forgotten almost as soon as over, and if a professional career at the University be adopted, a man has to work very hard for every step of promotion, and is rewarded only if he manifest originality and activity in research. And manufacturers have also recognised that they cannot expect to obtain all the material they need ready made from the Universities ; the true technical school in Germany is in connection with the works, each of which has its research department, in which men certified by the Universities as likely to do well are set to work under competent leaders and gradually learn to do what is required of them in practice: those who manifest technical skill being gradually drafted off into the works proper. The English manufacturer too often expects the scientific assistant he engages to be already conversant with the industry—to be a practical man; he will rarely be at the pains to educate his staff. He derides college-bred material, and yet will do nothing towards producing a genuine article. It is clear that if we are to fit ourselves to carry on the work in the world we have undertaken, and to justify our having taken so vast a burden of imperial responsibility on our shoulders, an entire reform of our educational system, starting from the Universities, must be brought about. We have long since reached the point “where toleration sinks into sheer baseness and poltroonery”; and we must no longer allow mediocrity to be our ideal. The attempt must be made to awaken the public generally to a more thorough understanding of the position in which the country is placed. It must be shown that we also have an “aristocracy of talent” capable of advising honestly and well and with understand- ing ; that the methods hitherto adopted have too often been unsound ; but that sound methods are now available, and their use must be insisted on. If those who are capable of working in such a cause—and there are very many—will but cooperate, there need be no great delay in formulating and carrying out the changes that are most urgently and imperatively called for: but how are we to effect the necessary organisation of scientific opinion, and secure that its decisions shall be carried into practice? It will be very difficult, and yet it must be done, and without delay. It can only be done if—to use words uttered by Helmholtz—* each of us think of himself, not as a man seeking to gratify his own thirst for knowledge, or to promote his own private advantage, or to shine by his own abilities, but rather as a fellow-labourer in one great common work bearing upon the highest interests of humanity.” HENRY E. ARMSTRONG. (To be continued.) NO. 1428, VOL. 55] THE GASES OF THE ATMOSPHERE. The Gases of the Atmosphere: the History of their Discovery. By William Ramsay, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in University College, London. Pp. 240: (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) HE reading public will be grateful to Prof. Ramsay for this book, for he has explained in a simple and attractive manner the nature of the great discovery about which they have heard much and understood little ; and besides telling the story of argon, he has woven it into a history of the great discoveries of the past con- cerning the chemistry of the atmosphere. We believe that the book will be acceptable also to more scientific people who desire to gain a clear idea of the problems connected with the new gas. One of the peculiarities of the discovery of argon is the entire absence of anything about it of the “ prac- tical” kind, present or prospective. It is so far a mere scientific discovery, and has no telephone or bone-photo- graphing features to arouse a hollow intellectual interest. A book likely to enlist the public sympathy for scientific research, irrespective of its practical application, is to be heartily welcomed, and is probably no less a need of the times than it was a generation since. It is not well that the public esteem for physics and chemistry should depend wholly on a dim appreciation of their commercial value. The account which Prof. Ramsay gives of the earlier discoveries is very readable, abounding with quo- tations from the original memoirs, and affording pleasant glimpses of the lives and characteristics of the philo- sophers concerned. The volume is embellished with a number cf portraits, the honour of appearing in the frontispiece being accorded to Stephen Hales. This selection appears surprising, not only because of the slender connection of the work of Hales with the chemistry of the atmosphere, but from the feeling that in a book dealing with the history of the air in special relation to argon the conspicuous figure is that of Henry Cavendish. The merits of Cavendish have indeed been fully recognised by Lord Rayleigh and Prof. Ramsay in their Royal Society memoir, and the statement “that, if there is any part of the phlogisticated part of our atmo- sphere which differs from the rest and cannot be reduced to nitrous acid, we may safely conclude that it is not more than z4oth part of the whole,” will remain for ever memorable. It was the same respect for minutiz and strict loyalty to experiment as are embodied in the fore- going words, that led Lord Rayleigh, rather more than a century later, to raise again the question whether any part of the phlogisticated part of our atmosphere differs from the rest. The habitual attitude of chemists towards the clue contained in the above words of Cavendish is shown very well by the following passage from Dr. G. Wilson’s “Life of Cavendish” : “He proceeded to test this by trying whether a given volume of the phlogisticated part was entirely converted into nitric acid by explosion with oxygen. He found that it was, and thus supplied a demonstration of the homogeneous nature of nitrogen such as none of his contemporaries could have given.” The last hundred pages of the book contain an account of the discovery of argon, and of the physical and 436 NATURE [ Marcu 11, 1897 chemical properties of the new gas. Prof. Ramsay explains clearly the splendid initiatory work of Lord Rayleigh on the density of the simple gases, and then records the successive steps by which the disturbing element was tracked and isolated. Though told in the plainest way, this story cannot fail to prove of dramatic interest even to the non-scientific reader. The account of the pro- perties of argon, and of the difficulties which it raises in respect to the classification of the element, is in a more difficult strain than the rest of the book, and it is possible that a somewhat more extended treatment of the subjects of specific heat and the periodic law would have helped the general reader to a better understanding of the problems presented. At the same time it is right to say that, considering the bounds within which it is compressed and the difficulty of the subject, the account is very lucid, and it will be valuable to all readers who have some acquaintance with science. In the last few pages of the book Prof. Ramsay gives some play to his scientific fancy, and attempts to offer an explanation of the anomaly presented by argon in respect to the periodic law. He concludes as follows :— “Tt therefore appears to me not impossible that the mass of the atoms may be affected by the various and different properties which they possess, some to a greater, some to a lesser extent. It must be admitted that atoms differ from each other in the readiness with which they combine with those of the same kind to form molecules ; and that molecules of different elements differ from each other in their capacity to form molecular aggregates. Take for example such cases as cesium and fluorine, each intensely active, but towards different objects: caesium the most electro-positive of the metals, and fluorine the most electro-negative of elements. Surely their activity must be due to some cause which cannot but exert in- fluence on their other properties, such as their mass and their gravitational attraction, as it doubtless has influence on their specific heats and on many of their other physical properties. And contrast these instances with helium and with argon the most indifferent of substances, the atoms of which are unwilling to pair even with them- selves ; it is hardly conceivable that these peculiarities should leave their other, and, as we are in the habit of thinking, invariable, properties unaffected. I venture to suggest that these powers of combination, due to some configuration or to some attractive force, tend to lessen the gravitational attraction by which we measure their atomic weights; that helium and argon, which possess little, if any. of such power to combine, show what may be termed the normal atomic weights, inas- much as their gravitational attraction is subject to no deduction attributable to their reacting powers.” We cannot reproduce the considerations which lead up to the expression of this remarkable conjecture, and can therefore hardly do the author justice. Prof. Ramsay describes his suggestion as of a wholly speculative character. He expresses his “firm conviction that no true progress in knowledge has been made without such speculations.” With this last statement in itself we are not inclined to disagree ; the mind, baffled by difficulties in the paths of orthodoxy, may well be allowed to have its flights and seek more open ways, and there is a well-recognised scientific use of the imagination. But it is impossible to appraise any such speculation as the one before us, and we venture to think that it is rather presented as a fimale to an interesting story—a sort of last chapter where all NO. 1428, VOL. §5 | ends happily—than intended for scientific criticism. Prof. Ramsay likens it to the doctrine of phlogiston ; and cer- tainly the assumption of “levity” is a point of resem- blance. Otherwise we think the comparison unfair to the phlogistians. The idea of phlogiston was doubtless at its birth a speculation, but in science it ranks as a working hypothesis that guided several generations of investi- gators from point to point in their inquiries, that linked together a vast number of facts, and that even to the acute and sober mind of Cavendish appeared to throw as good a light on facts as the newer doctrine of Lavoisier. If Prof. Ramsay’s speculation proves fruitful, it may claim kinship with Becher’s ; but hardly till then. The author recognises this, no doubt, as ‘fully as any one. Meanwhile the situation between argon and the periodic law is not eased in any practical sense, and we are afraid that the book, which in many respects is an admirable exposition of the methods of scientific discovery, may prove somewhat misleading to the general reader in this one particular. F We cannot conclude this notice of a work dealing with the history of chemical discoveries relating to the atmo- sphere, without remarking upon the momentous part they have played in the development of chemical science. Viewing the discovery of argon in the light of earlier discoveries respecting the air, we feel that it is worthy to rank with the best of them, both in the manner of its inception and of its experimental realisation. The dis- covery has already raised questions of fundamental interest in physics and chemistry, and there seems no reason to believe that it will not prove as fruitful in im- portant consequences as any of the earlier masterpieces of experimental work relating to the gases of the atmosphere. ACtSs THE FENS OF SOUTH LINCOLNSHIRE. A History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire. By W. H. Wheeler. Second edition. Pp. 489, and appendices. (Boston: J. M. Newcomb. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.) HIS book, which is nominally a second edition of a book published in 1868, but has in reality been entirely re-written and enlarged, relates merely to the fens of Lincolnshire, situated between the Steeping River and the Nene, comprising an area of 363,000 acres, and does not refer to the fens of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and the adjacent counties, or to the rivers Ouse and Nene, which, with the rivers Witham and Welland, are’ known as the fen rivers. In fact, the author naturally deals with the fen districts in his near neighbourhood, having resided for many years past at Boston, on the Witham. The history of these fens is traced back to the time of the Britons, and more particularly to the Roman settlement which was made very early in the Christian era; and to the Romans in the time of Severus, are attributed the construction of the first banks protecting the district from the sea, the land being from 13 to 12} feet below the level of high-water of spring tides, to which probably the appellations North and South Holland, denoting certain portions of the fens, are due. Lands outside the Roman banks have been gradually raised by the process of warping, or accretion MarkcH 11, 1897 | NATURE 437 from the deposit of materials brought down the fen rivers in flood-time, and have then been enclosed and drained: The area of land thus reclaimed from the sea, since the formation of the first sea banks about 1700 years ago, amounts to 63,300 acres, or an average yearly addition of 37} acres. Mr. Wheeler points out that the re- clamations must be gradual, owing to the limited quan- tity of fertilising alluvium brought down by the rivers, and that the schemes which have occasionally been brought forward for enclosing large areas of the sandy fore- shores of the Wash, adjoining the fens, would be financial failures on account of the barren nature of the sands | before they are covered over with warp. The subject is dealt with in seventeen chapters, followed by eight appendices ; and it is illustrated by fourteen maps of the various districts, and two diagrams exhibiting the strata, levels, and rainfall of the fens. Unfortunately, no pages are given in the table of contents, which renders reference to the different chapters and illustra- tions a tedious search; and marginal headings in small print only partially compensate for the absence of top headings to the pages, and the entire omission of notes. | A general early history of the fens is given in the first chapter, and the several drainage districts are described in turn; and special chapters are devoted to the river Witham, the river Welland, the estuary and its re- clamation, Boston Harbour, and the Witham Outfall, with which the author has long been professionally con- nected, the geology and water-supply of the fens, and a concluding chapter on the natural history, products, climatology, and health of the district. The inhabitants of the fens have had to maintain a constant struggle with nature, first in rescuing and preserving these fertile lands from the sea, and by degrees increasing their extent by fresh enclosures ; and secondly, in improving the drainage of these flat low-lying districts by straight- ening, enlarging, and embanking the channels of their rivers, and supplementing them by numerous straight drains, so as to prevent the inundation of the lands in times of heavy rainfall. Pumps also have been exten- sively introduced to remove the water from the lands, and, to assist in the drainage of the district, which, owing to the small fall, cannot be wholly effected by gravitation. Sluices placed across the rivers in the neighbourhood of their outfalls, with gates to arrest the tidal flow, and thus secure the land above from any chance of an inroad of the sea, through breaches in the embankments along the river banks, have naturally, in conjunction with silting in the Wash, produced a de- terioration in the depth of the outfalls, which has been detrimental to drainage as well as navigation. The straightening, however, of the outfall channels has effected some improvement; and the formation of a more direct outlet for the Witham, by cutting a new channel for the river, in 1880-84, two and a quarter miles long, through a projecting clay bank below Boston to deep water in the Wash, has effected a great amelioration in the navigable channel between Boston and the sea, and in the outflow of the drainage waters, which latter was at the same time further facilitated by an enlarge- ment of the Grand Sluice above Boston. The author being an engineer, has perhaps given more prominence to the engineering features of the NO. 1428, VOL. 55| | Whooping Cough. history of the fens than another writer might have done ; but unquestionably the prosperity, and even the existence of the fens are almost wholly dependent on engineering works. The book, however, does not pretend to give detailed descriptions of the works carried out, which have been recorded by Mr. Wheeler and others in engineering publications; and the book will chiefly interest archeologists and topographists, and especially those who live in the neighbourhood of the districts described. Though Mr. Wheeler, as an old inhabitant, has given somewhat too rosy a description of the attrac- tions of the fens on pages 2 and 486-487, where the features of the landscape are banks, drains, windmills, and occasional church towers, and keen north-east winds often prevail through the spring up to June, he shows great interest in the country he resides in, extending to minute details on a variety of topics, and has produced a volume exhibiting considerable labour and research. OUR BOOK SHELF. Bacteria of the Sputa and Cryptogamic Flora of the Mouth. By Filandro Vincentini, M.D. ‘Translated by Rev. E. J. Stutter and Prof. E. Saieghi. Pp. x + 239. (London: Balliére, Tindall, and Cox, 1897.) THis volume is a collection of three monographs and an appendix, viz. First memoir: On the Sputa of Second memoir: Recent Bacterio- logical Researches on the Sputa. Third memoir: On Leptothrix racemosa. Without in the least wishing to detract from the earnestness, enthusiasm and laudable industry of Dr. Vincentini, we are sorry to have to confess that this book is what, in Germany, would be called an overcome standpoint—etnx wéberwundener Standpunkt, Fifteen years ago, prior to the introduction, by Koch, of exact methods of bacteriological study, this book, dealing with the purely microscopic examination as to size and shape of micro-organisms in the sputa and of the mouth, would have had some vazson d’étre ; not so at the present time. Everybody knows that if you talk of a bacterial species, of pathogenic and non-pathogenic organisms, you mean not merely the size and shape of a microbe, but that you have studied its biological, chemical and cultural characters, and that you have ascertained whether or not, and under what conditions, it possesses, or is devoid of, pathogenic properties when introduced in one way or another, experimentally or otherwise, into the animal system. Of all this, Dr. Vincentini is quite innocent. To assert, as he does from purely microscopic examination, that a host of microbes—bacilli, cocci, vibrios, and spirilla, occurring in the sputa and in the fluid of the mouth—are all derived from, or are parts of, a single species “leptothrix,” requires either tre- mendous courage, or is due to a want of appreciation of the enormous amount of exact work hitherto accom- plished. The discussion in the appendix, by Dr Vin- centini, of the views of antiquated authors on spontaneity of origin of infectious diseases, and, further, his extra- ordinary derivation of the tubercle bacillus, spirillum of relapsing fever, gonococcus and pneumococcus from the indifferent leptothrix, is an anachronism of a curious and, we had hoped, extinct type. E. KLEIN. Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten iiber Meteorologie und Erdmagnetismus. Nos. 7-9. Edited_by Prof. Dr. G. Hellmann. (Berlin: A. Asher and Co., 1897.) THESE reproductions in facsimile of classic papers in meteorology and terrestrial magnetism are attractive In appearance, and Prof. Hellmann’s introductions and Wek E [Marcu 11, 1897 notes make them most instructive publications. No. 7 of the series contains papers of prime importance in the history of meteorological instruments, viz. the corre- spondence between Torricelli and Ricci on the measure- ment of atmospheric pressure, in which Torricelli announced the invention of the barometer (1644) ; and the paper “ Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell’ Acca- demia del Cimento,” in which the first continuous observa- tions with the thermometer and hygrometer are described. This paper appeared in 1666 and passed through eight Italian editions, and was translated into English (1684), Latin (1731), and French (1754). Prof. Hellmann gives a list of the most important works upon the invention of the barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer, and adds some interesting historical notes. No 8 of the “* Neudrucke,” entitled ‘‘ Meteorologische Karten,” contains facsimiles of the first wind-chart, isotherms, isobars, and synoptic weather-map, with an introduction in which the various charts are described. The wind-chart is Halley’s (1686); the isotherm map is Humboldt’s (1817) ; and the synoptic chart is Loomis’ (1846). Two maps of Le Verrier’s show the distribution of barometric pressures on September 7, 10, and 16, 1863, as telegraphically communicated to the Paris Ob- servatory from different parts of Europe on those days ; and M. Renous’ map (1864) of mean atmospheric pres- sure over France is given as the first chart of mean isobars. The discovery of the secular variation of magnetic declination is told in Gellibrand’s “ Discourse mathema- tical on the variation of the magnetical needle,” which appeared in 1635, and is reproduced in facsimile as No. 9 of Prof. Hellmann’s “‘ Neudrucke.” The three reprints are worthy additions to a very attractive and serviceable series. Colliery Surveying: a Primer designed for the Use of Students and Colliery Manager Aspirants. By T. A. O’Donahue. Pp. 163. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1896.) WITH a view to reducing the number of colliery accidents, the law now requires that an accurate plan shall be kept of the workings of each mine. This has led to increased attention being devoted to the subject of mine surveying. Hitherto, it is true, mine surveying has not kept pace with the advances made in other branches of surveying. Great improvements have, nevertheless, been made during the last decade. Colliery managers are now submitted to a severe educational test before certificates are granted to them, and sur- veying classes are now held at most mining centres. For elementary students attending such classes, Mr. O’Donahue has written this concise little primer. Taking for granted that his readers have merely a knowledge of arithmetic, he has endeavoured to com- press into his pages a complete course of instruction in surface surveying, mine surveying and levelling, together with the requisite preliminary information regarding mechanical drawing, geometry, mensuration and the determination of inaccessible heights and distances. With so comprehensive a scheme, and with so small and inexpensive a book, the instructions are necessarily brief and, for the most part, unaccompanied by theoretical explanations. It is to be feared, therefore, that an elementary student working with this book without guidance might be led to learn by heart details without having grasped principles. Used under the supervision of a capable teacher, however, it should prove useful as an azde-mémoire to young students. The absence of an index is a serious drawback, whilst the superfluous section on the mensuration of solids could easily have been spared. Numerous typographical errors in the figures have escaped the author’s notice. Thus in the first example, NO, 14@a, VOU. 55) worked out on p. 34, there are three mistakes in one line, and in the next line the correct value of 15° is stated to be 1 in 3°74, whilst in the table of incline measure, on p. 142, it is 1 in 3°73. In that table itself there is often an uncertainty about the final figures ; for example, the correct inclines for 3°, 4° and 5° are I in 19°08, 14°30 and and 11°43 respectively, not I in 19'09, 14°29 and 11°42, as stated. On p. 140 the reduced level given is 50°3, but the measurement plotted in the drawing is 55 3. Again, the base line of the Trigonometrical Survey was measured in 1784, not 1874, as stated on p. 29. Trifling misprints of this kind, whilst perfectly obvious to the advanced student, are apt to prove stones of stumbling to the beginner. The British Mercantile Marine. By Edward Black- more. Pp. xix + 248. (London: Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1897.) MEssrs. CHARLES GRIFFIN AND Co., Ltd., in their nautical series, have here a book not only serviceable to the men of the mercantile marine, but interesting and enlightening to those who wish to know the true state of our merchant service, which, to a great extent, and especially in smaller vessels, is manned by foreigners. The history commences with the infancy of the mer- cantile marine, giving the different laws passed, the state of trade, the different classes of vessels, and the modes of discipline at various times. Further on, the attention of the reader is drawn to the fact that our mercantile marine is suffering from the want of proper education, in that the examinations held for testing the efficiency of the masters and mates can practically only be passed by them through the medium of a “crammer,” who teaches them by rule of thumb, what is taught scientifically to the same class of men in other countries by their respective Governments. It is pointed out, further, that the apprentice, who is on board to learn his profession, at the commence- ment of his sea career performs only manual labour, seldom, if ever, having the opportunity of learning the art of navigation as opposed to seamanship; this holds good even for mates of smaller vessels. The book concludes with a postcript, entitled ‘* The serious decrease in the number of British seamen: a matter demanding the attention of the nation,” in which the author, in a few words, enumerates some of the points to which the decrease of British seamen is probably due. Bulletin of the Philosophical Society of Washington. Vol. xii. 1892-94. Pp. xxix + 567. (Washington : D. C. Jude and Detweiler, 1895.) THIS volume, though dated 1895, was only received a few days ago. A number of very interesting papers, some of which have been already referred to in the columns of NATURE, are contained in it, among them being the following :—‘‘The Mexican Meteorites,” by’ J. R. Eastman ; ‘“ Peculiarities in the Rainfall of Texas,” by A. W. Greely ; “The Origin of Igneous Rocks,” by J. P. Iddings ; “The Moon’s Face, a study of the origin of its features,’ by G. K. Gilbert ; “The Texan Monsoons,” by M. W. Harrington ; ‘‘ The Earliest Iso- clinics and Observations of Magnetic Force,” by L. A. Bauer ; ‘“‘ Mean Density of the Earth,” by E. D. Preston. Mr. Preston’s observations were made at Hawaii by two different methods, one depending upon triangu- lation and astronomical latitudes, and the other upon the diminution of gravity from the sea-level to the summit of a mountain, as revealed by a pendulum. The former method, carried out on Haleakala, gave for the mean density of the earth the value 5°57; the latter method, carried out on Mauna Kea, gave 5113 as the ' density. The adopted mean is 5°35. Marcu 11, 1897] NATURE 439 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 ts taken of anonymous communications. | | Dynamical Units. WirHIn the moderate dimensions of a letter it is hard to | give due weight to every aspect of a complicated matter, and while trying to emphasise one side I have somewhat overstated the case, as is evident from the way in which Prof. Lodge has taken me up. I was only considering the teaching of elemen- tary dynamics to engineering students. Ido not object to a teacher explaining that inertia is such an important constant property of matter, that equality of inertia is our definetion of equal quantities of matter. What I do object to is, a common inversion of this, by which equality of inertia is exp/ained by saying that the quantities of matter are equal. In addition, I | urge that teachers of elementary dyzamzcs should call what is usually called mass, inertia, so as constantly to bring before the student the fact that this is ¢4e property with which the dynamics of motion deals. I do not plead guilty in this to con- fusing the issues. The issues of Prof. Perry’s review have been overlaid with a discussion as to one of the greatest advances of modern physics, namely the possibility of representing physical | quantities by algebraic symbols ; but I was trying to recall the | original issue, as to the way dynamics should be taught to engineering students. Babes must be treated babyishly, and as long as engineering students are what they are now, and have to attend a variety of lecturers, and read engineering books as they are, I agree with Prof. Perry in recommending that the engineer's unit of inertia be used by their teachers. I have already explained that a multiplicity of units isa very minor difficulty to those who have once grasped what it is that is being | measured, but I do think it confuses them, while getting these ideas, for one teacher to use one system, and another another system, and for each teacher to call the system of the others by hard names. Gro. FRAS. FITZGERALD. Definite Variations. Mr. F. A. BATHER, in the January number of Matural Science, has some remarks on Prof. Cope’s ‘* Factors of Evolu- tion ” which seem to call for further comment. The case is cited of sheep taken from Ohio to Texas losing the fine quality of their wool, and this definite variation, due to environment, being apparently inherited and cumulative, in spite of selection by the breeders of those lambs which least present the new character. Such facts as these are not new, and it seems to me that they represent simply a phase of atavism. On July 23, 1890, I was present at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, at Chiswick, and heard Mr. E. J. Lowe give’an interesting address on ferns. In the course of it, he told how he had a great num- ber of varieties of the hart’s-tongue fern, which, on changing his place of residence, he moved into new and poorer soil, They | all reverted to the typical form, and it was not until they were again transplanted to good soil that they consented to exhibit their varietal characters! Now in the case of the sheep, the fine wool of the Ohio breed is not a specific character, but a varietal one produced under domestication ; and it is not sur- prising, therefore, that removal to a locality less favourable, and, -perhaps, more resembling that of the original type of the species, should produce reversion. But it is probable that, as in the case of Mr. Lowe’s ferns, the varietal character could be made to reappear by transference to the former kind of environment. The precise explanation of such facts as these may probably be found in Dr. Weismann’s principle of germinal selection, which has surely been more or less understood for a long time. The sheep is born with two or three distinct possibilities, as to its wool; one locality favours one of these possible developments, one another. It is a case parallel to that of an amphibious “Ranunculus, which can be made to assume one form or the other, according to the terrestrial or aquatic environment. It is worth while to add, that here in New Mexico, one fre- quently sees small, usually pale yellowish-brown, horses, with extremely well-marked leg-stripes. These are descendants of the horses which ran wild in former years over this country ; and there can be little doubt, I think, that they represent an atavistic variety. NO. 1428, VOL. 55 | | cells. While it is probable that really new variations are equally in all directions, practically the variation of most organisms is remarkably definite, because so largely atavistic. And these definite atavistic variations may be perpetuated, in new combina- flons, in new races. It is precisely this which gives rise to “kaleidoscopic characters” in a group. A character may ap- | pear here and there, and species may be represented by different combinations of the same characters, as words are composed of combinations of the same letters. To cite an illustrative instance, the wings of bees present frequently one marginal, three submarginal, and three discoidal The submarginals may be reduced to two, or even to one, and the discoidals to two. All sorts of combinations, as to the number, shape, and size of these cells will be found, but the marginal will 7zo¢ be found lacking, nor the first discoidal or first submarginal absent, nor will the number of submarginals be found increased.’ Really new variations, as new ones running out to form a second marginal or a fourth submarginal, appear in slight degree, but doubtless sufficiently to afford material for selection, under new environment; but the old and common variations may occur suddenly, so that there may even be a radical difference between the opposite wings of the same speci- men. Very rarely, a remarkable sport will occur, not in accord- ance with our expectations, but these are much too rare to have selective value. In other hymenoptera, as the sawflies, the range of common variation is quite different; but still the variations to be looked for in each family are not miscellaneous, but run along certain well-recognised lines. To show that new, not atavistic, variations take definite lines is another matter, and I do not believe it can be done. T. D. A. COCKERELL. Mesilla, New Mexico, U.S.A., February 18. The Coral Reef at Funafuti. THE report on the coral reef at Funafuti that was read to the Royal Society on February 11, will doubtless be of very great interest to all who have studied the very difficult problems con- cerning the origin of reefs and atolls. At the same time, many will wonder why Prof. Sollas charac- terises the boring as a failure. Scientific expeditions very rarely accomplish all that is anticipated or even expected of them, but they are not necessarily failures in consequence. It is true that the borings at Funafuti could not be carried to a depth of more than 105 feet, and that the structure they revealed was not ‘* what a field geologist might have anticipated”; but they revealed the very important fact that underlying a coral reef of 50 feet in thickness, there was a stratum of sand containing a few coral blocks. It is perhaps premature to consider, until further details are published, whether this fact supports the views of Mr. Murray or his followers ; but what is perfectly clear at once, is that it lends no support to the well-known subsidence theory. I think it is of importance to call the attention of the scientific public to this at once, because, after dismissing the boring as a failure, Prof. Sollas gives the results of the soundings made in the neighbourhood of the island by H.M.S. Penguzz, and concludes by the statement that, in his opinion, these soundings support Darwin’s theory of coral atolls. I should not like at this stage to take upon myself the respon- sibility of saying they do not, but I should like to ask, after the negative evidence afforded by the borings, upon what grounds Prof. Sollas bases his opinions, SypNeEY J. HIcKson. Owens College, Manchester, February 20. Two Unfelt Earthquakes. REFERRING to Prof. John Milne’s interesting communication on “Two Unfelt Earthquakes,”’ asking for information as to whether these disturbances have been instrumentally recorded | elsewhere, Dr. Copeland requests me to say that an examination of the photographs of the oscillation-curve of the bifilar pen- dulum at this observatory shows several disturbances on February 7, the first of the dates mentioned by Prof. Milne. These are as follows:—At 7.37 a.m. an abrupt movement of the pen- dulum towards the north; from 8.24 to 8.41 a.m. a distinct reduction in the intensity of the colour of the photographic 1 Melipona and Trigona are exceptional, and in many ways depart widely from the normal type, so that they hardly come within the range of typical bee-modification. 440 WALOR FE | Marcu 11, 1897 trace, doubtless due to tremor of the mirror, and, though not | 1892 Captain V. Bottego obtained no less than eighteen speci- so well marked, yet quite similar in character to the gaps described in a previous letter (NATURE, No. 1410, November 5, 1896) ; at 5.32 p.m. another abrupt movement to the north, and a similar one at th. 20m. after midnight. movements have been compared with the mean of two measures of the sensitiveness of the instrument, and show tilts in the mirror frame of 1°6, 1°1, and 1°3 seconds of are respectively. In each case the mirror returned to the normal position slowly after a period of from 2 to 4 hours. On the other date given by Prof. Milne—February 13—there is only a slight trace of irregularity in the curve, consisting of a bend towards the north at Sh. 2m. a.m., the mirror returning to its original position three hours later. On dates more recent than those to which Prof. Milne calls attention, several disturbances have been recorded here. Of these the most strongly marked are : an abrupt north movement on February 16 at 8 p.m., and another on the 17th at 3 a.m. On the 18th there is a similar movement to the south at 6.15 The three abrupt | a.m., followed by two smaller oscillations in the opposite | direction, the three covering a period of 14 hours. On February 19 there are two well-marked gaps, precisely similar in character to those described in the letter above referred to. Tuomas HEATH. Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, March 2. | climbers. mens of that most singular rodent, /eterocephalus glaber, in one day. at the Wells of Herrer, near Archeisa, in North Somaliland. Sixteen specimens, well preserved in alcohol, were forwarded by him to Marquis Giacomo Doria, and have been distributed to various museums through the learned Director of the Museo Civico of Genoa. In his book (‘‘ Il Giuba esplorato,” pp. 38-41, Roma, 1895) Captain Bottego figures the Heterocephalus, and also one of their colonies of singular conical mole-hills. Florence, February 24. Henry H. GIGUIOL!. THE CAUCASUS. ITTLE though the methods and spirit of sport have in common with those of science, each subject is greatly indebted to the other. Our knowledge of the habits of big game is mainly due to hunters ; and for the first great advances in mountain cartography and in the study of high mountain regions, we are indebted to In the early days of the Alpine Club some of its members, at the suggestion of John‘ Ball, placed instruments on summits that were accessible only to Fic. 1.—Ushkul. The Origin of Manna. THE note in NATURE, p. 349, concerning the ‘‘ manna,” reminds me of a passage in Daniele Bartoli’s ‘* Asia.” Speaking of the island of Ormuz—which is described as one of the places in the world worst supplied in even commonest necessities of life, and scarcely having any water—the historian tells us that ‘‘not even thorns and briars could grow on its barren soil ; no animals or birds (sc) are seen there all the year round, but every morning a dew falls which congeals into grains, has a very sweet taste, and is called ‘ manna.’” Now, tamarisks affect sandy soils or brackish shores; and as T. mannifera grows in Arabia, it may be that the exudations from the plants were blown from Oman, on the eastern shore of Arabia, across the Persian Gulf; or, perhaps, from the nearer coast of Persia. This would seem to confirm the belief that manna is the product of the tamarisk, and not of a lichen. Tooting College, S.W., February 26. B. Timorny. ‘*Heterocephalus glaber” in North Somaliland. In reference to the note given in Narure (vol. lv. p. 301) on the mammals collected in North-east Africa by Dr. Donaldson Smith, it may interest some of your readers to learn that in October | NO. 1428, VOL. 55] trained mountaineers, and thus obtained meteorological records much wanted at that time. Subsequently, another group of members of the Alpine Club turned their attention to the Caucasus, where their explor- ations resulted in the first accurate knowledge of its, lofty summits and its great snow-fields and glaciers. | Of the Alpine climbers who have taken part in this work, Mr. Douglas Freshfield was one of the earliest, was the best qualified as a geographer, and has been by far the most persistent. His “Central Caucasus and Bashan” (1869), which has taken place as an Alpine classic, | helped to rouse the first interest in England regard- ing the former mountains; and now, after thirty years’ further work has been done, he has collected the principal results imto a monograph, which is un- questionably the best illustrated book in the literature of mountaineering. Mr, Freshfield begins with a chapter on the “ Dis- 1 “ The Exploration of the Caucasus.’ By Douglas W. Freshfield. With illustrations by Vittorio Sella. Imp. 8vo. 2 vols. Pp. xxiii +278; pp. x +295; with 3 maps and 76 full-page illustrations, and 2 mountain panoramas. (London: Edward Arnold, 1896.) Marcu 11, 1897 | NATURE 441 coverers of the Caucasus,” occupied largely by reference to the English expeditions, to which our knowledge of its highest peaks is due. He then describes “the characteristics of the Caucasus,” comparing the range with the Alps, and referring to the most striking features in its flora, and stating the extent of its glaciers. After a brief summary of the political history of the region, he proceeds to his main task—a description of the prin- cipal peaks or groups of peaks, and a narrative of the first and, sometimes also of one or two, later ascents. In the second volume the chapters on the mountains and mountaineering are continued, and include contributions by Messrs. H. W. Holder, J. G. Cockin, Hermann Woolley, and Maurice de Déchy. The chapter in the book of most special interest to naturalists, both from its subject and the originality of its treatment, is that contributed by Prof. Bonney. It deals with “the physical history of the Caucasus,” and is illustrated by a geological map prepared by Mr. Reeves. Prof. Bonney points out that the Caucasus agrees more closely with the Pyrenees than with the Alps: for it is approximately Fic. a single chain formed by an isoclinal fold, and is much simpler than the Alps, both in history and structure. Thus, although part of the Caucasian region was occupied impossible in the view that the fossils belong to the later period. Prof. Bonney’s lucid sketch of Caucasian history is the first of the appendices, the rest of which include the by land at intervals during the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic | eras, it was not until between the Eocene and the Miocene that a mountain chain was formed there. The height was increased by a second series of earth-move- ments, which happened in the Pliocene. In structure | for general truth to local detail. the main chain consists of a band of gneiss, flanked by | crystalline schists, which, at two localities, form the | central watershed. On the southern side the schists are succeeded by Palaeozoic clay slates, while parallel to the | main range, and on both sides of it, there are belts of | Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Cainozoic deposits. the later deposits rise to a considerable height on the flanks: thus some fossils found by Sella on the summit of the Laila, prove the presence there of some Neozoic deposit ; this is said to be Lower Jurassic or Cretaceo- Eocene. As Fournier’s recent section shows that there are Eocene rocks only a little to the south of Some of | the Laila, and that they occur as a monoclinal fold, | of which the northern limb is lost, there is nothing | NO. 1428, VOL. 55] climbing record, tables of temperature and rainfall, a list of the heights at which the glacier snouts occur, and a very short list of literature. One of the principab features of the book is its illustrations. Most of them are Signor Sella’s photographs reproduced by the Meisenbach Company ; a few, including one or two of the best, such as the view of Ushba and the Chalaat Glacier, are by the Swan Electric Engraving Company- Mr. Freshfield has accepted photographs, as indispensable in such a work as the present, where precision of detail is. required ; but he frankly confesses his personal preference for engravings. This, however, as he aptly remarks, 1s. not to be taken as a preference for art to accuracy, but The photographs are so numerous and so superbly reproduced, that they show local detail in extraordinary fulness ; and the views are so well chosen, that they are as beautiful as they are me a i tograph by W. Donkin. 2.—The Zanner Passes. instructive, as accurate as they are artistic. By the courtesy of the publishers, two of the half-tone illustrations are here reproduced. With the exception of the journals of Alpine gymnasts, the average book on mountaineering takes a higher place as literature than that of any other class of travel. The author’s literary style is too well known to need any commendation here, and it need only be remarked that the present work ranks with the best of Alpine literature. There is one point, however, which is open to criticism. In his endeavour to avoid using “words of terror,” which alarm general readers and break the music of sentences, Mr. Freshfield has not followed any definite system of transliterating place-names. Accordingly, to discover Mr. Freshfield’s localities on the recent French map of Fournier, or on any Russian map, is a puzzle that requires ingenuity and patience ; while to find his names in a Russian index is sometimes almost impossible. Thus y is sometimes transliterated c/, and at other times ish ym is rendered as 7 or ad; & may stand either for the Russian x or x, while 4% also represents both these 442 NATURE [Marcu 11, 1897 letters. The letter = comes from either 3 or q; 4o0rzv from pg; #, yandz from 51; and a from a or q; ande from e or 9. Sometimes the Russian g is given its phonetic equivalent of a, but at other times, when it has the same pronunciation, it is rendered by 0. Hence in retransliterating some of the author's place-names into Russian, there are so many available alternatives that certainty is impossible. The spelling of place-names, however, is a detail with which the general reader has no concern; but Mr. Freshfield’s compromises form pitfalls for the students who may use the volume. With the difficulties of the “Scientist” the author has scant sympathy. A current of delightful and subtle sarcasm runs all through the book; and the unlucky “scientist” comes in for all the author’s hardest hits and most racy banter. At first sight it appears that the three main sins of the man of science are his narrow specialism, his pernicious habit of publishing “scattered communications” in scientific serials, and his delusion that a climber is not neces- sarily a geologist. The author, however, fortunately defines the sense in which he uses the word “scientist” : he means thereby “a man who bears the same relation to a ‘man of science’ as a poetaster does to a poet.” Perhaps it is a pity that Mr. Freshfield did not make use of the pejorative -as¢ev, and then classify writers on Caucasian natural history into “scientists” or men of science, and scientasters. Hickel once grouped into one section of a bibliography, all the works which he regarded as quite valueless. He never repeated this experiment ; and Mr. Freshfield might have found the publication of a list of scientasters a more dangerous feat than any of his first ascents in the Caucasus. When we come to definite cases, we find that the man of science 1s blamed for the sins of those who are not men of science, and ‘are hardly scientasters. Mr. Freshfield is severe on the man of science for the mistakes made in underrating the area of the Cau- casian glaciers. He promises, on the principle of corruptio optimt pessima, that he will only quote from “writers of authority.” Then he proceeds to quote from Keith Johnston and Reclus. But they are compilers and not original authorities; and judging from some of the extracts given, we should think the introduction of the word compilaster is urgently required. The quota- tions from the “‘ Géographie Universelle” afford an illus- tration of a devotion to obsolete authorities not unusual among anarchists. If a man of science wanted accurate information about Caucasian glaciers, he would not go to books where the information is given second-hand and often third-hand, but to the series of papers by Zhukov in Zemlevyedyenie, or the elaborate monograph by Dinnik in the Zap. Kavkaz. Otd. Russ. Gheoghr. Obshch. But we cannot find any reference to either author in the volumes, although we have searched for the latter as Dinnik, Djinnikh, Jinnik, Schinnik, and Finik. So we presume he is either a “scientist” or a quasi-scientist or a scientaster, and that his elaborate | monograph only “ darkens with vain words” the 130 pages of the serial on which it is printed. The complaint is made that men of science have not always given his climb- ing colleagues fair credit for the results they have obtained. If climbers had always worked as carefully, and observed as thoroughly as Mr. Freshfield, and if they had possessed the critical geographical instinct shown on every page he has contributed to these volumes, the criticisms in question would probably never have been made. The latest scientific work on the Caucasus expresses full ac- knowledgment of the work of “les hardis alpinistes anglais.” And with the present work before him, no one can doubt the value of the contributions which climbers have made to scientific geography. | J. W. G. 0. 1428, VOL. 55] THE EXTRACTION OF AN ALCOHOL- PRODUCING FERMENT FROM YEAST. {z has long been currently taught that the alcoholic fermentation of sugar by yeast differs from the more common hydrolytic processes of the ordinary enzymes, inasmuch as it is intimately associated with, and directly dependent on, the living action of the yeast cell. But some investigators have believed that, notwithstanding the apparent impossibility of separating an alcoholic ferment from the organism, such a body nevertheless exists, and that alcoholic fermentation is thus, after all, only a special case of ordinary enzyme action, although, no doubt, one of peculiar complexity. These views have just received a remarkable con- firmation at the hands of Dr. E. Buchner, who has com- municated the results of his researches on this problem in a short but important paper, entitled ‘* Alcoholische Gahrung ohne Hefezellen,” which will be found in the first number of the Ber. d@. deutsch. Chem. Gesellsch. for the present year. The author, by pounding up pure yeast with quartz sand, and adding a certain amount of water, was able to squeeze out, under a pressure of 4-500 atmospheres, a liquid which, after thorough filtering, was of an opalescent appearance, and possessed an agreeable yeast-like odour. All care was taken to exclude any organism from the liquid, and it was found that under these conditions it was able to excite alcoholic fermen- tation in solutions of suitable sugars. Thus, on adding a quantity to an equal volume of cane-sugar, bubbles of carbon dioxide appeared after the lapse of an interval varying from fifteen minutes to an hour. Grape-sugar is similarly fermented, but milk-sugar undergoes no change, just as is the case when living yeast is employed. One observation is of especial interest, namely, that the addition of chloroform, even up to the saturation point, does not inhibit the fermentative process, although it causes a rapid precipitation of albuminous substances from the liquid. This seems to prove conclusively that we are not here dealing with a body which is still living, in the ordinary acceptation of the term. If the expressed liquid be heated to a temperature of about 50° C. coagulation occurs, and the power of exciting fermentation is lost both by the coagulum and by the remaining liquid. It was also found that in the active liquid the ferment itself diffuses very slowly, if at all, through parchment-paper (Pergament-papier). On the whole, the evidence at present before us seems to indicate that the ferment, which its discoverer has called Zymase, is possibly of a proteid nature. Dr. Buchner believes that this is certainly the case, though until it has been separated from the rest of the hetero- geneous substances, some at least of which are proteids, the question as to its real constitution can hardly be regarded as decided. Buchner, whilst believing that the process of normal fermentation can go on within the body of the yeast cell itself, considers it as yet more probable that the Zymase is actually excreted into the sugar solution by the living organism. At any rate, it would seem that proteids can pass out of the cells into the surrounding liquid, for if the yeast be sown in a slightly alkaline solution of cane- sugar, and some of the fermenting fluid be examined after some hours have elapsed, it is found to contain a considerable quantity of a substance which coagulates on heating, and which is stated to be of an albuminous nature. This brief sketch of Buchner’s work will suffice to indicate not only its great theoretical interest, but also its practical importance in connection with those industries which are more directly concerned with fermentative processes. Ifooibn 1s3 , Marcu 11, 1897] NATURE 443 KARL WEIERSTRASS. HE death of Prof. Karl Weierstrass, on February 19 in the present year, has taken from science one of the greatest pure mathematicians of the century. It is now some considerable time since he ceased to deliver lectures as professor in the University of Berlin ; the last few years of his life were troubled by broken health. As is indicated by a pathetic reference in the preface to the first volume of his Collected Works, he was obliged to obtain assistance, partly in preparing them for publica- tion, and partly to secure that his intentions with regard to them might be carried out in case of his death. This help was loyally given by friends and former pupils during his life; it may be expected that the same loyalty will now be devoted to completing the series, which will be a fitting monument to his genius. And the appearance of the successive volumes will be eagerly expected and cordially welcomed by pure mathematicians all the world over. Weierstrass was born at Osterfelde, near Munster, on October 31, 1815 ; so that at the time of his death he was in his eighty-second year. His first professorship was at Deutsch Krone, the appointment dating as far back as 1842 ; from that chair he passed, in 1848, to Braunsberg ; and thence to Berlin. He was made professor extra- ordinarius at that University in 1856, and full professor in 1864 ; after which date the rest of his life was spent in connection with the University. The long range of his life finds a parallel in the long range of his scientific activity ; a couple of facts may suffice in illustration of its now distant beginning. As long ago as 1840, he prepared a memoir on elliptic functions, then called modular functions (it constitutes that portion of his now classical memoir ‘“ Theorie der Abelschen Functionen,” which relates to elliptic functions): in 1840, Cayley was an undergraduate at Cambridge. Weier- strass’s first paper on the higher Abelian transcendental functions was published in 1848; the contributions, which he then made to the theory, and the analytical method, which he then was perfecting, have been of significant import in the algebraical development of the theory of these functions. In 1848, Riemann was a student in Berlin; to the younger generation of mathe- maticians Riemann seems to belong to the past, for he died more than thirty years ago. This is not the occasion to write of Weierstrass’s work in detail, or to sketch the magnitude of his influence upon science and upon mathematicians. Its appreciation in England was marked by the Royal Society in 1881, when he was elected a foreign member of that body, and again in 1895. when he was awarded the Copley medal—the highest honour which the President and Council have the power to bestow in recognition of scientific worth. It would be idle to surmise what Weierstrass’s precise place in the history of his subject may prove to be, and its con- sideration may fairly be left to the future: any contem- porary estimate would make it high and honourable. He has been described as the parent of modern mathematical analysis ; his years and his knowledge had made him a Nestor among mathematicians ; and those who knew his writings, even though they may not have known the man, will learn of his death with a sense of personal regret. ACERS E. NOTES M. G. Darpoux, the distinguished professor of higher geometry in the University of Paris, has been elected a corre- sponding member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. THE fifth ‘‘James Forrest ” lecture of the Institution of Civil Engineers will be delivered by Dr. G. Sims Woodhead on Thursday, March 18, on ‘‘ Bacteriology.” NO. 1428, VOL. 55| A SPECIAL meeting of the Chemical Society is announced for Thursday, March 25, at eight o'clock, when Prof. Percy Frankland, F.R.S., will deliver the Pasteur Memorial lecture. THE contributions so far sent by members of the General Committee of the British Section of the Pasteur International Memorial, amount to 425/. (10,625 francs). This sum has been forwarded to the Central Fund in Paris. Mr. EpGArR THurston, Superintendent of the Madras Museum, has just arrived in England on a year’s leave of absence. Mr. W. Harcourr-Barn, who contributes to the March number of Zhe Entomologist a suggestive note on the causes of the decadence of the British Rhopalocera, is about to leave England upon an entomological expedition to the Himalayas. WE regret to announce the deaths of Prof. Georges Ville, professor of botanical physics in the Paris Natural History Museum, and Geheimrath Wilhelm Dollen, formerly assistant in the Observatories of Dorpat and Pulkova, and the author of a number of important papers in geodesy and astronomy. THE Council of the Society of Arts will proceed to consider the award of the Albert Medal for 1897 early in May next, and they, therefore, invite members of the Society to forward to the Secretary, on or before the 1oth of April, the names of such men of high distinction as they may think worthy of this honour. The medal was struck to reward ‘‘ distinguished merit for pro- moting Arts, Manufactures, or Commerce,” and was last awarded to Prof. D. E. Hughes, F.R.S. THE Victorian Era Exhibition, to be held this year at Earl’s Court, London, S.W., will comprise scientific and economic sections. The object of the exhibition is to show the advances which have been made during the sixty years of the reign of Her Majesty the Queen. In the scientific section it is intended to devote particular attention to the discoveries and inventions made in the United Kingdom during the Victorian era, and their development and application to purposes of general public utility. The chairman of the sub-committee of this section is Major-General Sir John Donnelly, R.E., K.C.B., and the vice- chairman, Mr. W. H. Preece, C.B., F.R.S. There are fifteen other members of the committee, most of them being Fellows of the Royal Society, and all of them known in the scientific world. Tue Mathematical and Physical Section of the Royal Society of Naples announces that the mathematical prize of 1896 is un- awarded, and the competition will be postponed till March 31, 1898. The theme for the prize is as follows :—To expound, discuss, and coordinate, possibly in a compendious form, all re- searches concerning the totality of prime numbers, introducing some noteworthy contribution to the laws according to which these numbers are distributed among integers The essays may be written in Italian, French, or Latin. H.S.H. Prince ALBERT OF Monaco has just published, in the Comptes rendus, the usual summary of his work in the Atlanticand Mediterranean. The third season’s cruise includes 82 soundings, with 19 sets of temperature observations ; samples of air and water were collected and examined, the former in the open sea and at high altitudes on the Azores. The most interesting result obtained is the discovery of a new bank, christened the Princess Alice Bank, near the Azores, between | 31° 28’ and 31° 41 N. lat. and 37° 50’ and 38° W. long, This bank lies N.W. to S.E., bottom rock and volcanic sand, at a mean depth of 252 metres, and has a rich and abundant fauna. On June 4 to 6, between Monaco and Corsica, hundreds of swallows alighted on the vessel and showed themselves remarkably tame, making their way into the engine-room and stoke-hold, and feeding from the sailors’ hands. 444 DEA A KLE [| Marcu 11, 1897 M. JuLEes RicHarp, zoologist on board the Prince of Monaco’s vessel, describes in the Comptes rendus an apparatus devised by him with the view of ascertaining whether the amount of gases dissolved in sea water is independent of pres- sure at great depths, or not. A steel bottle filled with mercury, and ingeniously arranged to remain vertically inverted over a beaker, was allowed to slide down the sounding line fill, at the required depth, a catch previously attached to the line actuated an arrangement for lowering the beaker slightly, allowing mer- cury to escape from the bottle and to be replaced by water. A messenger, sent down later, “‘ set off’ the reversing thermometer, and at the same time lowered the steel bottle again into the mercury of the beaker. On drawing the whole up, any gases not in solution must have been set free, either by change of temperature or of pressure. The result of two satisfactory experiments at depths of rooo and 2700 metres is to confirm previous experience that the quantity of gas dissolved is in- dependent of the pressure. M. Richard applies a similar mechanical arrangement to a modification of Giesbrecht’s tow- net, which he describes in the Bwdletin de la Socicté Zoologique de France. The tow-net is placed on the sounding-line after the latter has been lowered to the desired depth, and allowed to slide down closed, until a stop on the line arrests and opens it. Before hauling up, the mouth of the net is again closed bya messenger let down from the surface. Ina series of notes, M. Richard contributes to the same publication observations on a Limnicythera of the lakes in the Bois de Boulogne, on the fresh- water fauna of the Azores, and on the fauna of some high lakes in the Caucasus, the last from collections by M. Kavraisky. ABUNDANT stores of cleveite, alvite, monazite, and other rare minerals, have been found in a mine recently discovered at Ryfylke, Norway. A specimen of the cleveite has been sent to us, and it proves to be very rich in helium. Many investigators will be glad to know that the minerals can be purchased at a comparatively low price, particulars of which will be found in our advertisement columns. FRoM a careful study of James Glaisher’s aerostatical ob- servations, Signor F. Siacci has propounded two new formulz representing the law of decrease of atmospheric temperature and aqueous vapour with the altitude. From these he has deduced a new barometric formula for the measurement of altitudes, as simple as Laplace’s formula, and which, when tested on Monviso and Mount Etna, has given almost perfect results. AN investigation of certain new series for the Gamma Function has been given by Herr G. Landsberg, of Heidelberg, who has discovered some remarkable generalisations of Stirling’s and Kummer’s series. The two new series, of which these are particular cases, are shown to be closely connected together, a result the more remarkable in view of the fact that Kummer’s series is convergent for certain values of the variable, while Stirling’s series is always semi-convergent, being ultimately divergent, though the convergent portion can be used for practical approximations. Herr Landsberg’s paper is to be published by the Royal Academy of Belgium among their foreign memoirs. THE brilliantly iridescent colours of the scales on the Brazilian diamond beetle (Zxtimus ztmperialis) have been examined by Dr. Garbasso, who finds that, unlike the corre- sponding colours in Lepidoptera, these are entirely due to interference, and are of the nature of colours of thin plates. With transmitted and reflected light the colours seen are com- plementary ; moreover, the colours can be altered by subjecting the scale to pressure; again, on moistening and subsequently drying the scale, changes of colour are observed not unlike those produced in M. Lippmann’s colour-photographs when the gela- tine film has been moistened and allowed to dry. All these NO. 1428, VOL 55 phenomena accord with the view that the scales consist of two layers separated by a thin interspace. Dr. Garbasso’s paper is published in the Memorze della R. Accademia delle Sctenze di Torino. Pror. F. PLATEAU, of the University of Ghent, has for many years carried on a series of observations on the mode in which insects are attracted to flowers, the results of which are pub- lished in the Av//etén of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium. His conclusions are not in accord with that of Darwin, that the bright colour of the corolla acts as a beacon to attract insects. He believes that they are attracted chiefly by some other sense than that of sight, probably that of smell. In the case of the dahlia (single) and other species of Composite, the removal of the conspicuous ray-florets had but little effect on the visits of insects; nor had the removal of the conspicuous part of the corolla in other flowers, as long as the nectary remained. On the other hand, the artificial placing of honey on otherwise scentless: flowers resulted in their being immediately visited by numbers of insects. Where the same species varies in the colour of the flower, as between blue and white, or red and white, insects visit quite indifferently flowers of different colours belonging to the same species. AN interesting paper by Prof. F. Omori, on the intensity and amplitude of the motion in the great Japanese earthquake ot 1891, appears in the latest Bollettino (vol. ii. N. 6) of the Italian Seismological Society. At Osaka, distant 140 km. from the place where the shock was most severe, the maximum hori- zontal displacement (or double amplitude) was 30 mm., and the maximum acceleration, which measures the intensity, 600 mm. per sec. per. sec. At Tokio, distant 270 km., the displacement was about 45 mm., and the maximum acceleration 230 mm. per sec. per sec. These values were obtained from seismographic records. Nearer the epicentre, the maximum acceleration can only be determined by observations on the overturning or fracturing of various bodies, At two places in the province of Owari, it exceeded 4300 mm. per sec. per sec. ; while at Nagoya, in the same province, it was found to be 2600 mm. per second, and the greatest displacement 220 mm. IN the January number of Watur und Offenbarung (Minster), Dr. J. W. van Bebber gives an interesting account of the methods employed and the success attained in the telegraphic weather service of the Deutsche Seewarte at Hamburg, and traces the history of this branch of meteorological science since the in- vention of the optical telegraph in 1793. The question of the actual results attained is not so easy to decide as might at first sight appear, owing to the various methods employed in check- ing them, and the different purposes for which the forecasts are used, Seamen are mostly concerned with the direction and force of wind, while agriculturists are chiefly interested with temperature, and fine or wet weather. In the present state of the science, the former conditions are much easier to predict than the latter. So far as storm warnings are concerned, the © author has investigated the cases in which shipping casualties have occurred on the German coasts for a considerable number of years, and inds that in nearly all cases successful warnings were issued. The methods employed are nearly similar to those followed in this country; telegrams are received at various hours showing, according to the international code, the actual conditions, and the changes since the previous reports. In the morning five weather charts are simultaneously prepared, show- ing respectively the barometric pressure, wind direction and force, state of the sky, temperature, and rainfall, &c. In the afternoon two charts are drawn, showing the air-pressure, temperature, and the variations since the morning, and during the unsettled season (September to April) further charts are con- structed, showing the conditions in the evening. ls Marcu 11, 1897 | NATURE 445 THE current number of the Revue de LP Université de Bruxelles contains an interesting memoir by Dr. Funck, entitled “Les vaccinations contre le choléra aux Indes.” It will be remembered that the first attempts at anti-cholera vaccination originated with and were carried out bya Spanish medical man, Dr. Ferran, some twelve years ago, and we can but admire the splendid audacity which in those early days led him to practise inoculations with living cholera bacilli. His vaccine consisted of eight drops of a cholera culture mixed with bile, and the mis- fortunes which followed his inoculations were, probably, largely attributable to his cholera cultures not being pure. That con- siderable faith was in the first instance placed in Ferran’s process, is shown by the fact that some 25,000 persons under- went the treatment. Haffkine’s vaccinations against cholera are a direct outcome of the pioneering work published by Ferran on this subject in 1885. In the inoculations which have proved so successful in India, Haffkine employs first, attenuated cholera bacilli, and then, a few days later, virulent cholera cultures ; but recently Kolle has obtained equally good results by using dead cholera bacilli, which have been destroyed either by heat or chloroform. In the latter process rather larger doses have to be employed to produce the same effect. The blood of persons vaccinated against cholera has been tested as to its protective potency, and it has been found to be two hundred times more active against cholera infection than that of a non-vaccinated individual. That improved sanitation and enlightened hygienic measures are capable of combating cholera to a most important extent, is shown by the fact that, since the year 1892, whilst in Russia 800,000 individuals have fallen victims to cholera ; in Germany, including the Hamburg cholera epidemic, only 9000 cholera deaths have been recorded. A DESCRIPTIVE list of all published observations of the Aurora Australis is given by Dr. Wilhelm Boller in Gerland’s “* Beitrage zur Geophysik” (vol. iii.). From this catalogue it appears that the greatest number of observations were made in March and October, and the least in June and November. As with the Aurora Borealis, the frequency of the phenomena seems to vary in consonance with the eleven-year period of solar activity. The line which embraces all the observations is a circle around the south magnetic pole, this result being similar to that obtained by NordenskiGld from the observations of the Aurora Borealis. Dr. Boller intends to amplify and continue his catalogue, and for that purpose he will be glad to know of any records overlooked by him, or of any observations which may be made in the future. Letters will find him at the Geographical Seminary of the University of Strasburg. EVIDENCE of the former extension of glacial action on the west coast of Greenland, and in Labrador and Baffin Land, is given by Mr. George H. Barton in the American Geologist (December 1896), an excerpt from which has just been sent to us. Mr. Barton went to northern Greenland with the sixth Peary expedition in the summer of last year, and he proposes to con- tinue his observations during the coming summer, when Lieut. Peary will take another expedition to Greenland for the purpose of obtaining the large meteorite which could not be shipped last year, The coast of Greenland offers exceptional facilities for the study of glacial phenomena. It is hoped, therefore, that, as Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent parties with the Peary expedition last year, other universities, colleges, and scientific organisa- tions will send parties to accompany the forthcoming expedi- tion. AN interesting contribution to the question ‘* How do igneous rocks intrude?” has been made by Prof. I. C. Russell, in two papers to the Fournal of Geology, and one to the Popular Sczence Monthly (December 1896). Besides bringing together a number NO. 1428, VOL. 55 | of suggestions already made, he introduces some new ideas based on his study of the Black Hills of Dakota. In that region a number of structures are found (of which striking photographs are given), resembling the famous laccolites of the Henry Mountains, but, in part, differing from them in the absence of any lateral extension. These Prof, Russell calls plutonic plugs. A study of these leads him to the suggestion that the whole of the Black Hills uplift, and other mountain uplifts in which direct elevation and stretching take the place of compression and crumpling, may be due to enormous laccolite-like intrusions of molten rock at a great depth. Such an intrusion he terms a suhtuberant mountain, and suggests that crystalline areas, commonly said to show ‘regional metamorphism,” may be such subtuberant mountains laid bare. OUR congratulations to the Leicester Literary and Philo- sophical Society. Stimulated into action by a paper on the disappearances of certain species of insects, by Mr, Frank Bouskell, a Committee was formed to formulate regulations for the protection of local species. As a result of their delibera- tions, a list of insects has been drawn up, and the number of each allowed to be taken by members of the Society in one season has been specified. When a ccllector now sees Leewcophasia stnapsis (the Wood White butterfly), he must hold his hand and crush his sporting instinct, for none of this insect are to be taken. Of Macroglossa fuciformzs only one specimen must be taken by each member in a single season, and only one specimen of Sesta apiformis, The penalty for breaking these regulations are drastic. If a member of the Society, the transgressor is liable to be expelled by a bare majority of the members present at any meeting, and if a member of any other Society, the trans- gression will be reported to that Society. Landowners will also be asked to refuse to permit offenders to pass through their grounds. The over-zealous collector will, indeed, be ostracised, and will find that no one will buy from him, exchange with him, or have anything to do with him entomologically. There may be a difficulty in carrying out the regulations, and one result will probably be that collectors will prefer to go out alone in the future. But it is hoped that entomologists will remember that they are not supposed merely to fulfil the functions of a fly-paper, but also to work for the advancement of their science. LECTURERS upon geography will be glad to know that lantern slides of the illustrations in Dr. Nansen’s ‘‘ Farthest North ” are now published by Messrs. Newton and Co., who made the slides which Dr, Nansen uses at his own lectures. AN elaborate descriptive catalogue of chemical apparatus, containing more than five hundred pages, has been issued by Messrs. A. Gallenkamp and Co. The list contains quotations for apparatus and accessories used in every branch of chemistry, and the prices are given both for Germany and the United Kingdom. The Rendiconti del R. Istituto Lombardo (xxx. ili.) contains papers, by G. Melzi, ‘On Certain Rocks from the Island of Ceylon,” and an account, by Prof. C. Somigliana, of some de- terminations of the specific heat of sea and lake water, under- taken by the late Prof. Adolfo Bartoli, of Pavia, shortly before his death, and forming his last contributions to science. 5\TuHe March number of the Geographical Fournad contains a fine portrait of Dr. Nansen, reproduced by the Swan Electric Engraving Company, and an illustration of the special medal presented to him by the Royal Geographical Society. The address delivered in the Albert Hall, on February 8, is not printed in the ¥serna/, because Dr. Nansen is delivering it in 446 NATURE | Marcu 11, 1897 different parts of the United Kingdom during the present month. Two parts recently issued complete the ninth volume of that useful publication, 7ke Zssex Naturalist. A more than local interest attaches to the reports on the borings for coal at Stutton and Weeley, on the latter of which more details are promised in the next number. Both borings have been unsuccessful in their primary object, high-dipping unfossiliferous rocks, of at least Lower Carboniferous age, coming immediately under the Gault in both cases. Among the numerous papers and notes on Essex matters, we note a contour-shaded map of South Essex, prepared by Mr. T. V. Holmes, which may be regarded as an example of how accurate small-scale maps can be pro- duced: it is reduced by photography from a shaded six-inch map. THE well-known work on ‘‘ Metals; their properties and treatment,” published in Messrs. Longmans’ series of Text- Books of Science, has been considerably enlarged by Prof. A. K. Huntington and Mr. W. G. McMillan. The work originally appeared in 1872, and occupied 312 pages ; but, in order to in- clude the great developments which have taken place in the practice of metallurgy in recent years, it has had to be extended to 562 pages, and even now Prof. Huntington regrets that he has not been able to deal with each branch of the subject fully enough to satisfy himself. Notwithstanding this statute of limi- tations, the new edition of ‘‘ Metals” has been brought up to date so satisfactorily that it will certainly meet with a hearty re- ception. The object of the book is to ‘‘ make clear the principles which have guided the evolution of the metallurgical arts and industries, avoiding multiplicity of detail, which tends to obscure main issues.” The present edition of the book shows that this object has been borne in mind throughout, the result being a readable and instructive volume. THE report drawn up by Prof. W. A. Herdman and Mr. Andrew Scott, on the investigations carried on, in 1896, in con- nection with the Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Laboratory at Uni- versity College, Liverpool, contains many noteworthy matters. Particular attention is given to the description of work on oysters and their possible connection with disease in man. Prof. Herdman urges moderation on the part of those sanitary reformers who expect the conditions in which oysters are kept to be perfect. ‘‘ After all,” he says, “‘ we do not want—even if we could get it—an aseptic oyster. The rest of our food—our milk, our bread and cheese, our ham sandwiches, and so on— are teeming with germs, most of them harmless so far as we know ; but some of them may be just as bad as any that can be in shellfish. If we were to insist on breathing filtered air, and eating nothing but sterile food, washed down with antiseptic drinks, we should probably die of starvation, or something worse, if we did not go mad first with the constant anxiety.” It is held that the object should be to get our oyster-beds as healthy as possible, but not to insist upon conditions which will make it im- possible to rear any oysters at all. As the result of work carried out with Prof. Boyce, Prof. Herdman recommends that all grounds upon which shellfish are grown or bedded should be inspected, so as to ensure their practical freedom from sewage, and also that oysters should be kept alive for a short time in running water; for experiments show that the living animal soon gets rid of any disease germs with which it may be infected, if it is kept in clean water. A catalogue of the Fisheries Collection in the Zoological Department of the University College, Liverpool, is appended to Prof. Herdman’s report. Two papers, extracted from the thirteenth annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology, have come to us from Mr. Cosmos Min- NO. 1428, VOL. 55] deletf. One is on the ‘* Casa Grande Ruin,” situated near Gila River, in Southern Arizona, and the best-known specimen of aboriginal architecture in the United States. The accurate plans and careful descriptions contained in this paper should be very valuable to students of American antiquities. It is con- cluded that the Casa Grande was undoubtedly built and occupied by a branch of the Pueblo race, or by an allied people. These people were probably the ancestors of the present Pima Indians, now found in the vicinity, and known to be a pueblo-building tribe. The subject of Mr. Cosmos Mindeleffs second memoir is ‘‘ Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona.” It is con- cluded that these ruins represent a comparatively late period in the history of the Pueblo tribes. There is no essential difference, other than those due to immediate environment, between the architecture of the lower Verde region and that of the more primitive types—Tusayan, for example—found in other regions. The Verde architecture is, however, of a more purely aboriginal type than that of any modern pueblo, and the absence of intro- duced or foreign ideas is its chief characteristic. The remains suggest that cavate lodges and cliff-dwellings are simple varieties of the same phase of life, and that life was an agricultural one. Mr. Mindeleff’s paper is a very valuable contribution to the knowledge concerning the interesting archeological remains of the Rio Verde valley, and their position among types of house structure. THE fourth Annual Report of the Shanghai Meteorological Society contains an interesting essay on the variations of the atmospheric pressure over Siberia and Eastern Asia during the months of January and February 1890, by the Rev. S. Chevalier, S.J., Director of the Zi-ka-wei Observatory, and President of the Society. The investigation was undertaken to elucidate some of the more doubtful points relating to winter storms in the Eastern seas, and for this purpose synoptic charts have been drawn twice daily for the period in question, showing the distribution of barometric pressure over Siberia and Eastern Asia, based chiefly upon the reports issued by the Russian, Chinese and Japanese services. The conclusions arrived at show that while some of the cyclonic storms may make a tour of the globe, most of them experience great difficulty in crossing Western Siberia, and are generally deflected towards the North Pole by the high pressure prevailing over Central Siberia. The depressions over Siberia, though far distant from the coasts of China, affect, at least indirectly, the weather of those parts; and the author finds that the winter storms of China are very generally preceded by the passage of extra-tropical cyclones. The violence of the gales not only depends upon the depth of the disturbance, but also upon the character of the high-pressure areas in the rear of the depression. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Yellow-bellied Liothrix (Lzothrix luteus) from India, presented by Madame Caté; a Viperine Snake (Zropidonotus vipferinus), Europe, presented by Mr. J. H. M. Furse ; eleven Scorpion Mud Terrapins (Cznosternon scorpotdes) from North Brazil, presented by Dr. Emil A. Goeldi ; a Yellow- cheeked Amazon (Chrysotés autumnalis) from Honduras, pre- sented by Mrs. Annie Kattengell; two Chipping Squirrels (Zamias striatus) from North America, deposited ; a Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris) from Berkshire, a Salle’s Amazon (Chrysotis ventralis) from St. Domingo, purchased; two Egyptian Jerboas (Dépus a@gyptzus), nine Egyptian Cobras (Mata haje), two Cerastes Vipers (Cevastes cornutus), twelve Egyptian Eryx (Zryx jaculus), a Clifford’s Snake (Zamenzts diadema), two Hissing Sand Snakes (Psammophis sebtlans), two Snakes (Zamenszs florulentus) from Egypt, received in exchange. aes Marcu 11, 1897] INWATURKE 447 OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. DRAWINGS OF MercuRY.—Mr. Percival Lowell, writing (Astr. Nach., No. 3407) of the planet Mercury, says that the markings of the planet are distinct and dark. They are generally of the nature of lines. Both poles, he says, are shaded, and there is a conspicuous dark band cutting off the southern one from the rest of the planet. This band is stated to be continuous for several degrees of longitude, and may possibly girdle the zone completely. The period of rotation of the planet was found to be synchronous with the orbital revo- lution, thus endorsing Schiaparelli’s previously determined period of eighty-eight days. Even from the drawings, several of which are reproduced, a slow period of rotation seems the more probable, while observations made since they were completed confirm this still more. PROMINENCE PHOTOGRAPHY.—During the last twelve months many attempts have been made to obtain impressions on a photographic plate, showing various solar phenomena, and all of them have had for their basis the well-known action of electrical radiation ona sensitive film. -The method consists in wrapping a plate in some opaque material, velvet, tinfoil, paper, &c.. and then exposing it to the sun, using either the general diffused light, or the image formed by an object-glass or in a pin-hole camera. In several cases results have been obtained more or less consistent, but in general the impressions have been dis- similar at each trial, thus suggesting accidental causes for the effect. In the Photogram for July 1896, Mr. D. Packer gave several photographs of impressions he had obtained on plates exposed in this way, which were supposed to show the details of the solar corona. Results exactly similar to those given have been obtained by the writer, but in every case the effect could be traced to imperfections in the wrapping of the plat., and the consequent spreading of the light thus admitted direct to the film. Now in the current Comptes rendus (p. 459), M. P. de Heen describes the appearance he gets on exposing a covered plate at the focus of a small object-glass. He finds that a ring is pro- duced on the plate, corresponding to the solar atmosphere in size, and thinks that the chromosphere is the seat of electric radiations, while the photosphere is simply the source of luminous radiation, thus suggesting that, if true, this may furnish a method of examining the spots and prominences. OXYGEN IN THE SuN.—Some time ago (NATURE, vol. lv. p. 303) we pointed out in this column that Herren Runge and Paschen had reason to believe that the three lines of oxygen— 7772°26, 7774°30, and 7775°97—1in the solar spectrum were probably not atmospheric, and we further mentioned that a crucial test could be made by examining the solar spectrum for motion in the line of sight. Mr. Lewis Jewell has taken up this problem, and contributes the result of his inquiry to the Astrophysical Fournal (February 1897, p. 99). He found that using a grating, 15,000 lines to the inch, the spectrum was so "exceedingly weak to the eye when the slit of the spectroscope was placed near the edge of the sun’s disc, that no satisfactory observations of the three lines mentioned above could be made. Mr. Jewell then turned his attention to investigating whether a high or low sun caused any appreciable difference in intensity of these lines. In this he was more fortunate, and is now able to state that his observations ‘‘ prove conclusively that the three lines supposed to be due to oxygen in the sun are produced by water vapour in the earth’s atmosphere.” THE ToraL SoLar Ec.iiresE or Aucust 8, 1896.—In the January number of the Bud/e¢in of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences (5th series, vol. vi. No. 1) appear three accounts of the observations made at Novaya Zemlya. The first is the report of Prof. O. Backlund, whose station was situated at Malya Karmakouly, and whose programme con- sisted in observing the contacts and sketching the corona. The weather seemed to have been all that could be desired, and all four contacts were obtained. The second report ismade by M S. Kostinsky and A. Hansky, who observed from the same station. This is accompanied by some excellent reproductions taken direct from the enlarged negatives, showing an amount of detail in the streamers that is seldom obtained. One photo- graph was taken about third contact, and shows that interesting phenomenon known as ‘‘ Baily’s beads,” which interferes so much with the estimation of the exact observed time of contact. There is also a plate showing the corona and a large region of NO. 1428, VOL. 55] the sky around it : conspicuous on this are Jupiter and several stars. An excellent drawing of the details, as gathered from a minute examination of all the photographs taken, is further added. Lieut. Bouchteeff, who was carrying on some hydro- graphic operations at Novaya Zemlya, observed the eclipse from the Bay of Belougia Gouba. He: noted the times of all four contacts, and made a rough sketch of the corona, which are all given in his report published in this Bzd/etzn. THE CHEMISTRY OF THE STars.—The rapid strides that have been made in the development of spectrum analysis since the time of Wollaston, and the important step taken by Prof. Pickering in the adoption of the prismatic-camera form of in- strument, have led many to investigate the spectra of the stars in our universe. Such a survey, although slow to accom- plish, is of great importance, since we are able to pass at a bound from terrestrial temperatures, and observe the behaviour of our elements at temperatures far beyond our ken. The chemist is thus left far behind. and is restricted to a very limited range of temperature, while the astronomer has at his disposal temperatures the magnitude of which cannot be even conceived. That the celestial bodies about us vary enormously in their degrees of temperature is now admitted by every one, and some idea of the different kinds of spectra emitted by these bodies may be gathered from Mr. Fowler’s interesting article in Knowledge (March), which deals in the main with the im- portant work that is being carried on at Kensington under the direction of Mr. Norman Lockyer. That the stars are now being successfully classified in a closed curve—?z.e. some are increasing and some decreasing their temperatures—is only one of many important advances of the last few years. The recent discovery of the new form of hydrogen, by Prof. Pickering, is another rundle in the ladder of temperature, which seems to indicate that even in those stars within our sphere of the cosmos we may not have examples of the Azghest attainable temperature, ON ELECTRIC EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN URANIUM AND AN INSULATED METAL IN ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. THE wonderful fact that uranium held in the neighbourhood of an electrified body diselectrifies it, was first discovered by H. Becquerel. Through the kindness of M. Moissan we have had a disc of this metal, about five centimetres in diameter and a half-centimetre in thickness, placed at our disposal. We made a few preliminary observations on its diselectrifying property. We observed first the rate of discharge when a body was charged to different potentials. We found that the quantity lost per half-minute was very far from increasing in simple pro- portion to the voltage, from 5 volts up to 2100 volts; the electrified body being at a distance of about 2 cms. from the uranium discs. [Added March 9.—We have to-day seen Prof. Becquerel’s paper in Comptes rendus for March 1. It gives us great pleasure to find that the results we have obtained on dis- charge by uranium at different voltages have been obtained in another way by the discoverer of the effect. A very interesting account will be found in the paper above cited, which was read to the French Academy of Sciences on the same evening, curiously enough, as ours was read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. | These first experiments were made with no screen placed between the uranium and the charged body. We afterwards found that there was also a discharging effect, though much slower, when the uranium was wrapped in tinfoil. The effect was still observable when an aluminium screen was placed between the uranium, wrapped in tinfoil, and the charged body. To make experiments on the electric equilibrium between uranium and a metal in its neighbourhood, we connected an insulated horizontal metal dise to the insulated pair of quad- rants of an electrometer. We placed the uranium opposite this disc, and connected it and the other pair of quadrants of the electrometer to sheaths. The surface of the uranium was parallel to that of the insulated metal disc, and at a distance of about 1 cm, from it. It was so arranged as to allow of its easy removal. ; With a polished aluminium disc as the insulated metal, and with a similar piece of aluminium placed opposite it, in place of the uranium, no deviation from the metallic zero was found when the pairs of quadrants were insulated from one another. With 1 By Lord Kelvin, Dr. J. Carruthers Beattie, Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan. Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, March x. 448 Wed GOR FE [Marcu 11, 1897 the uranium opposite the insulated polished aluminium, a devia- tion of —84 sc. divs. from the metallic zero was found in about half a minute. After that the electrometer reading remained steady at this point, which we may call the uranium rays-zero for the two metals separated by air which was traversed by uranium rays. If, instead of having the uranium opposite to the aluminium, with only air between them, the uranium was wrapped in a piece taken from the same aluminium sheet, and then placed opposite to the insulated polished aluminium disc, no deviation was produced. Thus in this case the rays-zero agreed with the metallic zero. With polished copper as the insulated metal, and the uranium separated only by air from this copper, there was a deviation of about +10 sc. divs. With the uranium wrapped in thin sheet aluminium and placed in position opposite the insulated copper disc, a deviation from the metallic zero of + 43 sc. divs. was produced in two minutes, and at the end of that time a steady state had not been reached. With oxidised copper as the insulated metal, opposed to the uranium with only air between them, a deviation from the metallic zero of about +25 sc. divs. was produced. When the uranium, instead of being placed at a distance of one centimetre from the insulated metal disc, was placed at a distance of two or three millimetres, the deviation from the metallic zero was the same. These experiments show that two polished metallic surfaces connected to the sheath and the insulated electrode of an elec- trometer, when the air between them is influenced by the uranium rays, give a deflection from the metallic zero, the same in direction, and of about the same amount, as when the two metals are connected by a drop of water. THE EXTRACTION OF GOLD BY CHEMICAL METHODS. FLXCLUDING mechanical, smelting, and amalgamation pro- cesses, the methods of extracting gold from its ores may conveniently be grouped together under the heading of wet or chemical methods. In these, the gold is dissolved by some suit- able solvent, and is then separated from the unaltered ore by washing, and recovered by precipitation. The processes owe their origin to the rapid advance in the science of chemistry which has been made during the present century, and, although they are now of vast importance, and give results which would astonish our grandfathers, it is, perhaps, somewhat surprising that chemistry has not done more for the gold-mining industry. At the present day, the wet methods produce little more than a tenth of the total output of gold, while mechanical improvements in the old processes, made during the last half-century, are probably answerable for four or five times as much, Gold exists in nature practically only in one form, the metallic state, and the differences in treatment of the ores are necessitated by the variations in the physical condition of the metal, and by changes in the other constituents of the rock. Where the particles of gold are large enough to be seen by unassisted vision, they can usually be collected by means of mercury, and, on the other hand, are not dissolved in a reasonable time by any of the solvents of gold yet applied in practice. In these cases, therefore, chemical methods are not advantageous. Neverthe- less, it usually happens that some, if not all, of the gold in an ore is in an extremely fine state of division. It has recently been shown by Edman that a great proportion of the gold in American ores consists of particles less than y,/55 inch in diameter, and that some of these are less than ys, inch. Sometimes, gold in an ore is not visible even under the micro- scope, though readily detected by chemical means. Metal in such a condition is far more readily dissolved by a mobile liquid than by a viscous one like mercury, which does not wet the grains of sand between which the gold is hidden. Moreover, mercury may be prevented from doing its work by the presence of substances on which it exerts chemical action, such as the sulphides of antimony, or arsenic, or which protect the gold from its action by coating the particles with insoluble films. From such causes as these, it has long been recognised that the treatment of gold ores by mercury is very imperfect in a great many cases. The method is, speaking generally, unsatis- factory in extracting gold contained in pyrites or other sulphides, and it is in the treatment of these substances that the chlorina- tion process, now nearly fifty years old, has its main value. NO. 1428, VOL. 55] Chlorine is a somewhat slow solvent for gold, but the time occupied by it in dissolving the fine flakes existing in pyrites is not excessive. Unfortunately, chlorine has a strongly prefer- ential action on sulphides, and, to avoid the enormous waste of the gas which is entailed in the oxidation of a small percentage of these substances, it is necessary to precede chlorination by careful and complete roasting. Even in the rare cases, such as that of the Mount Morgan ore, in which the use of chlorine on completely oxidised ores is found to be desirable, the pre- liminary roasting is not omitted; as the peicolation of liquids through the roasted mass is far easier than through the raw ore. After roasting, there is little difficulty in the process. Oxides of the metals, except the alkaline earths, are very slowly attacked by chlorine ; and when the alkaline earths are present salt is added in the roasting furnace. Here one of the sources of loss in the process is encountered, chloride of gold being formed and volatilised at all temperatures above 200°, when common salt is mixed with the ore. In long-bedded furnaces, however, this loss is reduced to a minimum ; chloride of gold is prevented from formation by the presence of large quantities of unoxidised pyrites, and when formed, in the oxidised product in the hottest part of the furnace, it is in great part decomposed and re-absorbed during its passage over the bed of comparatively cool ore, which has just been charged into the furnace. It was formerly the universal practice to apply the chlorine to the slightly-damped roasted ore in the form of gas, and this method has never been entirely abandoned. Subsequently, after Dr. Mears had discovered that compressed chlorine was more rapid in its action than the same agent under ordinary atmospheric pressure, strong aqueous solutions were used, the ore being agitated with the solvent in revolving barrels. ’ This practice is still adhered to in several works in the United States. Elsewhere, however, it has been completely set aside. For example, at Mount Morgan, in Queensland, the largest chlori- nation mill in the world, stationary vats have been reverted to, aqueous solutions of chlorine being, however, still used. At this mill about 1,500 tons of ore are treated every week at a cost of about 18s. per ton, or little more than one-sixth of the value of the yield in gold. After the ore has been treated with chlorine for a period varying in different mills from an hour to one or two days, the liquid is filtered off and the gold precipitated by ferrous sulphate, sulphuretted hydrogen, or charcoal. As regards the relative advantages of these methods, it may be noted that charcoal only acts well with boiling solutions, and that sulphuretted hydrogen is now recommended by its advocates even when copper is present in the ore, Rothwell having recently pointed out that in acid solutions there is partial precipitation, all the gold being removed from solution before the copper begins to come down. The chlorination process, though perhaps unrivalled in the percentage of extraction which can usually be attained, labours under two serious disadvantages. Roasting the ore is often so expensive as.to be impracticable, and the silver is, in any case, all lost. Both of these disadvantages are avoided by the use of the cyanide process. This was introduced by MacArthur and the Forrests after prolonged researches, having for their object the discovery of some chemical process which would not requirea preliminary roasting of the ore. The action of cyanide solutions on the precious metals had long been known. Elsner had stated, in 1846, that the presence of air was necessary for the dissolution of gold or silver by potassium cyanide, and, subsequently, it was suggested that the action was represented by the equation 4Au + 8KCy + O, + 2H,O = 4K AuCy, + 4KHO. This equation has recently been established by Maclaurin (Jour. Chem. Soc. vol. \xiii. (1893) p. 7243 vol. Ixvii. (1895) p- 199), who also showed that the dissolution of gold and silver becomes slower in proportion as free oxygen is more and more carefully excluded from the system. Thus, when a plate of gold was treated with a solution containing I per cent. of cyanide of potassium ina stoppered bottle filled with oxygen, the loss of weight was 0'24 gramme in 96 hours; in a shallow vessel exposed to the air, the loss was 0°00835 gramme in 24 hours, and in a flask, freed from air as completely as possible, the loss was only 0’0002 gramme in the same time. In addition, Mac- laurin prepared the curves of solubility of gold and silver in cyanide solutions, and showed that the maximum rate of dis- solution of both metals is reached at 0°25 per cent. of KCy, and Marcu 11, 1897 | WATLURE 449 diminishes slowly as the concentration is increased, and rapidly if it is decreased. These results are in perfect accord with the experience gained in practice ona large scale. Before Maclaurin’s papers were pub- lished, the favourite stock solution in South Africa had for some time been one containing from 0°25 to 0°30 per cent. of cyanide, although weaker solutions are also used with excellent effect. Moreover, the difficulties introduced by a lack of free oxygen in the ore have long been severely felt. In particular, when con- centrates containing much pyrites are treated, the absorption of oxygen by the sulphides is so rapid that the dissolution of gold is soon checked and becomes extremely slow. Thus, while gold- leaf floating on cyanide solutions is dissolved in a few minutes, and, if submerged, in a few hours, the films of gold in pyrites, which are probably similar in thickness to gold-leaf, often take two or three weeks in going into solution, This is so far from satisfactory that many efforts have been made to increase the speed of action of cyanide in some way. An artificial supply of oxygen, or air forced through the charge of ore and solution, was found to shorten the time required but to increase the waste of cyanide, and similar results follow from the use of various oxidising agents, such as manganese dioxide, hydrogen peroxide, and bleaching powder. Greater interest attaches to the proposal made by Sulman and | Teed to add bromide of cyanogen to ordinary cyanide solutions | (Trans. of the Zyst. of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. iii. (1895), p- 202). They put forward the equation CyBr + 3KCy + 2Au = 2KAuCy, + KBr as expressing the action which takes place, but no direct proof has yet been afforded of the validity of this equation. These experimenters are, however, convinced that oxygen plays no part in the action, and, consequently, that except for the fact that the edges only of the films of gold in pyrites are presented for attack, solution of the gold in concentrates is as rapid as that in quartzose ores. This view is borne out by a number of trials on half-ton lots of ore, although no results of actual working have yet been published. Even when there is full access of air, however, asin the case of gold-leaf floating on the solution, the addition of cyanogen bromide greatly increases the rate of action of potassium cyanide, and if air and bromine are together passed through a solution of cyanide, the rate is increased about 100 times. . Slowness of action in dissolving gold is of more importance than may at first sight appear, for it must be remembered that alkaline cyanides attack many of the constituents of gold ores at varying rates, and, therefore, that the longer the solution is left in contact with the ore, the greater will be the decomposi- | tion of the cyanide, and, consequently, the greater the total cost of the process. Decomposing pyrites (especially if sulphide of copper is present) are, when not in perfect contact with gold, particularly active in destroying cyanide, and, in order to partially prevent their effect, it is customary to neutralise ores which have been rendered acid by the formation of sulphates by ‘* weathering.” The neutralisation is effected by the addition of a solution of caustic soda, or, more usually, of lime to the ore before it is treated with cyanide. The destruc- tion of cyanide, however, still goes on to a limited extent in such cases, and treatment is rendered practicable only by the preferential or more rapid action of very dilute solutions of cyanide on gold as compared with their action on the sulphides. The relative rates of action of cyanogen bromide on gold, and on the various sulphides and oxides met with in ores, remain un- determined, or at any rate unpublished, and until more light is thrown on these, either by laboratory experiments or by practical work on a large scale, it is impossible to judge what may be the future of the process. From some experiments, already made, it would appear that cyanogen bromide suffers considerable de- composition when placed in contact with some of the minerals met with in gold ores, and so it may happen that in many cases the haloid compound will be destroyed before it has time to get fairly to work in dissolving the gold. The gold is recovered from solution either by its precipitation and replacement in solution by a metal positive to it in cyanide solutions, or by electro-deposition. The only metal largely used in practice is zinc, the action being one of direct replacement, expressed by the equation 2KAuCy, + Zn =2Au+ K.ZnCy,. It has been found necessary to use the zinc ina fine state of division, and the filaments, prepared by turning zinc in a lathe, NO. 1428 VOL. 55] are certainly more efficient than other forms. The shavings are no more than O°l m.m. in thickness, and 0°5 m.m. in width. When packed in spongy form they weigh about six or seven lbs. per cubic foot and can be ignited by a lucifer match, burning readily to zinc oxide. They must be freshly turned, as in practice the cyanide solutions are too dilute to clean dirty surfaces by dissolving hydrates or carbonates of zinc. The action of the zinc is undoubtedly aided by the presence of lead, which exists as an impurity in commercial zinc to the extent of about 1 per cent., and by the iron gratings on which the filaments rest. Galvanic couples are thus formed, which assist in starting the action. Nevertheless, precipitation of the gold is at first slow, especially in very dilute solutions, and it is only after some gold has been thrown down, and the gold-zinc couple formed, that the action becomes fairly vigorous. When the amount of gold in solution has fallen to about 00003 per cent., or from 14 to 2 dwts. per ton of liquid, the action again becomes slow, and this amount is left unprecipitated in practice, but, as the solutions are used again on fresh charges of ore, no loss of gold occurs. The black slimy deposit of gold, or alloy of gold and zinc thus formed, is washed and sieved off from the undecomposed zinc as far as possible, and is dried, roasted, and melted down with borax, carbonate of soda, and other fluxes, with or without a previous treatment with dilute sulphuric acid. The bullion thus obtained is very base, containing about 700 of gold per 1000, and variable quantities of zinc, lead, copper, and other metals. It is subject to the disadvantage that assay pieces, taken in the ordinary way, frequently differ in composi- tion from the ingot taken as a whole. | The recovery of the gold from cyanide solutions by electro- deposition is the basis of the Siemens-Halske process. In this process the kathodes are of iron, and the anodes of lead foil. A very large surface is given to the electrodes, 12,000 square feet of surface of lead being exposed in the treatment of 70 tons of solution per day at the Worcester Mine in the Transvaal. At stated intervals, the lead anodes, containing from 2 to 12 per cent. of gold, are removed, melted down, and cupelled. The bullion produced is very fine, but the cost of precipitation appears to be greater than that by the zinc process, the main items being the lead and iron consumed. The current needed is only about 0°06 ampere per square foot, the power required being about 5 h.p. in the treatment of 70 tons of solution per day. The process makes but slow progress, | only a small proportion of the gold produced by cyanide on the Rand being obtained in this way. K. RoseE. AGRICULTURAL TEACHING AT OXFORD. THE present Professor of Rural Economy at Oxford has made use of the opportunity, afforded by the occurrence of the centenary of the foundation of his professorship, to discuss the general question of agricultural teaching in our Universities. After an interesting description of the life and work of Sibthorp, formerly Professor of Botany at Oxford, who literally gave up his life for the study of natural history on the shores of Greece, Prof, Warington proceeds, in the first place, to consider the important developments, both in the subject and in the means of teaching, which have taken place during the past century. He says :-— ‘| triassic. Coun. River, Beds. |saurus. Many footprints. Crocodiles, Belodon. Fishes, Catopterus, Ischypterus, Ptycholepis. aera, Nothodon Peds. Reptiles, Vothodon, Lryops, Sphenacodon. | - |First Reptiles (?) Zosaurus. Amphibians, Baphetes, _ Sass SSS ; TS Coal Measures, or |Dendrerpeton, Hylonomus, Pelion, Footprints, ———————S—S— ae ‘A Eosaurus Beds. |Avthracopus, Allopus, Baropus, Dromopus, Hylopus, | c---7—77HH r 5 , | Carboniferous Limnopus, Nasopus. SSS . SSUES z Subcarboniferous First known Amphibians (Labyrinthodonts). é or Sauropus Beds Footprints, Sauropus, Thenaropus. ne Ss. Dinichthys Beds. Dinichthys, Acanthodes, Bothriolepis, Chirolepis, A Devonian. Cladodus, Dipterus, Titanichthys. | Lower Devonian is} = — zs = Ss : Z =) = . : SI Upper Silurian. 3 Sigaa First known Fishes. a Lower Silurian. Cambrian. | Primordial. Huronian. No Vertebrates known, Archwan. —|Taurentian, Fic. 8.—Tab le of British strata, with their North American equivalent: s, and a list of the vertebrate fossils which are found in them in the United States; drawn up by O. C. Marsh. labours of Prof. Marsh in this interesting field of inquiry ; | but those who care to take up this latest volume on Dinosaurs, will find it well repay the perusal. His studies of the brains of these ancient reptiles is alone deserving most careful consideration. The comparison of the brain of Stegosaurus ungulatus, with the enor- -mously larger neural cavity in the sacrum, has led to the NQ. 1429, VOL. 55] The present work by Prof. Marsh is, after all, but a summary of more than fifteen years’ labour in the field and in the museum, and may, it is hoped, be followed by even a larger monograph. Nevertheless this volume _is a storehouse of facts and figures (there are eighty- _ four plates !), and will prove of the greatest value to the | paleontologist and the biologist. | Marcu 18, 1897 | NATURE 467 the common eel. They had not been able to follow the- entire metamorphosis in one and the same specimen; ; ; but they had verified the most important changes in, alg te first Leptocephalus was discovered in 1763, when | specimens kept in confinement, and compared all the a specimen was taken near Holyhead, by Mr. | organs in various stages with those in the perfect form. William Morris, and sent to Pennant. Since that time | The greatest length of the larva is 8 cm., or 3; in., and numerous specimens, having similar characters, have | the reduction after transformation is never more than, been obtained on the shores of Britain, in the Mediter- | 3 cm., so that the smallest elver, or young fully-developed ranean, and at the surface of the ocean in various parts | eel, is 2 in. long. of the world. The chief peculiarities of these creatures, A fuller account of this most interesting investigation which have long been considered much more extra- | was communicated by brof. Grassi to the Royal Society ordinary than they really are, are the following. The | last year, and is published in the Pvoceedings of THE DISCOVERY OF THE LARVA OF THE COMMON EEL. Pic. 1.—Leptocephalus Morristi, the larva of the Conger. (After Couch.) body is several inches in length, thin and of uniform | December 1896, and also in the Quarterly Journ. Mic. breadth like a piece of ribbon, very transparent, and Sc’. of November 1896. It is well known that in the unpigmented. The head is small in proportion; there | Straits of Messina strong currents and whirlpools occur. are pectoral fins, but no pelvic, and there is a narrow fin To the existence of these disturbances of the water, the running along the edge of the body, above and below, to occasional occurrence of various stages in the develop- the tail. The blood is not red, and there is no air- ment of Murzenoids in the surface water is to be attri- bladder. Internally the body consists largely of a buted. As the Leptocephali are captured in company peculiar gelatinous tissue. with fish of various species known to belong to the deep- The suggestion that the Lef/ocephal? were the normal — sea fauna, it is inferred that the spawning of the eel larvee of fishes of the eel family, was first made by the and other Murzenidz, and the development of the eggs American ichthyologist, Gill, in 1864. In 1886 Yves and larvee, take place normally at great depths—at least Delage proved experimentally that Z. AZorristi changed 500 metres (250 fathoms)—and that the larvee are carried into a young conger. to the surface with deep-sea fishes by the movements of the water just mentioned. Specimens of Murena helena with ripe eggs, and of adult eels, both male and female, have also been captured under the same circum- stances. In these adult eels the generative organs are sometimes more developed than in specimens otherwise- obtained, and in some of the males ripe spermatozoa a SISWSSSs have been observed for the first time. A ripe male Fic. 2.—Leptocephalus brevirostris, the larva of the Eel. (After the conger was described in 1881 by Otto Hermes, and 5 original figure in Kaup’s Catalogue of Apodal Fish, 1856.) Saal aTS kept aire by ie present ayia anita In 1892 Grassi and Calandruccio published their first | Plymouth Aquarium, but ripe male eels had never before paper on these forms, giving a brief and summary been obtained. ; account of the results of observations at Catania. These mature, or nearly mature, eels are remarkable They had obtained a large number of living speci- | for the large size of their eyes ; and similar specimens, mens from the harbour of Catania, and had suc- | previously obtained from deep water, were described as ceeded in keeping them alive for varying periods in | distinct species by Kaup. The mature male conger is aquaria. The specimens belonged to several of the | also distinguished by the greater size of its eyes. In the “species” which had previously been distinguished and | mature eels, also, the skin of the belly is silvery, not named, and their metamorphosis into specimens of | yellow, as in river eels. : various species of Murzenidie was traced with complete, Raffaele, in his valuable paper on the pelagic eggs or nearly complete, continuity in a number of cases. | and larve of fishes in the Gulf of Naples, published in Thus the complete metamorphosis of Z. Morrisit into | the Mittheilungen of the Naples Station in 1888, de- GC Oo a Sl ERE ARN AU RN AUUURRRUUUD SRUREREUESEAUEREUUUERSS SCS G ant ae Le J Fic. 3.—Young Leffocephalus, hatched in the aquarium, as it appears after the absorption of the yolk. Actual length, 9*1 mm, (After Raffaele.) young congers was traced in 150 individuals, larvze 5 in. | scribed five different kinds of pelagic eggs which had’ long being reduced to conger of only 3 in. L. diaphanus certain common characters, and which, in his opinion, became Congromurena balearica, L. Kollikeri, Yarrellit, possibly belonged to various species of the Murzenide. Haeckeli, and other forms proved to be all stages in the Raffaele described the larva hatched from one of these normal development of Congromurena mystax,and L. eggs, and it has the essential characters of a Lepfo- Kefersteini changed into Ophichthys serpens. cephalus. Grassi considers that one kind of these eggs, Leptocephali are most frequently taken in the Straits | which has no oil-globules, is that of the common eel. of Messina, and amongst the forms there obtained is But he believes that the eggs, like the larvee, are only one named Z. brevirosiris, which is remarkable for its | occasionally brought to the surface, and that they small size, and the entire absence of specks of pigment. normally remain at great depths. : ay In 1893 Grassi and Calandruccio announced that they It is a curious fact that the larve, now identified as had proved that this particular form was the larva of | those of the eel, are found in greatest abundance in the NO. 1429, VOL. 55| 468 NATURE | Marcu 18, 1897 stomach of the sun-fish (Ovthagoriscus mola), which Grassi believes to be a deep-sea species. In the Straits of Messina this fish rarely appears, except in the months from February to September, and the occurrence of Z. brevirostris is limited to that period. The eggs, which evidently belong to Murenidz, are found in the sea from August to January ; the adult eels in an advanced stage of sexual development have been obtained from November to July; while, lastly, the migration of eels from fresh waters to the sea takes place from October to January. Thus Grassi traces backwards the succes- sion of events in the origin and development of young eels, and reaches the conclusion that the elvers or eel- fare which ascend rivers are already about a year old. The metamorphosis occupies one month. The eels which descend to the sea in winter take some months to ripen their sexual products. The eggs are fertilised in August and following months, and the larve are found in the following spring and summer. This agrees with the facts that have been established concerning the conger, the female of which takes about six months to develop her ovaries, and during this period takes no food. The eels which migrate to the sea in autumn have the generative organs in a quite immature condition, and, therefore, could not well be the parents of the elvers, whith begin to ascend rivers in the following February,» It would appear, however, from Grassi’s paper, that he considers the metamorphosis to take place In winter, and that by one year old, he means derived from the larve of the previous summer; so that two years would elapse between the descent of the adult eels and the ascent of their progeny. J. T. CUNNINGHAM. NOTES THE death of Prof. J. J. Sylvester, on Monday, deprives mathematical science of a most brilliant mind, and the scientific world in general of one of its foremost workers. The greatness of his genius has long been recognised wherever pure mathe- matics is studied ; for his works command admiration by their originality and breadth of treatment. Eight years ago, Prof. Sylvester was added to the Nature Series of ‘ Scientific Worthies,” and an account was then given of his career and of his more important contributions to mathematical science. We merely call attention to this article now, deferring until our next issue a fuller notice ot the life and work of the esteemed investigator just lost to science. M. G. BONNIER has been elected a member of the Section of Botany of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession to the late M. Trécul. THE library of the late Prof. Kekulé, of Bonn, containing eighteen thousand volumes, mostly on chemistry, has been purchased by the firm of Messrs. Friedrich Bayer and Co., dye manufacturers, Elberfeld. Tue Russian Government has conferred the Order of St. Stanislas upon M. Moureaux, the director of the magnetic work at the Pare St. Maur Observatory. M. Moureaux has also been awarded a gold medal by the Geographical Society at St. Petersburg. A ‘DISCUSSION ” meeting of the Royal Society will be held on Thursday next, March 25. The subject for discussion is the chemical constitution of the stars, and it will be introduced by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S., with a communication “On the Chemistry of the Hottest Stars.” THE annual meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 11 and 12. At this meeting the Bessemer gold medal for 1897 will be presented to NO. 1429, VOL. 55] Sir Frederick A. Abel, Bart., K.C.B., F.R.S. The autumn meeting of the Institute will be held at Cardiff, August 10 to 13. A REUTER telegram from Christiania states that the Financial Committee of the Norwegian Storthing has unanimously adopted a proposal in favour of granting 4000 kroner to each of Dr. Nansen’s twelve.companions, and 3000 kroner yearly during a period of five years to Captain Sverdrup, who will be at the head of the next expedition in the “vam planned by Dr. Nansen for 1898. Tue Howard Medal of the Royal Statistical Society, together with a cheque for 20/7, was presented to Dr. James Kerr, at the meeting of the Society on Tuesday, for his essay on ‘‘ School Hygiene, in its Mental, Moral, and Physical Aspects.” THE Berlin Academy of Sciences offers a prize of 2000 m. for the best treatise on the origin and characters (Ztstehung u. Verhalten) of the varieties of cereals during the past twenty years. The essays, which may be written in German, French, English, Italian, or Latin, must be sent in by December 31, 1898. Tue American Commission for the selection of a site fora Tropical Botanical Laboratory has now been constituted as follows :—-Prof. D. H. Campbell (Leland Stanford University), Prof. J. M. Coulter (University of Chicago), Prof. W. G. Far- low (Harvard University), Prof. D. T. MacDougal (University of Minnesota). CONSIDERABLE damage to gas and water pipes by electrolysis, due to the escape of the electric current used to propel trolley cars, is noted in Brooklyn. An illustration of the action of electricity was shown in a gas pipe two feet below the rail; the pipe having been found with a gap an inch wide in it, and the: edges eaten down to the thickness of a sheet of paper. PRESIDENT CLEVELAND celebrated the one hundred and sixty-fifth anniversary of the birth of George Washington on Monday, February 22, by setting apart thirteen forest reser- vations, on the recommendation of Secretary Francis and a forestry commission of the National Academy of Sciences appointed by Prof. Wolcott Gibbs, President of the Academy. The reservations have an aggregate area of 21,379,840 acres. Tue Bertillon system of anthropometrical measurements is now applied to criminals in New York City. THE veteran Italian botanist, Prof. T. Caruel, has retired from the professorship of Botany at the University of Florence. On Thursday next, March 25, Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., will begin a course of three lectures at the Royal Institution on ‘‘ The Relation of Geology to History.” The Friday evening discourse on March 26 will be delivered by Sir William Turner, F.R.S., his subject being ‘‘ Early Man in Scotland.” WE regret to have to record the death of Prof. Henry Drummond, the author of ‘ Natural Law in the Spiritual World,” ‘*The Ascent of Man,” and other works aiming at the reconciliation of theological revelation with science and evolution. Fle travelled in many parts of the world, and his “Tropical Africa” contains a very readable account of his journeys in the interior of that continent. With Sir Archibald Geikie he went on a geological expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and he more recently visited Australia, Java, Japan, and China. He was only forty-six years of age at the time of his death. THE Report of the Meteorological Council for the year 1895-96 has just been presented to Parliament, and is, as usual, Marcu 18, 1897 | NATURE 469 divided into four sections. (1) Ocean meteorology. —The practice followed by the Office in the collection of information is to supply observers on ships with a complete set of instru- ments on condition of their return, with a log-book, on the completion of the voyage. The large steamship companies also allow access to their logs, and in some special cases the documents are deposited at the Office. The principal discus- sions in preparation for publication during the year in question were current charts of the Arctic regions, embracing the area lying north of 60° north latitude, and the meteorology of the South Sea, embracing the area from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zealand. The latter charts, which are the first pub- blished for that part of the ocean, will be found very useful by the navigator, especially in connection with the question of the westward homeward route from Australia. Under this head is also included the supply of instruments to distant stations ; everal sets have been supplied, at the cost of the Foreign Office, for use in Uganda. (2) Weather telegraphy and forecasts. — The work in this branch is constantly increasing from inquiries by the public as to current and past weather, which necessitate a considerable amount of investigation. The number of stations to which storm-warning telegrams are sent has been materially increased during the year by the addition of a number of light- houses, in accordance with a suggestion made by the Royal Commission on Electrical Communication with Lighthouses. The Council renewed the offer, made in previous years, of send- ing daily forecasts to agriculturists during hay-making; the results show that the total percentage of useful forecasts amounted to 89 per cent., the same as in the preceding year. (3) Climatology.—This branch includes the discussion and publication of all observations relating to the climate of the British Isles. The publication of the monthly and yearly re- sults for a number of stations for the fifteen years (1876-90) appeared during the year, and forms a valuable contribution to climatological knowledge. (4) Miscellaneous experiments and researches.—The comparison of various forms of anemometers “has been made, with the object of determining the factor for converting the records of various instruments to the true velocity of the wind. Experiments have also been made for the measurement of earth temperatures at considerable depths. Rainfall means for alarge number of stations are in an advanced state of preparation, and when completed will form a standard of reference in this important subject. S1NcE Jiihler and Jérgensen, now nearly two years ago, revived the idea of moulds being the parent of yeast cells, a considerable amount of attention has been directed to the careful reinvestigation of this question. Amongst those who have sub- mitted Jiihler and JGrgensen’s results to the several tests of experimental inquiry, must be reckoned Messrs. Klocker and Schiduning, and in the last number of the Com:pte-rendu des travaux du Laboratoire de Carlsberg these gentlemen publish an extremely interesting memoir entitled ‘‘ Que savons nous de Yorigine des Saccharomyces?” An historical survey of the subject prefaces their own extensive investigations, and we are carried back to the days when Pasteur himself was under the impression that the mould Dematium, so abundantly present on vines, might furnish forth yeast cells, an idea which his later experiments led him, however, to discard. If this Dematium, _as Jorgensen claims, is a parent of yeast cells found on grapes, then, provided this mould is present, yeast cells are bound to appear on the surface of the fruit. locker and Schiouning, following in the earlier footsteps of Chamberland and Pasteur, protected grapes from aérial contamination by enclosing them in glass vessels plugged with cotton wool whilst still attached to the vine. The time selected for their imprisonment was the green stage of the fruit when, whereas Dematium is present in abundance, no yeast cells are to be found. Comparative NO. 1429, VOL. 55 | examinations made later of protected and unprotected grapes respectively, revealed the fact that, whilst the former exhibited plenty of Dematium and not a single yeast cell, the latter, along with the mould, had an abundant crop of yeast cells. The conditions of the two sets of grapes were identical, barring the air being deprived of germs in the one case before reaching the fruit, and not in the other. The experiment was varied in divers interesting ways, but in no single instance was any evidence forthcoming that the yeast cells obtained access to the fruit otherwise than from the surrounding air, the mould Dematium being proved absolutely innocent of any participation in their presence. Mr. P. Lee PHILLIPS speaks truly where he says, in a paper entitled ‘* Virginia Cartography,” just issued as No. 1039 of the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, that no records of the past have suffered more from the wear and tear of time than maps. On this account the preparation of a bibliographical description of maps af Virginia—a portion of North America which in early days embraced much of that which is now known as the United States—must have been a very laborious task, and Mr. Lee Phillips is to be congratulated upon haying brought his work to a successful conclusion. The maps comprised in his monograph range in date from 1585 to 1893. WE have on our table several very valuable excerpts from the Report of the U.S. National Museum for 1894, but the limit- ations of space prevent us from doing more at the present time than call attention to their publication by the Smithsonian Institution. In one of these excerpts Mr. Thomas Wilson describes, and lavishly illustrates, ‘‘ The Swastika” and its migrations ; and makes some observations on the migrations of certain industries in prehistoric times. The Swastika is the earliest known symbol, and consists of a monogrammatic sign of four branches, of which the ends are bent at right-angles, thus ae Prof. Max Miiller has found evidence for believing that among the Aryan nations the Swastika may have been an old emblem of the sun; but he has also shown that in other parts of the world the same, or a similar emblem, was used to indicate the earth. Mr. Wilson does not attempt to discuss the primitive meaning of the sign, or the place of origin, because they are considered to be lost in antiquity. The principal object of his paper is to present in a compact form all the inform- ation obtainable concerning the Swastika, and to trace its possible migrations in prehistoric times. Another of the papers from the U.S. National Museum is on ‘‘ Primitive Travel and Trans- portation,” by Dr. O. T. Mason. As is the case with all the publications of the Museum, this is illustrated with numerous plates and figures in the text. We must content ourselves now with noting the statement that the mechanical powers, as they are called, seem to have come into vogue in the following order : (1) The weight, for hammers, traps, and pressure; (2) the elastic spring, in bows, traps, machines; (3) inclined and de- clined plane, in locomotion and transportation ; (4) the lever ; (5) the wedge, in riving and tightening ; (6) the sled, on snow or prepared tracks ; (7) the roller, for loads and in machine bearings ; (8) the wheel, in travel and carriage ; (9) wheel and axle in many forms; (10) pulleys, with or without sheaves ; (11) twisting, shrinking, and clamping devices ; (12) the screw. The subjects and authors of three other publications just received from the U.S. National Museum are: ‘* A Study of the Primi- tive Methods of Drilling,” by Mr. J. D, McGuire ; ‘* Mancala, the National Game of Africa,” by Mr. Stewart Culin ; and <* The Golden Patera of Rennes,” by Mr. Thomas Wilson. THE very important question of the physical and chemical nature of the pigment substances found within the scales of 470 [Marcu 18, 1897 Lepidoptera, form the subject of a paper, by Mr. A. G. Mayer, in the March number of the Zvz¢omologzst. Experiments have shown that reds, yellows, browns and blacks are always due to pigments. In some cases, greens, blues, violets, purples and whites are also due to pigments, and not, as is usually the case, to structural conditions, such as strice upon the scales, &c. Concerning the chemical nature of the pigment substances within the scales, little has as yet been made known. The white pigments in the Pieridee appear to be due to uric acid, and the red and yellow pigments to two closely related deriv- atives of uric acid. The green pigment found in several species of butterflies and moths has also been shown to consist of a derivative of uric acid. The results of a careful investigation leads Mr. Mayer to believe that the colours of many of the Lepidopteral imagos are derived from the hemolymph or blood of the chrysalis. It is well known that the most universal colours of the more lowly organised moths are the drab-grey and yellow-drab tints, and these are the colous which Mr. Mayer found were assumed by the hemolymph after exposure | to the air. The brilliant yellows, reds, &c., are the result of more complex chemical processes; but the colours can be manufactured to some extent by treating the hemolymph with certain reagents. In connection with the phenomena of pig- mentation it is noted that uric acid is never present in the hemolymph of the imago of Saturnidee, nor could Mr. Mayer detect it in the drab-coloured pigment of the outer edges of the wings. ATTENTION may here profitably be directed to a paper which, though at first sight may appear of purely medical interest, has an important bearing upon the results described in the pre- ceding paragraph. We refer to a brochure by Mr. J. Barker Smith, reprinted from the A/edical Press and Czrcular, 1896-97 (Bailliére, Tindall, and Cox). Mr. Smith’s experiments suggest that urates may be excreted by the hair, and that uric acid plays a 70/e in respiration and in the formation of the red cor- puscles from nuclear elements. The discovery of urates in the hair is significant, for it naturally brings into consideration wool, feathers, fur, &c., as to colouration and use, and also adornment and odour with reference to excretion and sex. Should Mr. Smith’s results be verified, they indicate that one chemical of necessity determines many common characteristics in a large section of our fauna. Another noteworthy point in the paper is the description of a new and rapid method of estimating urates. Baron H. EGGers contributes a paper on the Gulf of Maracaybo to the Deztsche Geographische Biitter, referring specially to the asphalt springs of El Menito. The whole region is of great geographical interest, but is little known on account of its extremely unhealthy climate. El Menito itself is a rounded knoll about 1 km. in diameter, and dotted about on its surface is a number of small cones, from which streams a mixture of mud, water and asphalt. The asphalt is in general colder than the surrounding air, and hardens in a few days, usually in a much cleaner and purer condition than the familiar asphalt of Trinidad. The greatest output of asphalt from this region took place in1S85, when it amounted to 161,000 kilogs. , but since then the quantity has steadily diminished, chiefly from political causes. MANY and various are the lakes in the United States, but there is only one which occupies the crater of an extinct volcano ; it is the Crater lake of Southern Oregon, lying in the very heart of the Cascade range, and belonging to the great volcanic field of the north-west. A very instructive illustrated account of the features of this lake is contributed to the Vatcéonal Geographic Magazine by Mr. J. S. Diller, of the U.S. Geological Survey. The lake contains no fish, but a small crustacean flourishes in NO. 1429, VOL. 55]| \ its waters, and salamanders occur in abundance locally along the shore. According to observations made’ by Mr. B, W. Eyermann last summer, the temperature of the water decreases from a depth of 555 feet to the bottom (1623 feet). The results suggest that the bottom may still be warm fron volcanic heat, but more observations are needed to fully establish such an abnormal condition. Mr. Diller shows that Crater lake not only presents very attractive scenic features, but also affords a most instructive and interesting field for the study of volcanic geology. Mr. ScourFIELD’s plea fora fresh-water biological station im England is supported by Prof. Dr. Anton Fritsch, who, in a short article in Materal Sctence (March), shows that valuable work is being done on the fauna and flora of fresh water im Bohemiaand Germany. Prof. Fritsch hopes that England will soon likewise do her duty to fresh-water biology, by establishing a station where investigations can be carried on. Such an ‘in stitution would give results of a practical, as well as scientific value. In connection with this subject, and in evidence of the valuable work accomplished at the Biological Station of the University of Illinois, situated at Havana, on the Illinois River attention may be directed to a bulletin just received. By this publication Mr. Richard W. Sharpe makes a noteworthy “ Con- tribution to a Knowledge of the North-American Fresh-water Ostracoda included in the families Cytheridze and Cyprinidie.” No better evidence could be adduced of the valuable services rendered to science by the establishment of a national physical laboratory, than the following list of investigations published within the last few months in //cedemann’s Annalen, all emanating from Charlottenburg :—Herr K. Koble describes Helmholtz’s absolute electrodynamometer as constructed during the lifetime of Helmholtz at the Reichsanstalt, and which he | has employed to determine the electromotive force of Clark's cell ; Herr Willy Wien contributes a mathematical investigation of the formula required to determine the constants of the instru- ment; Herrn W. Jager and R. Wachsmuth describe a series of experiments on the cadmium cell, including a comparison of its electromotive force with that of Clark’s cell, and a deter- . mination of the variations of this element with the temperature ; Dr. L. Holborn and Herr W. Wien describe some important researches on measurement of low temperatures, including a comparison of the air and hydrogen thermometers ; and Herrn M. Thiesen; K. Scheel and H. Diesselhorst give an account of a series of determinations of the coefficient of expansion of water. As the result of work carried on in the same laboratory, Prof. Friedrich Kohlrausch, of Berlin, contributes to the Aznader papers on the following subjects :—On platinum electrodes and determinations of resistance; on the plugs of rheostats; on very rapid fluctuations of terrestrial magnetism; and on a thermometer for low temperatures, and a determination of the coefficient of expansion of petroleum-ether. The latter name is applied to a certain mixture of hydrocarbons whose boiling point is 33°, and specific gravity 0°6515 at 17°. This substance remains fluid down to the temperature of liquid air, when it becomes highly viscous. IN the Zeztschrift des Vereines deutscher Ingenteure, Dr. L. 7 Holborn gives an account of Le Chatelier’s thermo-electric element, and shows how it may be applied to the continuous measurement of the temperature of a furnace, thus possessing considerable advantages over the pyrometers in common use. Writing in the BerZiner Sélsungsberichte, the same physicist de- scribes a number of observations on the coefficient of magnetisa- tion of different kinds of iron and steel, showing that in a feeble field of force the {coefficient in question is a linear function of Marcu 18, 1897 | NATURE 471 the temperature. The experiments connected with both of Dr. Holborn’s present papers, like those of the two preceding articles» were carried out at Charlottenburg. THE hostility often shown by farmers to the work or the Technical Instruction Committees of the County Councils may, perhaps, ‘be tempered a little by an examination of a report on manurial trials, conducted by Prof. W. Somerville, during the season 1896, under the auspices of the County Councils of ‘Cumberland, Durham, and Northumberland, and the Durham College of Science. The experimental work furnishes agri- culturists in the North of England with very valuable information upon the effect of different manures and mixtures of manures upon crops. It has been proved that though increasing quantities of farmyard, or of artificial, manure will produce increasing yields up to a certain point, the profits per cwt. are greater for a moderate than for a large dressing. The addition of artificial manures to a fair dressing of farmyard manure appears to have exceedingly little, if any, effect upon the crop. This and other results show that there is need for manurial reform in the matter of the combined use of natural and artificial manure. Prof. Somerville has again demonstrated by experi- ment the extremely infectious character of the ‘‘ finger and toe” «nitragin” have failed to give positive results ; soit is doubted whether the new substance, in its present state, will prove of any service to agriculture. A QUANTITATIVE ‘study of correlated variation and of the comparative variability of the sexes has been made by C. B. Davenport and C. Bullard, by counting the Miillerian glands in the fore-legs of four thousand swine. The total number of glands on a single leg varies from 0 to 10 ; and the counting has shown that they are slightly less abundant in the female than in the male. The average numbers of the glands on the right leg and on the left leg, taken without regard to sex, are about equal. As to their variability, it appears that the variants are distributed in accordance with the probability curve, or very nearlyso. The degree of variability in the right and left legs is, especially in the case of the male, strikingly similar, being 1°41089 and 1°41083 in the two cases respectively, the difference being within the errors of the method. The males are about 2°5 per cent. more variable than the females. The degree of correlation in the variability of the right and left legs is about “777. The observations are described in the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (vol. xxxii. No. 4, December 1896). Tue April number of Scéexzce Progress will contain articles on the ‘‘ Physiology of Reproduction,” by Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S.; on ‘‘Condensation and Critical Phenomena,” by Prof. J. P. Kuenen; on “‘ Diseases of the Sugar-cane,” by Mr. C. A. Barber, late Superintendent of Agriculture in the Leeward Islands ; and on ‘‘ Coagulation of the Blood,” by Dr. Halliburton, F.R.S. THE volume containing the ‘‘ Results of Rain, River, and Evaporation Observations made in New South Wales” during 1895, under the direction of Mr. H. C. Russell, C.M.G., F.R.S., has just been published. Inaddition to the usual statistics, the volume contains Mr. Russell’s paper on the “‘ Periodicity of Good and Bad Seasons,” already abridged in NATURE (vol. liv. p- 379), and also some instructive diagrams showing the relative values of the rainfall of the Colony for the past six years. A new “Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English and German Languages,” edited by Prof. Ed. Muret and Prof. Daniel Sanders, is in course of publication, in parts, by the Langenscheidtsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin. The work is being issued in two sections—English-German and German- NO. 1429, VOL. 55] disease; and, as already noted, his experiments with | English—and will be completed in about forty-eight parts. The last part of the former section will appear in a few months ; the first part of the German-English section has, however, only just been issued. Judging from this part, the Muret-Sanders ““Worterbuch”’ will, when completed, possess advantages over all existing German dictionaries. The London agents are Messrs. H. Grevel and Co. Messrs. WILLIAM WESLEY AND SON have, since 1871, issued a number of excellent catalogues of scientific works, but they have not compiled a better catalogue than the one just pub- lished as Nos. 127 and 128 of their ‘‘ Natural History and Scientific Book Circular.” In the ninety-two pages of this list are the titles or more than three thousand works on every sub- ject connected with botanical science, both in its theoretical and applied branches. The works are classified into about fifty groups, and are arranged alphabetically, according to authors, in each group. Great attention appears to have been paid to careful description and correct classification, and we have no doubt that the catalogue will be of real use both to botanists and gardeners. NeW editions of two standard German scientific works have been received. One is Naumann’s ‘‘ Elemente der Mineralogie” (Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann), the thirteenth edition of which has been revised and enlarged by Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Zirkel. Only the first half of this new edition has as yet been published ; the second half will appear towards the end of this year.— Kirchhoff s ‘‘Vorlesungen iiber mathematische Physik *’( Leipzig : B. G. Teubner) has reached a fourth edition. The first volume, on mechanics, has appeared under the editorship of Prof. Dr. W. Wien. The original work was published twenty years ago, and the two following editions of it—the third in 1883—were seen through the press by the author himself. The present edition of Kirchhoff’s *‘ Mechanik” is thus the first which has been issued under the guidance of another. Herr A. SONNEWALD, veterinary surgeon, contributes a paper of considerable interest to the current issue of Deutsche Geographische Blitter, summarising present knowledge of animal epidemics in South Africa, and describing in particular the geographical distribution of the rinderpest. The paper refers specially to the work of Edington and Thompson. A point which strikes one on glancin,; through the annual report of Mr. Frederick J. V. Skiff, the Director of the Field Columbian Museum, is that a large number of expeditions are sent out by the Museum to collect specimens and make observations. The most important expedition of the year was one which went to Africa, under the direction of Mr. D. G. Elliot, Curator of the Department of Zoology, except ornithology. This party arrived at Aden last September with a splendid collection. Mr. C. F. Millspaugh, Curator of the Department of Botany, began his work last year on the forestry of the Mississippi Valley. The Curator of Geology went on expedition to the Republic of Mexico. He made a complete ascent of Popocatepetl and explored the crater, and ascended Ixtaccihuatl far enough to permit a study of its glacier. A great many mineral specimens and ores were ob- tained. Mr. G. K. Cherrie, Assistant Curator of Ornithology, spent three months collecting bird skins along the Gulf coast between New Orleans and Corpus Christi, Texas. Nearly one thousand skins were thus added to the North American division of this department. Mr. Miner W. Bruce arrived from Alaska after nearly two years absence, with a collection of 1200 or more specimens illustrating the arts and industries of the Eskimo of Alaska. He has returned again to the North with a com mission to add further material, and to extend his wo-k into Siberia. Mr. E. H. Thompson made a report on the recently examined ruins of NXkichmook, accompanied by specimens 472 WATURE [Marcu 18, 1897 and photographs. Vice-President Ryerson and Mr. C. L. Hutchinson, on their trip around the world, procured and pre- sented to the Museum a large and unique amount of material, including Etruscan and Stone Age remains from Italy, Roman terra-cottas, metal and stone work from the Indies, and butter- flies from the Himalayas. Mr. Owen F. Aldis invited Mr. O. P. Hay, Assistant Curator of Ichthyology, to accompany him on an excursion to the waters of Southern Florida. Nearly one hundred fine specimens were thus obtained. By sending col- lectors to all parts of the world in this way, the Field Columbian Museum gives evidence of very great activity. The specimens obtained by its officers will not only serve to enrich the Museum directly, but a large number of them can do so indirectly by exchange. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Secretary Vultures (Sevfentartus reple- vorus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. P. Myburgh ; two Sacred Ibises (Zé2s ethéopicus) from South Africa, presented by Mr. Almeda; a Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), a Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larws fuscus) from Nova Zemlya, pre- sented by Mr. C. L. Rothera; a Rose-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) from Moluccas, presented by Mrs. Ander- son ; two Crested Porcupines (Hystorzx crzstata), a Griffon Vul- ture (Gyps fulous) from North Africa, presented by Mr. R. S. Hunter; four Common Rat-Kangaroos (Poterous tridactylus,2 8, 22), seventeen Lesueur’s Water Lizards (Phys¢gnathus lesueur?) from Australia, deposited; two Parrakeets (Psephotus chrysopterygius) from Australia, four Brent Geese (Bernzcla brenta, 28,2), European ; a Bengalese Cat (els bengalensts) from the East Indies; four Red-crested Pochards (/wdigula rupina, 2,29) from India, three Mandarin Ducks (4x galerz- culata, @) from China; three Summer Ducks (.2x sponsas, ? ) from North America ; two Rosy-billed Ducks (Jetopzana pepo- saca, 6) from South America; a Japanese Teal (Qzerguedula formosa, 9 ) from North-east Asia ; five Chiloe Widgeon (J/areca stbilatrix, 3é,29) from Chili, a Spur-winged Goose (P/ectro- pterus gambensis, 4) trom West Africa, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. CouDE MOUNTINGS FOR REFLECTING TELESCOPES.—For spectroscopic work the reflector is, without doubt, the most ideal form of telescope. Not only does the visual light-grasping power increase very rapidly the larger the aperture, but for the purposes of photography the same is also true. The refractor has, however, as yet the most convenient and comfortable arrangement for observation from the observer’s point of view, while with the reflector the observer is not so conveniently situated. That some kind of coudé arrangement can be adopted is, therefore, an important step in bringing these instruments more into use; for not only are reflectors cheap when compared with objectives, but their mountings and the accompanying housing are much less expensive. Prof. Wads- worth, in the February number of the Astrophysical Fournal (vol. v. No. 2), describes several ways in which the reflector may be coudé mounted, one of which was suggested by the late Mr. Cowper Ranyard, but was not completely worked out owing to his sudden death. Perhaps the two most promising arrange- ments are (I) when the reflector is of the Newtonian type, and the primary flat is placed at right angles to the axis of the tube reflecting the cone of rays back again on to two small mirrors, one placed justin front of the mirror, and the other in the polar axis ; and (2) when the reflector is of the Cassegrain type, and a single small additional mirror is necessary to reflect the rays directly down the polar axis. The latter appears, however, the more simple of the two, but the method of mounting seems somewhat too weak for mirrors of large size. Prof. Hale, in the same number of that journal, discusses the comparative value of refracting and reflecting telescopes for astrophysical investiga- tions, pointing out the superiority of the latter from many points of view, while Mr. Ritchey describes a new method of a support system for large specula. NO. £429, VOL. 55] ON APPARENT AND REAL DISELECTRIFI- CATION OF SOZID DIELECTRICS PRO- DUCED BY RONTGEN RAYS AND BY FLAME HE fact that air is made conductive by flame, by ultra- violet light, by Réntgen rays, and by the presence of bodies at a white heat has been shown experimentally by many experi- ments. We propose in this communication to give some results bearing on this conductivity of air, based chiefly on experiments of our own. We have examined more particularly the behaviour of paraffin and of glass. ; In our first experiments with paraffin we used a brass ball or about an inch diameter, connected to the insulated terminal of an electrometer by a thin copper wire soldered to the ball. The ball and the wire were both coated to the depth of about one-eighth of an inch with paraffin. The ball was then laid on a block of paraffin in a lead box with an aluminium window, both of which were in metallic connection with the case of the electrometer. By this means we avoided all inductive effects. The electrometer was so arranged as to read 140 scale divisions per volt. After testing the insulation the paraffined ball was charged positively and the rays played on it. After two minutes the electrometer reading was steady at 0°5 of the initial reading. The electrometer was then discharged by metallic connection, and again charged positively. Its reading remained steady after three minntes at 0°63 of the initial charge. In the third and fourth experiments the readings after three minutes were ‘SI and “90 of the initial charges respectively. The ball was next charged negatively. When the rays were played on it a steady reading was obtained after four minutes at ‘18 of the initial charge. In the second, third, and fourth experiments the steady readings after four minutes were *45, ‘70, and °78 of the initial charges respectively. The paraffin was then removed and the brass ball polished with emery paper; whether the charge was positive or negative, it fell in about five seconds to one definite position, 50 scale divisions on the positive side of the metallic zero, when the R6éntgen rays were played on the charged ball. These experimental results demonstrate that the Rontgen rays did not produce sensible conductance between the brass ball, when: it was coated with paraffin, and the surrounding metal sheath: and that ¢hey did produce zt when there was only air and no paraffin between them. From experiments by J. J. Thomson, Righi, Minchin, Benoist and Hurmuzescu, Borgmann and Gerchun, and Roéntgen,” we know that air is rendered temporarily conductive by Réntgen rays, and Rontgen’s comparison of the effect of the rays with that of a flame shows that our experimental results are explained by the augmentation of the electrostatic capacity (quasi-condenser) of the brass ball by the outside surface of its coat of paraffin being put into conductive com- munication with the surrounding lead sheath and the connected metals. In our second experiments we have endeavoured to eliminate the influence of the varying capacity of this quasi-condenser. For this purpose, we placed a strip of metal connected to the insulated terminal of the electrometer inside an aluminium cylinder ; the space between the metal and the cylinder was first filled with air, afterwards with paraffin. The aluminiym was connected to the case of the electrometer, and inductive disturbances were avoided by surrounding the copper wire con- necting the metal to the isulated terminal with a lead sheath in metallic connection with the electrometer sheath (see diagram). j In our first experiments with this apparatus we had air, instead of the main mass of paraffin, separating the insulated metal from the surrounding aluminium tube, as shown in the diagram, and we had only small discs of paraffin serving as insulating supports for the ends of the metal, and not played on by the Réntgen rays. When the metal thus supported was charged, .whether positively or negatively, the Rontgen rays 1 By Lord Kelvin, Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, and Dr. J. Carruthers Beattie. Read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, February 15, 1897. 2J. J. Thomson, Proceedings R.S.L., February 13, 1896 ; Righi, Comptes Rendus, February 17, 1896; Benoist and Hurmuzescu, Comptes Rendus, February 3, March 17, April 27, 1896 ; Borgmann and Gerchun, E/ecrrician,. February 14, 1896; Rontgen, Wirzburger, Phys. Med. Gesellschaft, March 9, 1896; Minchin, The Léectrvictan, March 27, 1896. Marcu 18, 1897 ] NATURE 473 diselectrified it in about five seconds; not, however, to the | metallic zero of the electrometer, but to a “ rays-zero’’ depend- ing on the nature of the insulated metal and of the metal sur- : rounding it. With paraffin between the aluminium ¢ylinder and the insulated metal within, as shown in the diagram, the following results were obtained :— December 30, 1866. 5.30 p.m.—Interior metal charged negatively. Total charge 356. Rontgen lamp in action and no screen... -.. 39 scale divisions discharged in 5 mins. R. L. not acting... ... 25 Pr 35 Re. R. L. again acting and ; no screen ... > 1¥f 4 aan 5.45.—Interior metal charged positively, Total charge 244. R. L. in action and lead screen .., «.. «.. I scale division discharged in 3 mins. Rk. L. in action and no Screech’ —aaaeeeees. 0 ” 7 > sa Ge R. L. not acting... ... 0 ; Dec. 31, 1896. 10.54 a.mn.—Interior metal charged positively. Total charge 163. R. L. not acting... 2 scale divisions discharged in 3 mins. k. L. acting &no screen 1 ai ee 8 11.0—R. L. stopped... 1°5 cp =) 2 R. L. again acting, no SCEEEN! | seueee= 3 . "a RL. stoppedauereneecme 2:5 x a 11.12.—Interior metal charged negatively. Total charge 342. R. L, not acting... ... 10 scale divisions discharged in 3 mins. oF R. L. acting, no screen 21 p oe 3 11.18—R. L. stopped 11°5 » + Bie G5 R. L, acting, no screen 16°5 5 » 2) 0 R.L. Fic. 1.—a. T., Aluminium tube ; L. r L.s., Lead sheaths; E., Electrometer ; Lead tube; R. L., Réntgen lamp ; ., Paraffin ; z.c., Zine cylinder. These results are quite in accordance with those found in similar experiments by Rontgen ; and they show that if paraffin is made conductive, it is only to so small an extent that it is scarcely perceptible by the method we have used. To make a similar series of experiments with glass, we used a piece of glass tubing 9°5 mm. thick, length 70 cm., and 1 cm. external diameter. The inside of this tube was coated with a deposit of silver, which was placed in metallic connection with the insulated terminal of the electrometer. The outside of the glass was covered with wet blotting-paper connected to sheaths. With this arrangement we obtained the following results :— Feb. 8, 1897. Insulated terminal of electrometer charged to — 333 scale divisions from the metallic zero. 4-23.—R6ntgenlamp, acting ..._ 0°5 sc. div. lost in 3 mins. », Nhotacting... 1°0 ” : 5 » 3 3 Charged to + 164 scale divisions from the metallic zero. 4.36.—Rontgen lamp, not acting ... 13 sc. divs. lost in 7 mins. Ph » acting 85 Py) ap OS) 3 REECObacting... 6:0 45°) 9my 816), ” or acting he 35 ” 72 es) not acting... 3°5 » 5» 3) td pha ”? (Sensibility of electrometer, 140 scale divisions per volt. ] We next removed a part of the wet blotting-paper from the outside of the glass, and, after having charged the insulated in- terior metal deposited on the inside of the glass, we heated the exposed part with a spirit flame, in this way making the glass a conductor. Thus witha charge of + 280 scale divisions from NO. 1429, VOL. 55 | | | coated throughout half their lengths with tinfoil. the metallic zero, the loss in 30 seconds, during which time the glass was heated in the spirit flame, was go scale divisions ; in the next minute, with no further heating, the loss was 20 scale divisions. Re-application of heat gave complete discharge: | in 23 minutes. Thus we see that our method is amply sensitive to the conductance produced in glass by heating. We conclude that the Réntgen rays do not produce any con- | ductance perceptible in the mode of experimenting which we have hitherto followed. A similarity in effects produced by flame and by Réntgem rays is brought out by the following experiments. Two similar sticks of paraffin, which we shall call A and B respectively, each of about four sq. cm. cross section, were These tinfoils ought to be each metallically connected to sheaths. To obtain a sufficiently delicate test for their electric state, a metal disc of three cm. diameter was fixed horizontally to the insulated terminal of the electrometer. The two pieces of paraffin were first diselectrified by being held separately in the flame of a spirit-lamp. Their non-tin- foiled ends were then pressed together, and their electric state again tested after separation. It was found that they were still free from electric charge. After this B was charged by being held over the pointed electrode of an inductive electric machine. The quantity ot electricity given to it in this way was roughly measured by noting the electrometer reading when the paraffin was held at a distance of 4 cm. above the metal disc connected to the insulated terminal of the electrometer. The free ends of A and B were again held together, and, after separation, both pieces were tested separately, The charged one, B, had suffered no appreciable loss, and the other, A, in- duced an electrometer reading of a few scale divisions in the same direction, when held as near as possible to the metal disc without touching it. This showed that an exceedingly minute quantity of electricity had passed from B to A when they were in contact. A was then diselectrified by being held alone in the flame. The ends of A and B were again put together, and in this position were passed through the flame. Théy were tested with their ends still pressed together, and it was found that when held as near as possible to the metal disc without touching it, no read- ing was produced on the electrometer. After this they were separated and tested separately ; and it was found that B, when held over the disc, gave a large reading in the same direction as before it had been passed through the flame, and A (which was previously non-electrified) gave a reading of about the same amount in the opposite direction. The same results were obtained when Rontgen rays were substituted for the flame. The explanation clearly is this : the flame or the Rontgen rays put the outer paraffin surfaces of A and B temporarily in con- ductive communication with the tinfoils; but left the end of B, pressed as it was against the end of A, with its charge undis- turbed. This charge induced an equal quantity of the opposite electricity on the outer surfaces of the paraffin of A and B between the tinfoils ; half on A, half on B. When the application of flame or rays was stopped, this electrification of the outer paraffin surfaces became fixed. B, presented to the electrometer, showed the effect of the charge initially given to its end, and an induced opposite charge of half its amount on the sides between the end and the tinfoil. A showed on the electrometer only the effect of its half of the whole opposite charge induced on the sides by the charge on. B’s end. We have here another proof that paraffin is not rendered, largely conductive by the Rontgen rays. Had it been made so, then the charge given to the end would have leaked through the body of the paraffin to the outside, and have been carried away either by the tinfoil or by the conductive air surrounding the non-tinfoiled parts. ! To show that the induced charges were fixed on the sides, the two sticks, A and B. were next coated with tinfoil throughout their whole length, only one end of each being uncovered. The uncoated end of B was then charged and pressed against that of A, and the two were held either in the flame of a spirit- lamp or in the Réntgen rays. When taken out of the flame or the Réntgen rays, and then separated and tested separately, it was found that B had retained its charge practically un- diminished, and that A had acquired a very slight charge of the opposite kind. 474 NATURE [Marcu 18, 1897 Instead of placing the two ends of the paraffin in immediate contact, four pieces of metal of 1/10 of a mm. thickness were placed one at each corner of one of the ends, so that when the sticks of paraffin were placed end to end there was now an air space of 1/10 of a mm. between the paraffin ends. When B was charged and A not charged, and the two put end to end, and then exposed to flame or to Rontgen rays, it was found that B’s end still retained its charge, and A’s end acquired a very slight opposite charge. With an air space of 1/5 of a mm. the same results were obtained. With the air space increased to r mm. the charge on B was less after the cwo had been passed through the flame or the rays. Similar experiments were made with rods of glass and of ebonite, with similar results. FORTHCOMING BOOKS OF SCIENCE. \V R. EDWARD ARNOLD has in preparation :—Practical * Science Manuals; Agricultural Chemistry, sby T. S. Dymond ; Steam Boilers, by George Halliday, illustrated ; The Chemistry of the Raw Materials of the Coal-Tar Colours, by R J. Friswell; A Manual of Physiology, by W. Snodgrass, arranged to meet the requirements of the syllabus of the Science and Art Department; Lhe Calculus for Engineers, by Prof. John Perry; A New Elementary Geography, based on Frye’s Complete Geography, and revised and largely re-written from the British standpoint, by Andrew J. Herbertson, illustrated. Mr. Batsford announces: —A Text-Book on Sanitary En- gineering, by C. E. Moore. In Messrs. A. and C. Black’s list are to be found :—Ferrets : their Management in Health and Disease, by Nicholas Everitt, illustrated ; On the Threshold of Three Closed Lands, viz. Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan, by J. A. Graham. Messrs. W. Blackwood and Sons give notice of :—Brown’s Forester : a Practical Treatise on the Planting and Tending of Forest Trees and the General Management of Woodland Estates, edited by John Nisbet ;*Wild Traits in Tame Animals, being some Familiar Studies in Evolution, by Dr. Louis Robinson, illustrated ; Man’s Place in the Cosmos, and other Essays, by Prof. Andrew Seth ; Prehistoric Problems, by Dr. R. Munro; Introductory Text-Book of Zoology, by Prof. H. Alleyne Nicholson, new edition, illustrated ; Page’s Introduc- tory Text-Book of Geology, new edition, revised and enlarged by Prof. Lapworth. Messrs. Cassell and Co., Ltd., will publish :—Cheap editions of The Story of the Sun, by Sir Robert S. Ball, illustrated ; and Cassell’s Concise Cyclopedia, illustrated ; the completion of Cassell’s Natural History, edited by P. Martin Duncan, three volumes, illustrated ; a New Cyclopedia of Technical Educa- tion, six volumes, illustrated ; new issues in serial form of The Story of our Planet, by Prof. T. G. Bonney, illustrated ; and Familiar Wild Flowers, by F. E. Hulme. In Messrs. J. and A. Churchill’s list we find :—Commercial Organic Analysis, by Alfred H. Allen, vol. iii., part iv. ; Practical Chemistry, by Prof. T. Campbell Brown; fourth edition ; A System of Dental Surgery, by C. S. Tomes, third edition; A Short Practice of Midwifery, by Dr. Yellett; Bazaar Medicines, by Dr. Waring, fifth edition, revised by Dr. Aitchison ; Fingers and Toes, by W. Anderson ; Antiseptics for Nurses, by C. E. Richmond ; Mechanical Dentistry, by T. Richardson, seventh edition. The Clarendon Press has in preparation :—The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon, edited by J. H. Bridges, 2 vols. ; The Flora of Berkshire, by G. C. Druce. Mr. W. B. Clive promises :—A Manual of Psychology, by G. F. Stout; Questions on Welton’s Logic, with illustrative examples, by H. Holman; Key to Holman’s Questions on Welton’s Logic ; A Primer of Logic, by J. Welton ; Advanced Algebra, by William Briggs and Prof. G. H. Bryan, based on the ‘‘ Algebra” of Radhakrishnan; Euclid, Books I.-IV., by Rupert Deakin ; Deductions in Euclid, by T. W. Edmondson and J. Briggs; Geometrical Conic Sections, by Prof. G. H. Bryan ; Co-ordinate Geometry, by Prof. G. H. Bryan, part ii. ; Mechanics of Fluids, First Stage, by F. Rosenberg; The Tutorial Dynamics, by William Briggs and Prof. G. H. Bryan; A Higher Text-Book of Dynamics, by Prof. G. H. Bryan; A Higher Text-Book of Hydrostatics, by Prof. G. H. Bryan; The Intermediate Trigonometry, by W. Briggs and Prof. G. H. NO. 1429, VOL. 55] ‘by Sir H. H. Johnston, illustrated ; Bryan; The Preceptors’ Trigonometry, by W. Briggs and Prof. G. H. Bryan; The Properties of Matter, an Introduction to the Tutorial Physics, by E. Catchpool; Inorganic Chemistry, First Stage, by Dr. G. H. Bailey; Advanced Science and Art Chemistry, by the same author; A Synopsis of Non-Metallic (Inorganic) Chemistry, by William Briggs, fourth edition, revised by W. Hurtley ; A Synopsis of Metallic Chemistry, by W. Hurtley ; The Tutorial Chemistry, by Dr. G. H. Bailey, edited by William Briggs, part ii., Metals; Magnetism and Electricity, First Stage, by Dr. R. H. Jude : Advanced Science and Art Magnetism and Electricity, by Dr. R. W. Stewart ; Sound, Light, and Heat, First Stage, by John Don; Advanced Science and Art Heat, by Dr. R. W. Stewart; Science and Art Physiography, by A. M. Davies. Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co.’s list contains:—The First Crossing of Spitzbergen, by Sir Martin Conway, illustrated ; Picturesque Burma, by Mrs. Ernest Hart, illustrated. Mr. Heinemann will issue:—The New Africa: a Journey up the Chobé and down the Okovango Rivers, by Dr. A. Schulz and A. Hammar ; Rhodesia, by Dr. F. Du Toit, illustrated. Messrs. Hutchinson and Co, give notice of :—Concise Knowledge Library, illustrated: Vol. i. Natural History, by R. Lydekker, Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, W. F. Kirby, R. B. Wood- ward, F. A. Bather, W. Garstang, R. Kirkpatrick, and R. I. Pocock ; vol. ii. Astronomy, by J. Ellard Gore, Agnes M. Clerke, and A. Fowler. Messrs. Longmans’ announcements include :—The Life and Times of Thomas Wakley, by S. Squire Sprigge; Papers and Notes on the Genesis and Matrix of the Diamond, by the late Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, edited from his unpublished MSS. by Prof. T. G. Bonney ; Teaching and School Organisation, with especial reference to Secondary Instruction, edited by P. A. Barnett ; Differential Equations, by D. A. Murray; A Guide to the Clinical Examination of the Blood for Diagnostic Purposes, by Dr. R. C. Cabot, illustrated. Messrs. Sampson Lowand Co., Ltd., will publish :—A Course of Elementary Experiments for Students of Practical Inorganic Chemistry, by Chapman Jones; How to Grow Begonias, by G. A. Farini, illustrated ; Health and Condition in the Active and the Sedentary, by Dr. N. E. Yorke-Davies, fourth edition. The announcements of Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., include :—Ancient Volcanoes of Britain, by Sir Archibald Geikie, 2 vols., illustrated; A System of Medicine, by many writers, edited by Dr. Thomas Clifford Allbutt: Vol. ii. containing Infections (continued); The Intoxications and the Parasites, also the General Diseases of Obscure Causation, such as Rheumatism, Gout, Diabetes, Rickets, Scurvy, &c. ; Farm and Garden Insects, by Dr. William Somerville, illustrated ; The Dahlia, by many writers; Infinitesimal Analysis, by Prof. William Benjamin Smith, Vol. i., Elementary ; On Laboratory Arts, by Prof. Richard Threlfall; Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, by A. G. Webster. i Messrs. Methuen and Co. promise :—British Central Africa, Scouting Sketches in Rhodesia, by Lieut.-Colonel Baden-Powell, illustrated ; From Tonkin to India, by Prince Henri of Orleans, translated by Hamley Bent, illustrated; Three Years in Savage Africa, by Lionel Decle, illustrated; The Hill of the Graces: or, the Great Stone Temples of Tripoli, by H. S. Cowper, illustrated ; The North-West Provinces of India, their Ethnology and Ad- ministration, by W. Crooke, illustrated ; Neo-Malthusianism, by R. Ussher; Magnetism and Electricity, by R. Elliott Steel, illustrated. In Mr. Murray's list we find:—Some Unrecognised Laws of Nature, an Inquiry into the Causes of Physical Phenomena, with special reference to Gravitation, by Ignatius Singer and Lewis H. Berens, illustrated ; Zermatt and the Matterhorn, by Edward Whymper, illustrated ; The Life of William Pengelly of Torquay, F.R.S., Geologist, with Selections from his Corre- spondence, by his daughter, Hester Pengelly, and a summary of his scientific works, by Prof. Bonney, illustrated ; Waste and Repair in Modern Life, by Dr. Robson Roose; University Extension Manuals, edited by Prof. Knight; An Introduction to Physical Science, by Prof. John Cox ; The History of Astro- nomy, by Arthur Berry; A Ilistory of Education, by Principal James Donaldson; An Introduction to Philosophy, by Prof. Knight. : Messrs. George Newnes, Ltd., have in preparation :—The Story of Animal Life, by B. Lindsay, illustrated ; The Story of the Earth’s Atmosphere, by Douglas Archibald, illustrated ; Marcu 18, 1897 | NATURE VS) The Story of the Earth’s Surface, by Prof. H. G. Seeley, illus- trated ; The Story of Religion, by E. D. Price, with map, &c. Messrs. Kegan Paul,Trench, Triibner, and Co. Ltd., announce : —Studies in Psychical Research, by Frank Podmore ; Creation with Development, by Captain J. D. K. Hewitt, with diagrams and an illustration ; Fichte’s Science of Ethics, translated by A. E. Kroeger, and edited by Prof. the Hon. W. T. Harris; new volume of ‘‘The International Scientific Series”: What is Electricity? by Dr. John Trowbridge, illustrated; the ‘‘ Agri- cultural Series”: Chemistry, by R. H. Adie and T. B. Wood ; Botany, by Dr Wm. Fream ; Physiology and Feeding, by T. B. Wood and R. H. Adie; Agriculture, by Robert Menzies ; Horticulture, by E. Pillow and W. K. Woodcock; The Con- version of Arable Land to Pasture, by Prof. W. J. Malden. The Rebman Publishing Company, Ltd., will issue :—Year- book of Medicine and Surgery, 1897, collected and arranged by eminent specialists and teachers, under the editorial charge of Dr. George M. Gould ; The Diseases of Women : a handbook for students and practitioners of medicine, by J. Bland Sutton and Dr. Arthur E. Giles, illustrated ; Injuries and Diseases of the Ear : being various papers on Otology, by Macleod Yearsley ; Archives of Clinical Skiagraphy, by Sydney Rowland, part iv. Messrs. L. Reeve and Co. have in the press :—Respiratory Proteids, by Dr. A. B. Griffiths. Among the forthcoming books of the Scientific Press, Ltd., we notice :—The Romance and Mystery of Alchemy and Pharmacy, by C. J. S. Thompson, illustrated; Elementary Physiology for Nurses, by Dr. C. F. Marshall; ‘*The Burdett Series” of popular Text-Books on Nursing: No. 1, Practical Hints on District Nursing, by Amy Hughes; No. 2, The Matron’s Course: an introduction to hospital and private nursing, by S. E. Orme. Messrs. Walter Scott, Ltd., will add to their ‘* Contem- porary Science Series’’:—Hallucinations and Illusions, by E. Parish ; Psychology of the Emotions, by Ribot; The New Psychology, by Dr. E. W. Scripture; Man and Woman, by Havelock Ellis, second edition; Hypnotism, by Albert Moll, fourth edition. The announcements of Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co., Ltd., include :—Aristotle’s Psychology, including the Parva Naturalia, translated and edited, with commentary and intro- duction, by Prof. William A. Hammond: Ethics, by Prof. W. Wundt, translated under the supervision of Prof. E. B. Titchener, 2 vols. ; Physiological Psychology, by Prof. W. Wundt, translated by Prof. E. B. Titchener, 2 vols., illustrated ; Intro- duction to the Study of Philosophy, by Prof. Oswald Kiilpe, translated by W. B. Pillsbury, under the supervision of Prof. E. B. Titchener; Text-Book of Paleontology for Zoological Students, by Theodore T. Groom, illustrated ; _Text-Book or Embryology: Invertebrates, by Drs. Korschelt and Heider, vol ii., Crustacea and Arachnoids, translated and edited (with additions) by Eric Pritchard; Practical Plant Physiology, by Prof. Wilhelm Detmer, translated by S. A. Moor; A Student’s Text-Book of Zoology, by Adam Sedgwick, 2 vols., illustrated ; Handbook to Practical Botany, for the botanical laboratory and private student, by Prof. E. Strasburger, edited by Prof. W. Hillhouse, new edition; The Young Beetle- Collector's Handbook, by Dr. E. Hofmann, translated and edited with an introduction by Dr. W. Egmont Kirby, illus- trated ; Organic Chemistry : Introduction to the Study of, by J. Wade ; Among the Wild Flowers, by the Rev. H. Wood, vol. i. (Spring), vol. ii. (Summer); Fishes, by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson; Handbook of Grasses, by W. Hutchinson, illustrated ; Mammalia, by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson ; Birds’ Eggs and Nests, by W. C. J. Ruskin Butterfield ; The Dynamo: | how made and how used, by S. R. Bottone, new edition, illustrated, and an appendix on the construction of a six-unit dynamo; Radiation, by H. H. F. Hyndman and Cecil H. Cribb, with an introduction by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson ; Williams’ British Fossils, new edition ; Specimens of Bushman Folk-lore, by Dr, W. H. J. Bleck and L. C. Lloyd, with a preface by Dr. George McCall Theal. "Mr. Fisher Unwin’s list contains :—Glimpses into Plant Life, by Mrs. Brightwen, illustrated ; Mother, Baby, and Nursery, a Manual for Mothers, by Mrs. Genevieve Tucker. Messrs. Frederick Warne and Co. announce :—Wayside and Woodland Blossoms, by Edward Step, third edition ; Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse, edited by E. Step, vols. ii. and iii. Messrs. NO. 1429, VOL. 55 | Whittaker and Co. announce :—Central Station Electricity Supply, by Gay and Yeaman ; A Series of Electrica Engineering Designs, by Gisbert Kapp ; Horseless Road Loco- motion, by A. R. Sennett; A Railway Technical Vocabulary (French, English, and American), by Lucien Serraillier ; A Technological Dictionary in Four Languages (English, French, Italian, and German) ; Loppéand Bouquet’s Alternating Currents, a practical treatise, translated from the French by F. J. Moffett; The Alternating Current Circuit, by W. Perren Maycock ; Railway Material Inspection, by G. R. Bodmer: Organic Chemical Manipulation, by J. T. Hewitt ; Industrial Electro-Chemistry, by Dr. Hoepfner; Whittaker’s Engineers’ Pocket-Book ; Practical Electrical Measurements, by BH. °H- Crapper ; Vol. ii. of Electric Lighting and Power Distribution, by W. Perren Maycock ; A School Geography, by C. Bird. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Oxrorp.—The degreee of D.C.L., honoris causa, will be conferred on Dr. Nansen to-day, March 18, in the Sheldonian Theatre at 3 p.m. ; Dr. James Ritchie has been appointed Lecturer in Pathology for two years, from January 1, 1897. The bust of Sir Henry Acland, Bart., K.C.B., formerly Regius Professor of Medicine, has been placed in the Court of the University Museum. The Romanes Lecture will be delivered on Wednesday, June 2, 1897, by the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P., D.C.L. The subject will be Machiavelli. The Junior Scientific Club held its last meeting on Friday, March 12, Mr. A. W. Brown (Ch. Ch.), President, in the chair. Mr. E. H. Hunt (Balliol) gave an account of some ex- periments made by himself on the ‘‘ Excretion of Urea and Phosphates.” Mr. W. B. Billinghurst (St. John’s) read a paper on * Pentacarbon Rings,” and Mr. J. N. Ramsden (New Coll.) on ‘*Coal in Kent.” The following were elected Members of Committee for next term:—Mr. R. A. Buddicom, Keble (President), Mr. J. E. H. Sawyer, Ch. Ch., Mr. A. Hartridge, Exeter (Secretaries), Mr. A. E. Boycott, Oriel (Treasurer), Mr, A. R. Wilson, Wadham (Editor), and Messrs. W. B. Billing- hurst, St. John’s, N. B. Odgers, Lincoln, and W. M. G. Glanville, Ch. Ch. CAMBRIDGE.—THE following is the speech delivered by the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, Fellow and Tutor of St. John’s, in presenting Dr. Nansen for the honorary degree of Doctor in Science, on March 16 :— Scandinaviae filium intrepidum, oceani septentrionalis ex- ploratorem indefessum, post tot pericula terra marique per tres annos fortiter tolerata, salvum et sospitem reducem salutamus. Quid referam viri indomiti iuventutem primam disciplina severa assidue exercitam, et rerum naturae studiis feliciter dedicatam ? Quid itinera per priora animi et corporis patientiam et fortitudinem spectatam probatamque ? uid itinere in ultimo, adiutoris optimi auxilio, tot observationes sive magneticas sive meteorologicas e regione prius ignota reportatas? Quid dicam de bene ominati nominis nave illa, quae glaciei solidae in mediis molibus, velut Symplegadum novarum in amplexu, constricta et compressa, ductoris tamen providi vota non fefellit, sed, mobili in glacie immobilis inhaerens, ad ulteriora sensim delata est? Navam illam, navisque rectorem, ipsum Vergilium praedixesse crediderim :— * alter erit tum Tiphys et altera quae vehat Argo delectos heroas.” Quis autem pro rei dignitate laudare poterit par nobile illud comitum, qui, nave ipsa relicta, glaciei asperrimae per solitudines immensas audacter progressi, in regionem tandem pervenerunt orbis terrarum vertici septentrionali proximam, quo ex ipsa mundi origine nulla hominum vestigia prius umquam pene- traverant? Etiam arctoi pelagi tum demum patefacti de navita primo Horati verba licet usurpare : ‘ illi robur et aes triplex : circa pectus erat qui fragilem truci commisit pelago ratem. Talium virorum exemplo admoniti discimus nihil magnum, nihil memorabile, nisi labore longo curaque infinita posse perfici. Talium virorum in orbe terrarum explorando providentia et 476 WALURE [Marcu 18, 1897 fortitudine verba poetae Romani futura vaticinantis denuo vera reddita sunt :— ‘* venient annis saecula seris quibus oceanus vincula rerum laxet et ingens pateat tellus, Tethysque novos detegat orbes nec sit terris ultima Thule.” The following is the speech delivered by the Public Orator, Dr. Sandys, on March 11, in presenting Prof. Felix Klein, of Géttingen, for the honorary degree of Doctor in Science :— Universitatem Goettingensem nostis omnes a rege nostro Hanoveriensi, Georgio secundo, fuisse fundatam. Eo maiore gaudio scientiae mathematicae professorem Goettingensem, Newtoni Universitatis nomine, salutamus, virum vinculo non uno nobiscum coniunctum, non modo societatis regiae et societatis philosophicae Cantabrigiensis inter socios exteros numeratum, sed etiam a societate mathematica Londinensi exteros inter omnes numismate honorifico solum donatum. Nuper Newtoni nostri a linearum tertii ordinis enumeratione exorsus, et lineae curvatae et superficies rationibus Algebraicis expressae quam potissimum formam revera habere demonstratae sint, luculenter enarravit ; idem Caleii nostri inventa insignia in maius auxit et rebus novis explicandis feliciter adhibuit. Neque Europae tantum terminis inclusus, etiam inter fratres nostros transmarinos, scientae suae provincia tota colloquio familiari breviter percursa, inter alia ostendit scientiae illius regionem puram (ut aiunt) a scientia eadem ad usum cotidianum adhibita non sine periculo posse divelli ; ne numerorum quidem Gewpiay, quam gloriatum esse quendam utilitatis macula nondum esse inquinatam, solam per se posse separari. Ergo scientiae mathematicae partes omnes societate quadem inter se coniunctas esse libenter accipimus ; neque minus libenter confitemur hodie non modo omnes doctrinae sedes, sed etiam gentes omnes, ubi doctrina in honore est, necessitudinis vinculis artissimis inter sese esse consociatas. Dr. Arthur Willey has been re-elected Balfour student for one year. The Vice-Chancellor has appointed Prof. A. W. Riicker, secretary of the Royal Society, to the office of Sir Robert Reade’s lecturer. Mr. J. T. CUNNINGHAM has been appointed lecturer on fisheries under the Cornwall County Council Technical In- struction Committee. Ir is reported that, in addition to the offer of 5000/7. towards the foundation of a chair of public health in the University of Edinburgh, a further offer of 3000/7. towards the same object had been received from the same donor. FROM a reply made by the First Lord of the Treasury to a question asked by Sir H. Havelock-Allan, in the House of Com- mons on Tuesday, it seems that the Government have no great hope of being able to deal with secondary education in the course of the present Session. Secondary education is thus postponed szve dze. Mr. JAMES R. PARSONS, JUN., Director of Examinations of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New ‘York, has made his annual report. He notes an extraordinary development in the condition of medical schools within the last four years, notwithstanding that the standards for admission and the courses of instruction have been greatly raised. In 1893 the total value of property was 2,108,855 dols., which has now increased to 4,562,836 dols. The receipts were 262,129 dols., and they have increased to 498,146 dols. In 1895 there were 22,887 medical students in the United States, of which number about 17 per cent. were in the State of New York. THE excellent courses of study followed at the Central Technical College and the Finsbury Technical College are too well known to need commendation. At the former institution advanced instruction is provided in those kinds of knowledge which bear upon the different branches of productive industry ; and at the latter a systematic scheme of technical education, suitable for students who will fill intermediate posts, may be followed in day classes, or special subjects may be taken up in evening classes. The programmes of both Colleges have just been issued by the City and Guilds Institute, and a reference to them will show what ‘valuable work the Colleges are doing for the advancement of science and industry. NO. 1429, VOL. 55]| WE are glad that Prof. Warington’s appeal for a further recognition of agricultural teaching at Oxford, referred to in last week’s NATURE (p. 449), has been given support by the Clothworkers’ Company. The Company has communicated to Prof. Warington the following resolution :—‘* That a sum of 200/. per annum be guaranteed by the court for five years, for the purpose of enabling the Sibthorpian Professor of Rural Economy at Oxford to supplement his lectures by those of specialists, embracing the most important parts of agriculture and forestry ; it being understood and stipulated, however, that no part of the sum so guaranteed is to be drawn in the event of the University not consenting to make agriculture a subject in the Pass School.” It is remarked that if this action of the Com- pany promotes the desirable object of inducing the (Oxford) University to bring agriculture and the sciences ancillary thereto into the curriculum of the University and of impressing it with the sanction of a degree as at the Scotch Universities, the Company will be gratified to have contributed to some extent towards a consummation so devoutly to be wished for. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. American Journal of Science, March.—Crater Lake, Oregon, by J. S. Diller. (See p. 470.) The little-known crater lake of Southern Oregon is remarkable not only for its geological history, but also on account of its position and depth, its beautiful blue transparent waters, and the grandeur of its completely encircling cliffs, which afford no outlet. The rim of the lake, which is nearly circular, with an average diameter of six miles, rises 1000 feet above the general level of the Cascade range. During the glacial period the site of the lake was occupied by a huge voleano. The rim is not made up of fragments, but of solid lava, alternating with conglomerate and tuff. The lake basin is therefore probably not due to eruption, but to subsidence.— Outline of a natural classification of the Trilobites, by C. E- Beecher (Part ii.). This important paper gives a classification of the Trilobites on the principles detailed in the first part. The sub-class Trilobita is divided into three orders, viz. Hypoparia, three families; Opisthoparia, seven families; Proparia, four families. Complete diagnoses are appended, the chief charac- teristics being: Hypoparia, free cheeks, forming a continuous marginal ventral plate of the cephalon, and in some forms also extending over the dorsal side at the genal angles. Opistho- paria: free cheeks, generally separate, always bearing the genal angles. Proparia: free cheeks not bearing the genal angles. These orders are in chronological succession, the Hypoparia being the smallest and oldest, and the Proparia only beginning in the Ordovician. —Excursions of a telephone diaphragm, by C. Barus. Experiments with a Michelson refractometer and a mirror attached to a telephone diaphragm prove that the excur- sions corresponding to sounds of faint but distinct audibility are small as compared with the wave-length of sodium light. They are probably below ro~® cm. The force necessary to produce this flexure exceeds 10 dynes ina plate 2 cm. in radius and 0’016 cm. thick, —The Arctic Sea ice as a geological agent, by R. S. Tarr. The sea-made ice protects the coasts from sea-erosion until it breaks up and forms a kind of grinding tool and carrier of débris. In some regions of floe ice along the Labrador coast fully 50 per cent. of the floes are discoloured by jdetritus.— Iodometric estimation of molybdenum, by F. A. Gooch. In reducing molybdic acid by means of hydriodic acid, the develop- ment of the green colour is not a sufficient criterion of the exact reduction to the pentoxide and of the removal of the iodine, which should be theoretically set free. It is better to boil down the liquid by a certain amount in an apparatus so arranged that a current of pure CO, can be passed through retort and receiver during distillation. This avoids the action of the air upon the hot vaporous hydriodic acid in the retort. Bollettino della Socteta Sismologica [taliana, vol. ii. N. 5, 6. —L. Palmieri, a brief notice of his life and work.—On the variation of the velocity of seismic waves with the distance, by G. Agamennone.—Horizontal pendulums for continuous me- chanical registration, by G. Grablovitz.—Note on the Tokio earthquake of June 20, 1894, by F. Omori.—On the intensity and amplitude of the movement in the great Japanese earthquake of October 28, 1891, by F. Omori.—Notices of earthquakes registered in Italy (June to August 1896), the more important being a valuable series of records of the earthquake of June 15, which gave rise to the great sea-waves in Japan, and several records of the shocks which occurred in Iceland on August 27. Marcu 18, 1897 | NATURE Aan, SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. Lonpon. Royal Society, March 4.—‘‘ Experiments on the Absence of Mechanical Connection between Ether and Matter.” By Oliver Lodge, D.Sc., F.R.S., Professor of Physics, University College, Liverpool. Received January 19. The author gives an abbreviated account of a long series of experiments conducted by himself and his assistant, Mr. Davies, in continuation of those related in PA2/. Zrans., 1893 (Aberration Problems, &c.). The method consists in bifurcating a beam of light, and sending each half in opposite directions round a closed periphery very near a rapidly rotating mass of matter, and then observing by means of interference fringes whether the velocity of light is affected in the slightest degree by this neighbourhood of moving matter. The steel disks have been now whirled to higher speeds, chiefly at 3000 revolutions a minute ; the steadi- ness of the machine and the definition of the bands have been improved, other minor improvements have been made, and a long series of micrometric readings have been taken, both at increasing and at decreasing speeds. Further, the steel disks have been replaced by a much more massive lump of iron, weighing } ton, with a narrower channel for the light to travel in; and the bands have been observed close up to the moving surface, and even when reflected in it. The rotation was also continued for some hours to see if by chance ¢2ze had any influence. Moreover, the iron mass was strongly magnetised by a steady current, so that the light travelled across a moving magnetic field; and lastly the steel disks were replaced, with an insulated third disk between them, and strongly electrified, so that the beam of light travelled across a moving electrostatic field. After a number of spurious disturbances had been gradually eliminated, the author finds that in none of these ways is the velocity of light at all appreciably affected, and accordingly concludes that there is no viscous connection between the ether and matter of observable magnitude ; z.e. that whatever motion moving matter may confer upon the ether must be of an irrotational kind. It was demonstrated theoretically in the previous memoir that no optical experiments could be competent to detect motion of this latter character, and accordingly no attempt has been made to look for any kind of motion except such as would be caused by something akin to viscosity. Incidentally the author points out that by rotating the whole optical apparatus and observer, instead of the disks, at a very moderate speed, a shift of the bands should be seen; and even that the earth’s rotation would with a large enough frame produce an effect, which latter, however, it appears difficult or impossible to observe, not on account of its smallness, but on account of its constancy. The effect to be expected on Fresnel-Fizeau principles from whirling az”, was unfortunately just too small for the author to safely observe. The residual disturbing causes just masked it, but it is probably not beyond the reach of another attempt with a still more thoroughly steady machine, if any one feels inclined to persevere so far. At the same timeif it be supposed that any microscopic trace of true ether effect still possibly exists (which the author wholly disbelieves), and if a further attempt be here- after made to observe it, a number of slight residual disturbing causes would be got rid of (and probably other difficulties intro- duced), by rotating the machine in a vacuum. Physical Society, March 12.—Mr. Shelford Bidwell, President, in the chair.—Mr. William Barlow read a paper on a mechanical cause of homogeneity of structure and symmetry, geometrically investigated, with special application to crystals and to chemical combination, illustrated by models. The author has previously established that every homogeneous structure displays one or other of the thirty-two kinds of crystalline sym- metry. He now shows that homogeneous structures possessing most, if not all, of these kinds of symmetry may be produced mechanically, as the equilibrium arrangements of assemblages of mutually-repellent particles; and also that these mechanical systems of particles exhibit characteristics entirely analogous to certain crystalline and other properties of matter. The funda- mental concept may be summarised thus: A number of different kinds of mutually-repellent particles dispersed through space ; the amount of this repulsion being some inverse function of the distance between the particles concerned; the particles are destitute of polarity, and the difference in kind consists in a difference in the degree of mutual repulsion which two particles NO. 1429, VOL. 55] exercise, according to the kinds taken. It is further premised that the assemblage is agitated so as to render unstable all but the final equilibrium arrangement, and a means is provided for linking the particles symmetrically, and unlinking them, under certain circumstances, so as to modify the repulsion between the particles affected. The data thus summarised may be regarded as merely provisional, because the making of the equilibrium arrangement one in which ‘‘ closest packing” prevails is the object primarily aimed at ; and these concepts are mere devices for attaining this end. By the employment of particles of different kinds, a large amount of variety is provided for. The first step taken is to deduce the law of ‘‘ closest packing,” which runs thus: Every assemblage of mutually-repellent particles will continually approximate to, or strive after, that relative arrangement of the particles composing it, in which it has come, at every part, to occupy a minimum of space under a given general pressure, or average repulsion, between the particles, This law acts on all assemblages, of the nature defined, however numerous the kinds of particles composing them ; but, for its effects to be traceable, a very limited number of kinds must be present. Passing from assemblages consisting of a single kind of particle, the author takes a very simple case of two kinds of particles confined to a plane, and shows what type of symmetry will be produced when equilibrium is realised. Very simple cases of particles in space are then taken, and it is shown that a large number of different kinds of symmetry are displayed by the equilibrium arrangements produced when there is variety in the relations between the repulsions. To illustrate ‘‘ close packing,” stacks of balls of various sizes are employed ; but it is pointed out that the conditions of statical equilibrium of the particles are not always adequately expressed in this way, although every case of the latter kind can be represented approximately by a case of the former kind, possessed of the same order of symmetry. Very slight variation in the relations between the repulsions, alters the form of the equilibrium, arrangement ; sometimes merely changing the angle without affecting the type; sometimes, when it passes some critical! point, bringing about an alteration in type. Changes of the first kind resemble the change in crystal form caused by varia- tion of temperature, whilst those of the latter kind, especially when associated with rearrangement of the particles, are analogous to polymorphism. In many cases, the arrangement of the particles is such that some may be removed without affecting the distribution of the remainder, and without disturb- ing the “close packing”; if, therefore, other particles, exer- cising a slightly less repulsion, be substituted for the removed, tnoperative, particles, the only resulting change consists in a diminution of the pressure on the particles surrounding them. A species of isomorphism is in this way realised. When the particles of an assemblage are partially connected by hypothetic linking in a symmetrical manner, similar groups are formed ; but, in order that the formation of such groups may not be arbitrary, the partitioning which is produced must have as. complete symmetry as that of the partitioned structure. In consequence of this, some kinds of groups are not directly obtainable by symmetrical partitioning of a homogeneous structure ; but it is always conceivable that they may be included in the larger groups of some more complex constellation, and that they may be subsequently separated to form an assemblage by themselves. Consequently, very intricate results may be reached by successive steps ; symmetrical intermixture, linking, and unlinking, succeeding one another until complicated groups are built up, for the production of which such an agency as ‘close packing” appears at first sight inadequate. Having called attention to a large number of arrangements, some capable and some incapable of symmetrical partitioning into groups of a single kind, some linked and some unlinked, the author contends to have established the following two propo- sitions: (1) The nature of the symmetry displayed by a homo- geneous assemblage of mutually-repellent particles of different kinds, in equilibrium, depends on the relations subsisting be- tween the repulsions exercised by these particles. (2) The assemblages belonging to all of the thirty-two classes of crystal- line symmetry, result from the fundamental law of “ close pack- ing,” when the relations between the different repulsions take the widest possible range of variety. Links which restrain the action of the repulsions can be present between some of the particles in some cases. The author refers to crystal * twin- ning,” and points out that the action of dimorphism is com- petent to produce analogous ‘twinning of symmetrical 478 NATURE [Marcu 18, 1897 assemblages of linked particles. A number of other properties of linked assemblages analogous to those of crystals are also described. In the domain of chemistry the author cites the continually accumulating experimental evidence of the exist- ence of geometrical arrangement in the molecule, both that established stereochemically and that derived from the study of isomerism, as revealing a state of things precisely such as is arrived at by the law of ‘‘closest packing” in assemblages afterwards broken up into similar groups of particles. Atten- tion is called to many groupings of the latter order fulfilling very exactly the conditions of disubstitution in the case of many carbon compounds. While he does not regard his work as throwing any light on the nature of change of state, or change of bulk, the author observes that the distribution in precise proportions of the constituents, which must obviously accompany or precede a chemical combination, may fairly be claimed as a resemblance to the regular intermixture brought about according to the law of ‘closest packing.” He further suggests that the reason why some bodies do not readily interact may be due to the ‘‘ close packing” of one or both. Prof. Herschel said he was particularly pleased with the models. Ie thought it prob- able that a very wide application would be found for the author's results. There was, no doubt, much to be learnt from models built up of spheres of two or more sizes, but it would be neces- sary to learn a great deal more about these symmetrical arrange- ments before they could be applied with any degree of certainty. Mr. Fletcher said it was impossible to criticise the paper with- out long and careful study. From certain hypotheses the author had deduced a law of ‘‘closest packing” that seemed adequate to explain many results observed by chemists and crystallo- graphers ; at the same time admitting that the law might be presumed from other reasoning. By his models he had tried to present a picture not of the forms of atoms or molecules, but merely analytical representations of the probable structure of | particles. Hitherto, the research had been confined to deter- mining the possible arrangements of particles all of one kind, but here were examples of packed spheres of various sizes. It was not quite clear how, in an elementary substance, there could be such a structure, although there certainly were cases of polymorphism awaiting explanation, as for instance with sulphur. The paper with its 188 pages of MS. represented a vast amount of clear thinking, and many years of admirable work. Prof. Adams called the attention of Fellows of the Physical Society | to the museum at King’s College, where were the original models as made and used by the early investigators of this branch of physics. Prof. Miers (communicated, too late for read- ing). The principle of ‘‘ close packing”’ was not new,. but Mr. Barlow was the first to extend it to explain solution, diffusion, and stereochemical problems. His remarks on the growth of curved crystals, vicinal faces, and pseudo-symmetrical crystals, were open to criticism, With regard to vicinal faces, however, lencite seemed to be a mineral in accord with his hypothesis. The author regarded a crystal as consisting of mutually repel- lent particles of different sorts ; this seemed a very right way of attacking the problem of crystal structure, and would explain some recent observations of Rinne on crystals consisting of water particles and silicate particles, Further, Mr. Barlow had considered the way in which an assemblage might be broken up by the loosening of the ties, and the change of partners, among individual members. That is to say, he had considered erystal- lisation and solution ; features quite ignored by ordinary theories. His view of crystal structure failed to explain why crystals should have faces, and gave no hint as to the controlling forces which keep mutually-repellent partlcles together. | Nevertheless it suggested, among other striking analogies, those bearing on the relationship between crystal structure and chemical consti- tution ; and the irregularities of crystals, such as were commonly neglected in accepted theories. Mr. Barlow had opened up a very promising line of inquiry. Mr. Barlow, in replying, said he greatly appreciated the interest shown in his work.—The President then proposed a vote of thanks to the author, andthe meeting was adjourned until March 26. At the invitation of Dr. S. P. Thompson, the Society will on that occasion meet at the Technical College, Leonard-street, Finsbury. Chemical Society, February 18.—Mr. A. G. Vernon Harcourt, President, in the chair.—The Longstaff medal of the Society was awarded to Prof. Ramsay.—The following papers were read :—The formation of dithionic acid in the oxidation of sulphurous acid by potassium permanganate, by T. S. Dymond nd F. Hughes. In oxidising sulphurous acid by potassium NO. 1429, VOL. 55] permanganate the authors find that, in addition to sulphuric acid, a constant proportion of dithionic acid is produced ; an explanation of this fact is suggested.—On the production of pyridine derivatives from ethylic B-amidocrotonate, by J. N. Collie. Ethylic 8-amidocrotonate hydrochloride condenses on heating to give the ether of an oxylutidine Cjj)H,,NO3; an isomeric ether is obtained on heating a mixture of the amido- crotonate and its hydrochloride. The corresponding acids decompose on heating, yielding pseudolutidostyril.—Sodamide and some of its substitution derivatives, by A. W. Titherley. Sodamide yields substitution derivatives with amines or amides of the composition NaNHR or NaNH.CO.R respectively.— Rubidamide, by A. W. Titherley. Rubidamide, or RbNHg, is obtained by heating rubidium in ammonia ; it is crystalline, melts at 285-287°, and is decomposed by water or alcohol.— On the spectrographic analysis of some commercial samples of metals, of chemical preparations, and of minerals from Stass- furt potash beds, by W. N. Hartley and H. Ramage. The spectroscopic examination of a large number of materials has enabled the authors, in continuation of their previous work, again to demonstrate the wide distribution of many of the rare metals. —Dissociation pressure of alkylammonium hydrosul- phides, by J. Walker and J. S. Lumsden.—Supposed conden- sation of benzil with ethyl alcohol. A correction, by F. R. Japp.—The viscosity of mixtures of miscible liquids, by T. E. Thorpe and J. W. Rodger. The authors contribute the results of measurements made on mixtures of carbon tetrachloride and benzene, methyl iodide and carbon bisulphide, and of ether and chloroform. The densities of the mixtures cannot be caleu- lated by the ordinary admixture rule, whilst the viscosity is rarely a linear function of the composition.—Magnesium nitride as a reagent, by H. L. Snape. The author has investigated the action of magnesium nitride on chloroform, perchlorethane and benzaldehyde, in the hope of obtaining hydrogen cyanide, cyanogen and (C,H,;.CH),N. respectively ; the experiments, however, were unsuccessful. —The identity of Laurent’s amarone with tetraphenylazine, by H. L. Snape and A. Brooke. Tetra- phenylazine is obtained by the action of magnesium nitride on benzaldehyde ; it is identical with Laurent’s amarone.—Studies on the interaction of highly purified gases in presence of cata- lytic agents, by W. French. In absence of light spongy platinum does not induce combination in a mixture of dry hydrogen and oxygen.—Contributions to the knowledge of the B-ketonic acids. Part iii., by S. Ruheniann.—Contributions to the know- ledge of the B-ketonic acids. Part iv., by S. Ruhemann and A. S. Hemmy.—Oxidation of phenylstyrenyloxytriazole, by G. Young. Vhenylstyrenyloxytriazole is oxidised by permanganate to phenyloxytriazolecarboxylic acid, which immediately decom- PhN. NW | COH.—Apiin and HC:N apigenin (preliminary notice), by A. G. Perkin. Apigenin C,;H,,0;, the product of hydrolysis of apiin, the glucoside of parsley, contains no methoxy-groups, and yields a tribenzoyl- compound.—Note on the constitution of the so-called “ nitrogen iodide,” by J. W. Mallet. Geological Society, February 24.—Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—On the nature and origin of the Rauenthal serpentine, by Miss Catherine A. Raisin. This serpentine has been already described by Herr Weigand as one of those which occur in regions of gneiss or schist related in their origin to these rocks. In order to test this hypothesis as to the formation of the serpentine, the author examined the district and studied its rocks with the microscope. Herr Weigand asserted that transitions could be recognised from typical gneiss to a peculiar amphibolite, and that the latter rock had been changed to serpentine. The author could find in the field no evidence of a passage from gneiss to amphibolite, and called attention to the general difficulty of the supposition. —On two boulders of granite from the middle chalk of Betchworth (Surrey), by W. P. D. Stebbing. The author noticed cases of occurrence of boulders in chalk which have been previously described ; and recorded the occurrence of two boulders which were obtained from the chalk of the Zerebratulina-gract/is zone. The largest weighed 7 Ib. 7 oz., measured 5”°8 x 6°25 x 4”°125, and con- sisted of decomposed granite; valves of Spondylus /atus and Serpula were still attached. The other, also granite, though of a different character, weighed 3 lb. 12 oz., and measured 36 x 58 x 4/5. Prof. Bonney furnished a description of the microscopic characters of the two boulders, which are possibly poses, yielding phenyloxytriazole Marcu 18, 1807] NATURE 479 of Scandinavian origin. The author discussed the mode of transport to their present position, and favoured the agency of floating ice. —Coal : a new explanation of its formation ; or the phenomena of a new fossil plant considered with reference to the origin, composition, and formation of coal-beds, by W. S. Gresley. The author argued that the brilliant black laminze in coal and similar materials to those that form these laminze, which are found in earthy coals, shales, and clays, point to the former existence of an aquatic plant, having the general shape of the modern Platycerium adcicorne, which grow iz situ. He believed that much coal was formed by this aquatic ‘‘coal- plant,’ which grew amongst the mechanical sediments and the débris of the terrestrial vegetation that accumulated on the floors of sheets of water. Zoological Society, March 2.—Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., in the chair.—The Secretary exhibited two specimens of a new viper, recently discovered by Captain A. H. McMahon during the recent survey of the Indo-Persian frontier, and named Existicophis macmahoni (gen. et sp. nov.) by Dr. Alcock. This snake had been met with only in the sandy portions of the desert between Mushki and Persia, where it was almost impos- sible to detect its presence, owing to its habit of lying buried in the sand with only its head visible-—Mr. Gambier Bolton gave an account (illustrated by photographs shown by the oxy- hydrogen light) of a recent visit that he had made to the Bird Islands in Saldanha Bay, South Africa. The photographs illus- trated the life of the black-footed penguin (Sphevzscus demersus) on these islands, showing these birds in groups, nest-building, sitting on their eggs, and moulting. Mr. Bolton also gave an account of the guano- and egg-industry carried on by the Cape Government in the Bird Islands and other adjacent islands. — Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier exhibited and made remarks upon a specimen of a starling (Stars vulgaris) with enormously elongated mandibles. —Mr. H, M. Wallis read a paper entitled “The Growth of Hair upon the Human Ear, and its testimony to the Shape, Size, and Position of the Ancestral Organ.” Entomological Society, March 3.—Mr. R. Trimen, F.R.S., President, in the chair,—Mr. George W. Bird, Mr. Alfred H. Martineau, Mr. Hubert C. Phillips, Mr. William A. Vice, and Mr. Colbran:J. Wainwright were elected Fellows of the Society. —Mr. Champion exhibited, on behalf of Messrs. Godman and Salvin, a portion of the Elateridz, and the Cebrionide and Rhipidoceridze recently worked out by him in the ‘* Biologia Centrali-Americana.”” The Elateridze included 531, the Cebrionidee 29, and the Rhipidoceridz 14 species, a large proportion of which were described as new. He called attention to the excessive rarity of the males in the Elaterid genera Chalcolepidius and Semzotus (the contrary being the case in the genus Scaplolenus of the Cebrionidz, and also in many Elateride). One species, Merzsthus scobinula, Cand., was common to Central America and China.—Mr. Jacoby showed a Halticid beetle, taken in Mashonaland by Mr. G. A. K. Marshall, and remarkable for a prolongation of the hind tibia beyond the tarsal articulation into a very long serrated process. —Mr. Elwes showed a series of Papilionidee of the A/achaon group, from North America, including P. machaon and P. oregonia from British Columbia, P. érucez, P. bazrdiz, and P; solicaon from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and the latter species from British Columbia. He stated that there was a tolerably complete gradation from P. ovegonzéa (= machaoie) through P. drucet to P. zolicaon, that none of the characters which had been relied on for separation were of real value, and that the structure’ of the genitalia afforded no assistance.—Mr. O. H. Latter read a paper on ‘‘ The prothoracie gland of Dicranura viniula, and other notes,” in continuation of. his previous communications on the subject. A fresh use of the formic acid secreted by the larva was described ; it was em- ployed to alter the silk secreted in spinning the cocoon, in order to convert it into the well-known horny mass. If the acid was prevented from acting, as by supplying the larvae with bits of blotting-paper soaked in an alkali to be utilised in making the cocoon, the silk thus protected from the action of the acid re- tained its usual fibrous structure.—Sir George Hampson com- municated a paper on ‘‘ The Classification of two subfamilies of Moths of the Family Pyralide—the Aydrocampine and Scopariane.” CAMBRIDGE. Philosophical Society, February 22.—Mr. F. Darwin, President, in the chair.—On the diffraction pattern near the focus of a telescope, by Mr. R. H. D. Mayall. NO. 1429, VOL. 55] The diffrac. tion pattern dealt with in this paper is supposed to be formed by the light from a star, upon a screen placed near the focus of a telescope. Series have been given by Lommel for the calculation of the intensity of illumination at any point of the pattern, but these become useless when the screen is more than a millimetre distant from the focus of a telescope of ordinary aperture. The series may, however, be transformed into a shape from which approximate values of the intensity may be found. This is shown in the present paper. It appears from the results that the pattern consists of a bright and com- paratively broad ring surrounding a series of fainter and narrower rings, these latter fading away rapidly into a uniformly illuminated space. Further inwards towards the centre the uniform illumination disappears and another series of rings is formed.—On the marks made by stars on photographic plates exposed near the focus of a telescope, by Mr. H. F. Newall. In this paper an account is given of some of the appearances presented by photographs of star images taken near the focus of a telescope, with special reference to the concentration of light near the boundaries of the images when the aperture of the telescope is partly obstructed. The observations recorded are in the main supplementary to those which were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1894 and suggested the theoretical investigation undertaken by Mr. Mayall.—Theorems on the contacts of spheres, by Mr. W. McF. Orr.—Change of the independent variable in a differential coefficient, by Mr. E. G. Gallop.—On a method of Lie for solving partial differential equations, by Dr. A. C. Dixon. PARIS. Academy of Sciences, March 8.—M. A. Chatin in the chair. —Kesearches on the earths contained in the monazite sands, by MM. Schutzenberger and Boudouard.—The sulphate of cerium obtained from monazite sand gave numbers on analysis indicating an atomic weight sensibly higher than the cerium sulphate obtained from cerite. It was found possible to break up the former into three fractions, one not precipitated from solution by cupric oxide, with an atomic weight of 138, another precipi- tated from the solution of its sulphate by both cupric oxide and by sodium sulphate (atomic weight about 148), and the third precipitated by cupric oxide, but not by sodium sulphate (atomic weight about 157).—On the apparatus employed to collect samples of air at a great height, in the ascent of the Aérophile on February 18, 1897. Analysis of the air collected, by M. L. Cailletet. The vacuous reservoir was fitted with a special tap, — worked by a clock, so arranged as to open at one hour and a quarter after commencing the ascent, previous experiments haying shown that this corresponded with the maximum height. The results of the analysis showed that the composition of the air at these high altitudes (51,000 feet) is practically the same as on the ground. Observations on the subject of the preceding communication, by M. A. Miintz. The slight diminution in the oxygen found, and the slight increase in the carbonic acid, may possibly be due toa slight oxidation of the grease used to lubricate the tap.—M. G. Bonnier was elected a member in the Section of Botany, in the place of the late M. Trécul.—On the reduction of the general problem of integration, by M. Riquier.—Theorem on entire series, by M. Hadamard.—On the centres of gravity of surfaces parallel to a closed surface, by M. Ernest Duporeq.—On permanent deformation of glass, and displacements of the zero of thermometers, by M. L. Marchis. Experiments are cited showing that alternate heating and cooling of a thermometer is more efficacious in displacing the zero of a thermometer than long heating at a fixed temperature.—Application of the Rontgen rays to measure the electromotive force of contact, by M. Jean Perrin.—The action of phosphorus upon gold, by M. A. Granger. At a temperature of about 400° C. phos- phorus vapour combines with gold, forming a phosphide, Au,P4. To isolate this it is necessary to cool the tube rapidly, as the temperature limits between which the compound is stable are very narrow.—On the estimation of antimony in the state of peroxide, by M. H. Baubigny. Sb,O; is fairly stable at 357°, begins to lose oxygen at 440°, and leaves a constant residue of Sb,O04 at 800°, the purity of which was tested by dissolving: in hydrochloric acid in presence of potassium iodide, and weighing the antimony as the trisulphide.—Action of free bases on salts, by M. Albert Colson, From an experimental study of the replace- ment of diisobutylamine and piperidine by ammonia, it is con- cluded that the decomposition of ammoniacal salts by fixed bases is a phenomenon of heterogeneous dissociation. —On a 480 WAR RE [ Maxcu 18, 1897 new derivative of phenylisindazol, obtained by the action a salicylic aldehyde upon phenylhydrazine, by M. 1H. Causse.— Action of tannin upon some alkaloids, by M. Oechsner de Coninck. Pyridine and piperidine can be readily distinguished by their reactions with an aqueous solution of tannin.—On the use of cryoscopic methods in the analysis of milk, by MM. Bordas and Génin. This is a reply to a note on the same sub- ject, by M. Winter. The results obtained, although fairly con- stant, are opposed to the exclusive use of the freezing-point method for milk ; its only value is as a method of control.—On the carbohydrates remaining in beer, by M. P. Petit-—On oxidation and the decolourisation of wines, ‘by M. V. Martinand. This oxidation can take place sometimes in the absence of an oxydase, if the wine is acid.—Mineralogical study of the action of voleanic sulphuretted fumerolles upon serpentine, by M. A. Lacroix. The minerals observed include epsomite, marcasite, melanterite, and copiapite, all directly attributable to the action of the sulphuric acid and hydrogen sulphide upon the serpen- tine. —The geological constitution of the mountains about the sources of the Bléone and the Var, by M. Kilian.—Parallelism between the cretaceous beds of Mondégo and Lisbon, by M. Paul Choffat.—Note on the treatment of articular diseases by electricity, by M. Danion.—Note on the numerical relations between the masses of the planets, pe M. Delauney. DIARY OF SOCIETIES. THURSDAY, Marcu 18. Roya Society, at 4.30.—Cultural Evolution of the Cyclamen: W. T. Thiselton-Dyer.—On the Conditions which render Absolute the Readings of the Mercurial Thermometer : S. A. Sworn.—Experiments on the Flame Spectrum of Carbon Monoxide: Prof. Hartley, F.R.S. Royat InstiruTion, at 3.—Greek History and Extant Monuments : Prof. Percy Gardner. LinNnEAN Society, at 8.—Further Observations on Stipules: Right Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S.—On the Origin of Transfusion- tissue in the Leaves of Gymnospermous Plants : W. C. Worsdell. CHEMICAL Society, at 8.—On the Atomic Weight of Carbon: Dr. Alex- ander Scott.—On a New Series of Mixed Sulphates of the Vitriol Group : Dr. Alexander Scott.—The Action of Alkylhaloids on Aldoximes and Ketoximes : Wyndham R. Dunstan, F.R.S., and Ernest Goulding. INsTITUTION OF CivIL ENGINEERS, at 8.—The Fifth ““James Forrest” Lecture—Bacteriology : Dr. G. Sims Woodhead. Sanitary INSTITUTE, at 8.—Infectious Diseases and Methods of Disinfec- tion: Dr. H. R. Kenwood. Camera Cuup, at 8.15.—Geographical Pictures: Dr. H. R. FRIDAY, Marcu 10. Royat InsTiruTION, at 9.—Greek and Latin Palwography : Maunde Thompson. EprpEMIoLocicaL Society, at 8.—The Prevention of Tuberculosis: Dr. James Niven. SATURDAY, Marcu 20. Roya Instirution, at 3.—Electricity and Electrical Vibrations : Rayleigh, F.R.S. MONDAY, Marcu 22. ImpERIAL INSTITUTE, at 8.30.—The Timber Supply of the British Empire : Dr. W. Schlich. Society oF ARTS, at 4.30.—Alloys C.B., F.R.S. Roya GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, at 8.30.—The North Polar Problem : The President. Sanitary INsTiruTE, at 8.—Water Supply, Drinking Water, Pollution of Water: Prof. W. H. Corfield. Camera Cup, at 8.15.—A Run through Portugal and Madeira, to the Great River Amazon : W. Wethered. TUESDAY, Marcu 23. BOS TURTON BAe Sy —Animal Electricity : F.R Roya. HorricuLTuRAL Sociery, at 1.—Fruit-bud Transference. INSTITUTION OF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.—Paper to be discussed: The Mond Gas-Producer Plant and its Application : H. A. Humphrey. Rovat PuHoroGrarPHic Society, at 8.—Polar Exploration: A. Montefiore Brice. Royat Vicroria HALL, Bourne. Mill. Sir Edward Lord : Prof. W. Chandler Roberts-Austen, Prof. A. D. Waller, at 8.30.—Marine Food Fishes: WEDNESDAY, Marcu 24. Sociery or Arts, at 8.—The Transmission of Power by Alternating Electric Currents: W. B. Esson. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8. INSTITUTION OF Civit ENGINEERS, at 4.—Dr G. Sims Woodhead will repeat the Fifth ‘‘ James Forrest” Lecture on Bacteriology. THURSDAY, Marcu 25. Rovyat Society, at 4.30.—Meeting for Discussion. aes The Chemical Constitution of the Stars, introduced by J. Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S., with a Communication ‘‘ On the Chemistry of the Hottest Stars. 3 Royat InstiTuTION, at 3.—The Relation of Geology to History : Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. ‘Society or Arts (Imperial Institute), at 8.—The Cultivation and Manu- facture of Rhea Fibre : Thomas Barraclough. InsTITUTION OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, at 8.—On some Repairs to the South American Company's Cable off Cape Verde, 1893 and 1895: H. Benest. (Continuation of Discussion.) ‘CHEMICAL Society, at 8.—The Pasteur Memorial Lecture: Prof. P. F. Frankland, F.R.S. Re Ci.us, at 8.15.—From Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn : Lamond owie. NO. 1429, VOL. 55] Gilbert C. FRIDAY, Marcu 26. Royat InsTITUTION, at 9.—Karly Man in Scotland : Sir William Turner, E.R S. PHYSICAL SOCIETY, at 5. INSTITUTION OF Civin ENGINEERS, at 8.—The Re-signalling of the Liver- pool Street Terminus of the Great Eastern Railway: W. J. Griffiths. SATURDAY, Marcu 27. Royar InstiruTIOoN, at 3.—Electricity and Electrical Vibrations : Rayleigh, F.R.S. Roya Boranic SOcIErTy, at 4. Lord BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED, Booxs.—Bis an’s Ende der Welt! : Dr. F. J. Studnicka, Zweite Erganzte Auflage (Prag).—A Handbook for Travellers in Lower and Upper Egypt, gth edition (Murray).—Results of Rain, River, and Evaporation Observa- tions made in’ New South Wales during 1895: H. C. Russell (Sydney).— Through Unknown African Countries: Dr. A. Donaldson Smith (Arnold). —A Handbook to the Order Lepidoptera: W. F. Kirby. Vol. iy. Moths, Part 2 (Allen).—Annuaire de L’Observatoire Royal de Belgique, 1897 (Bruxelles).—Theory of Physics: Dr. J. S. Ames (New York, Harper). PaAMPHLETS.—Quantitative Estimation of Urine: J. B. Smith (Bailliére). —Essai sur la Représentation Analytique de la Direction: C. Wessel (Copenhague).—Instinct und Intelligenzim Thierreich : C. Wasmann (Frei- burg, Herder). SERIALS.—Journal of the Anthropological Institute, February (K. Paul) Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, March (Spon).—Pro ceedings of the Physical Society of. London, Vol. xv. Part 3 (Laylor).— Psychological Review, March (Macmillan).—Zeitschrift fiir Physikalische Chemie, xxii. Band, 2 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—History of Mankind : F. Ratzel, translated, “Dark 17 (Maemillan). —Botanische Jahrbiicher, Zwei- undzwanzigster Band, 4 and 5 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann).—Die Natir- lichen Pflanzenfamilien, 146, veh 148 Liefg. (Leipzig, Engelmann).— Bulletin de L’ ‘Académie. Impériale des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, Sep- tember (St Pétersbourg).—Journal of the Franklin Institute, March (Phila- delphia).—Engineering Magazine, March (Tucker). CONTENTS. New Works on Botany. ByJ.B.F. .. Exploring in the New Zealand eee: PY Prof. T. (& * Bonney, F:RiS ieee ¢ : Our Book Shelf:— Ule: ‘‘ Lehrbuch der Erdkunde fiir hGhere Schulen” Wilson-Barker: ** A Manual of Elementary Seaman- ship”... ."\.) Ga. see Mees? ** Researches upon the Antiquity of Man in the Delaware Valley and the Eastern United States” ‘©The Universal Electrical Directory”. . .... . Surface: ‘‘ Photography asa Hobby”. ...... “First Records of British Flowering Plants’... . Schopenhauer : ‘On Human Nature ” Lunge: ‘* Tabellen fiir Gasanalysen, gasvolumetrische Analysen, Stickstoffbestimmungen, &c.” . . . Buckler: ‘* The Larvae of the British Butterflies and Moths” 7% 1.0 CCR Sc OS Letters to the Editor:— The Measurement of Pressures in the Bore of Guns.— Rev. F. Bashforth . A Powerful and Efficient Means of Driving } iX- Ray Tubes.—Charles L.- Norton and Ralph R. Lawrence é 5 Semi-Permeable Films and Osmotic Pressure. Brae J. Willard Gibbs ot Changes in Faunze due to Man’s Agency. ‘Prof. T. D. “A, Cockerell . : Formation of Coral Reefs. —Captain W. Usborne Moore, R.N. . . 2 +) ne Chinese Yeast.—C. E. ‘Stromeyer -« 5 Se Dinosaurs. (J///ustrated.) . The Discovery of the Larva ‘of the Common Eel. (Zilustrated.) By J. T. a ebam sis SPER Notes .. wos oo) Suet Our Astronomical Column:— Coudé Mountings for Reflecting Telescopes . . On Apparent and Real Diselectrification of Solid Dielectrics produced by Réntgen Rays and by Flame. (/Vth Diagram.) By Lord Kelvin,G.C.V.O., F.R.S., Dr. M. Smoluchowski de Smolan, and Dr. de Carruthers Beattie. ...... A : Forthcoming Books of Science . . bes) ORE University and Educational Intelligence. é Scientific Serials 5 0) Of CORRS, 8S Ce Societies and Academies .....-....... Diary of Societies . . Mio ed Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received . . PAGE 457 458 459 NATURE 481 THURSDAY, MARCH to 5, 1897. GALOISIAN ALGEBRA. Lehrbuch dey Algebra. Von Heinrich Weber. Zweiter Band. Pp. xvit+ 796. (Braunschweig: Vieweg und Sohn, 1896.) N one of Mrs. Barbauld’s stories a domestic fairy, with one touch of her wand, transforms a tangled heap of parti-coloured silk into an orderly array of neatly wound skeins. Not unlike this is the effect of group- theory upon mathematical analysis; and it has been truly said that, for some time to come, the progress of analysis will be approximately estimated by the advance in our knowledge of the constitution of groups. We have, therefore, good reason to be grateful to Prof. Weber for the very clear and masterly exposition of group-theory which is contained in the first three books of his second volume. It may be that we have read it at the psychological moment; in any case, it seems to us the clearest and most interesting account of the subject that we have seen. In the spirit of Cayley’s @c/um that a group is defined by the laws of combination of its symbols, the author begins by a perfectly abstract definition of a group, and develops the theory of its normal and other divisors, the composition of its parts, and a series of important theorems on the decomposition of a group and _ its associated indices. The first chapter concludes with a further and more general discussion of metacyclic groups, already introduced in Vol. i. Chapter ii., on Abelian groups, is substantially a revised and improved version of the author’s well-known memoir in the Acta Mathematica. The discussion of the characters of an Abelian group, in particular, seems to us much more easy to understand than the corre- sponding part of the original memoir. The most im- portant results in this chapter are the existence of a basis; the isomorphism of groups with the same in- variants ; the fact that to every divisor of an Abelian group, of index 7, corresponds a set of exactly 7 characters, which for all elements of the divisor have the common value 1, while for every other element of the group at least one of the characters has a value different from unity ; and, finally, that every divisor is associated with a definite reciprocal group whose degree is equal to the index of the divisor. The next chapter, which again reproduces, in great measure, Prof. Weber's original memoir, contains a com- plete discussion of the groups of a cyclotomic corpus. It is impossible to give a brief analysis of this very important chapter: it must suffice to say that a definite algorithm is given for determining all cyclotomic corpora which correspond to a given set of invariants, and for constructing the associated cyclotomic periods. Chapter iv. contains applications of the general theory to cubic and biquadratic corpora, and a proof that all Abelian corpora of the third and fourth degrees are cyclotomic. In other words, the roots of an Abelian cubic or biquad- ratic equation with rational integral coefficients may 1 The first volume of this work was reviewed in NaTuRE of November 12, 1896 (pp. 25-28). NO. 1430, VOL. 55] always be expressed as rational and integral functions of roots of unity. This is a special case of a very remarkable theorem of Kronecker’s, first proved by Prof. Weber, and demonstrated later on in the present work. Chapter v. contains a further discussion of groups in general, and brings the reader fairly abreast of con- temporary research. The very real advance which has been made in this subject in recent years may be said to date from the publication of Sylow’s fundamental theorem that if # is the degree of a group and #2 a power of a prime which divides 7, the group contains a divisor of degree f*. A very simple inductive proof (after Frobenius) is given in this chapter; and this is followed by a series of propositions, hardly less im- portant, and more or less depending upon it. Then we have a remarkable theorem, due to Frobenius, that if the degree of a group is not divisible by a square, it must be metacyclic; and the other one, also discovered by Frobenius, that every group whose degree is f*g, where é and g are different primes, is metacyclic. These theorems dispose of most groups whose degrees do not exceed 100: the rest are separately discussed in § 34, where references are given to the recent papers of Cole, Holder, and Moore. It may be remarked that English mathematicians are devoting a good deal of attention to group-theory at present: reference might well have been made to the work of Askwith and Burnside. The last article of this chapter contains a proof of the theorem that the permutation-group of 7 letters contains no transitive and primitive divisor of index not exceed- ing 7, except the alternate group of index 2; a further exception being made for 7=4, and for 77=6 respectively. Although the proof given is, of course, perfectly sound, it does not seem the truly ideal one; and it may very well happen that in this, as in other similar cases, a more appropriate demonstration will be ultimately discovered. Book IJ. deals with linear groups, and in particular with the polyhedral and congruence groups with which the researches of Klein have made us so familiar. The polyhedral groups are exhibited in an analytical form, which makes it comparatively easy to discern their sub- groups ; the proof that, besides the polyhedral groups, there are no other finite groups of the same type is after the manner of Gordon, and is remarkably simple in character. The decomposition of congruential groups (to a prime modulus) is effected very easily with the help of Galoisian imaginaries. The whole book may be profitably compared with the corresponding part of Klein’s “‘ Modulfunctionen,” which, of course, traverses much the same ground. Book III. contains various interesting applications of group-theory. The first chapter is on metacyclic equa- tions, especially those of degree #*, where # is a prime. It is shown that the Galoisian group of a primitive irreducible metacyclic equation of degree #* is isomorphic with a linear congruence group (mod. /) of a variables ; this group is compounded of a metacyclic group, isomorphous with 2: = 2: + a; (mod. £), and a homogeneous congruence group. Thus the problem of finding all such metacyclic equations is reduced to that of finding all the metacyclic divisors of the homo- geneous congruence group. With the help of these y 482 NCI OD aaa [ Marcu 25,.1897 results it is shown that all equations of the ninth degree with a linear congruence group are metacyclic, and a complete account is given of metacyclic equations of the degrees 4 and 8 respectively. The next two chapters illustrate the power of group- theory in dealing with a certain class of problems in analytical geometry. The configuration of the inflexional tangents of a plane cubic, and the much more compli- cated configuration of the twenty-eight double tangents of a quartic, are here reduced to the scheme of a group. The advantage thus gained is twofold: a clear compre- hension of the structure of the configuration, and the appropriate engine for attacking the algebraic problems which the geometry suggests. Thus (p. 389) the fact that the Galoisian group of the equation of the twenty- eight double tangents of a quartic is simple and doubly transitive, is intimately connected with the existence of Steiner's sets of six associated pairs of double tangents ; and the structure of the group shows the exact nature of the algebraical problem which consists in the separate determination of these sets of lines. Chapter xiii. deals with the solution of the general quintic equation. It is now well known that the general quintic cannot be solved by radicals, and that it has no resolvent of lower degree than the sixth. By the solution of the quintic is now understood either the expression of its roots by means of transcendental functions, such as elliptic or modular functions; or else the expression of its roots in terms of a definite algebraical irrationality, such as that furnished by the icosahedral equation. The chapter before us is chiefly concerned with the second method ; it is shown that the equation yP+5a+5oy+c=o where @, 2, ¢ are any constants whatever, may be identified with one of the principal resolvents (Hauptresolventen) of the icosahedral equation of the sixtieth degree, usually written in the form j 1S Fe So The process of identification requires the determination of sand of two other auxiliary parameters A, p, which fix the particular resolvent to be chosen. If A is the discriminant of the given quintic, the three auxiliary parameters are expressible as rational functions of a, 4, ¢ and ,/5A. Ultimately, then, the roots depend in a quite simple way upon those of the icosahedral equation ; this latter, although of a high degree, is very convenient of application, because its Galoisian group is known, and its roots are algebraical functions of a single parameter (z). Moreover, one of its roots may be simply expressed by means of the hypergeometric series (see p. 432). From this point of view then, if the solution of numerical quintics were a matter of practical importance, we should construct a single-entry table of the values of the icos- ahedral irrationality for different values of 2, and then make use, in each particular case, of the formule of identification above referred to. Chapters xiv. and xv. contain a theory of ternary groups of substitutions, and deal in particular with a group isomorphous with the G,,,, which may be otherwise represented as a congruence-group, mod. 7. This admits of a very interesting application to a special class of NO. 1430, VOL. 55] equations of the seventh order, analogous to the use of the icosahedral equation in solving the quintic. The fourth, and concluding, Book is on algebraical numbers ; and to those whose predilections are arith- metical this will probably prove the most interesting of all. When Kummer generalised Gauss’s theory of complex integers by introducing complex roots of unity of any order, he was at first baffled by the perplexing fact that in certain cases complex integers presented themselves which were incapable of resolution into factors, and yet did not possess all the essential qualities of prime factors ; thus, for instance, one and the same number might be expressible both as a8 and as 76, where aand # were integers essentially distinct from y and 6, and yet a, 8, y, 6 were all indecomposible. By a stroke of unsurpassed genius, Kummer devised a theory of ideal primes, which at once removed the difficulty, and enlarged the province of arithmetic indefinitely. The divisibility of one real complex integer by another may be expressed by a series of linear congruences : Kummer succeeded in showing that, associated with every cyclo- tomic corpus, there are certain sets of congruential conditions which are precisely analogous in the general theory to divisibility by different primes in ordinary rational arithmetic. The satisfaction of one of these sets of congruences way denote divisibility by an actual (complex) prime; but whether this is so or not, the nature of the limitation thus imposed is just the same, and so, when the actual prime divisor does not exist, we say that the satisfaction of the congruential conditions expresses the existence of an zdea/ prime factor. As an example of how ordinary divisibility may be expressed by congruential conditions, we may take ax + by =o, dx—ay =0 (mod. a? + 67) which, if satisfied simultaneously, are equivalent to the divisibility of « +47 by a+ 62. Here, of course, when the congruences are satisfied, the complex factor a + dz actually exists ; but the congruences may be discussed, and their arithmetical significance developed, quite independently of this fact. Kummer actually succeeded in showing how to con- struct, for any given cyclotomic corpus, the congruential conditions associated with the actual or ideal primes. contained in it; but when his theory is extended to general algebraic corpora, it becomes impracticable to carry out the investigation precisely on Kummer’s lines. The fundamental idea remains the same; and by an appropriate modification at the outset, Dedekind and Kronecker each succeeded in constructing an arithmetical theory capable of application to any corpus of algebraicali integers whatever. Their methods are not so different as at first sigh they may appear; this may be shown by an example which illustrates a fundamental point of the theory. Suppose that a and f are two ordinary rational integers ; then the linear form +a + _y8,in which x, y assume all rational integral values, comprises a certain set of rational integers, and these are, in fact, the multiples of the greatest common measure of a and 8. Thus, since a rational integer is given when all its multiples are given» we may say that the greatest common measure of a and B is represented by the linear form +a + 78,.or by the: Marcu 25, 1897] NATURE 483 series of integers comprised in that form. notion may be extended to the case when a and § are any two algebraical integers belonging to the same P| Now this | ‘corpus ; and the extension may be made in two ways. | In Dedekind’s theory x and y, as before, stand for | rational integers, and our attention is directed not so much to the form +a+ _y8 as to the series of numbers | it represents. This series is called an ideal, and denoted by [a, 2]; so far as aand 8 are concerned, it is found to possess properties precisely analogous to those of the | greatest common measure. Kronecker, on the other hand, keeps the form a+ 8 explicitly, using -r, y as mere symbols, or umbree; and the highest common ‘divisor of a and P is defined as follows. The norm of xa + y8 is a rational homogeneous form in +, y which is the product of a rational integer and a primitive form F ; by the highest common divisor of a and 8 we mean (va + y8)/F. This definition has, of course, to be subsequently justified. In a certain sense, then, the difference between the two methods is merely one of symbolic ; but as in other similar cases (e.g. the methods of Cartesian and of homogeneous coordinates), it sometimes happens that propositions which are easily proved by the one are difficult for the other, and versa. Kronecker’s theory was not worked out in detail in his famous “Festschrift”; Prof. Weber has now made it easily intelligible by adopting it, with some modification, as the basis of his exposition. Simplicity is gained by ‘omitting primitive forms, such as F above, in the expression for divisors; and by means of a few new terms, such as “functional,” the discussion is made at once concise and clear. It should be added that the reader will find in this book not only a thorough account of the elements of the subject from Kronecker’s point of view, but a guide to its most recent developments. Thus, for instance, it contains Minkowski’s theorem on the minimum values of quadratic forms, with important applications to minimum representatives of ideal classes; and a summary of Hensel’s very important investigations, by which it becomes possible to give an exf/ic’t representation of the prime ideals (or functionals) which belong to a given corpus. Chapter xx., on quadratic corpora, shows the relation of Gauss’s theory of quadratic forms to the general theory. Chapters xxi.-xxiv. are devoted mainly to the proof of Kronecker’s theorem that all Abelian numerical corpora are cyclotomic ; in other words, that the roots of a// Abelian equations with rational integral coefficients are rational functions of roots of unity. The proof of ice | this involves a long series of propositions, many of which | are extremely valuable in themselves ; we may instance the determination of the number of classes belonging to a given corpus, and the corollary that in every algebraical corpus there are an infinite number of prime ideals of the first degree. Perhaps the proof of Kronecker’s theorem may some day be attained by a less laborious route ; meanwhile it is a remarkable example of those arithmetical truths which are easily stated and easily understood, but, as yet, require for their demonstration an elaborate mathematical apparatus. Prof. Weber's concluding chapter (xxv.), on transcen- NO. 1430, VOL. 55] dental numbers, contains a proof of the transcendence of e and 7, and forms an elegant coronis for a work which is so important and so original that it is, to a great extent, above the range of ordinary criticism. As an introduction to, and exposition of, the theory of rational algebra and its arithmetical applications, it is simply invaluable. A student of real capacity, familiar with the technique of elementary algebra, may, by read- ing this work, together with Dedekind’s wonderful tracts (“ Ueber Stetigkeit,” &c., and “Was sind u. was sollen die Zahlen?”) and the last two editions of Dirichlet’s | “Zahlentheorie,” equip himself for exploration in that strange unearthly region of arithmetic which attracts some sedentary spirits in much the same way as Arctic travel charms a Franklin or a Nansen. And even though he may not be one of the few who make dis- coveries of real importance, he will at least be able to appreciate intelligently the work that has been done, and the progress that has been made in developing the most abstract part of the only science that deserves to be called exact. Gratitude has been defined by somie practical cynic as the expectation of benefits to come: we must plead guilty to some such feeling on reading Prof. Weber’s promise of a sequel, which is to deal with applications of the theory of algebraical numbers to the theory of elliptic functions ; an application already partially carried out in his “ Elliptische Functionen und algebraische Zahlen.” And we cannot help remembering that, in conjunction with Prof. Dedekind, Prof. Weber has laid the found- ations of a thoroughly arithmetical treatment of algebraic functions of one variable, in which alone (in our opinion) will be found a complete justification of the results to which Riemann was led by his geometrical method. Is it too much to hope that Prof. Weber may sometime be willing to develop these principles into a treatise on algebraical and Abelian functions ? G. B. M. THE WORSHIP OF TREES. The Sacred Tree; or, the Tree in Religion and Myth. By Mrs. J. H. Philpot. Pp. xvi + 179. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1897.) HE further we are able to penetrate the mists which hang over the early history of mankind, the more sure we become that the primeval ancestors of our race regarded certain trees with veneration and awe; and it seems quite possible that in the earliest times the tree was a symbol of a supernatural and almighty power, which we might describe by the word “sod.” We shall not attempt to express in years the amount of the time which must have passed since tree worship began ; but it will be sufficient, in the course of this short notice, to give a few proofs of its existence in the times which antedate the literature and history of all countries except those of Egypt and Southern Babylonia. The study of the tree in its relation to religion and myth has occupied the minds of some of. our best anthropologists, and though we are inclined to think that presently certain people will find the tree in every ancient piece of work and symbol—just as some investigators find the Christian cross everywhere, and others find the lotus in every ornament—still there is no 484 WWE ORE | Marcu 25, 1897 doubt that nearly every nation belonging to the ancient civilised world has connected trees with its objects of veneration ; and many folk have openly admitted that they regarded them as holy things, and that, in conse- quence, they have performed sacred rites and ceremonies beneath and near them. Many interesting details of the subject have been collected by such indefatigable in- vestigators as Prof. E. B. Tylor, Mr. Frazer, and the late Prof. Robertson Smith ; but, as far as we remember, no one before Mrs. Philpot has taken the pains to reduce the commoner facts to a simple straightforward narra- tive such as she gives in the volume before us. Here we have ‘in nine chapters a brief sketch of tree worship, which begins in times almost prehistoric, when the suppliant knelt in terror before the solitary tree or in the forest, and ends with the Christmas-tree round which children and adults gather joyfully. To illustrate her points Mrs. Philpot introduces several well-chosen drawings, and a somewhat meagre index ends the book. It is evident that Mrs. Philpot’s work is intended for all such as have not made a special study of tree-lore, and to them her little treatise will be of the greatest value; for, apart from the general accuracy of her facts, her story is told with a directness which, to say the least of it, is time-saving. Her references are, how- ever, either [too many or too few ; personally we should | have liked them to be increased in number, for when a reader likes a book, and is told in it where to go for further information, he sometimes goes, and thus know- ledge is spread, and more people are induced to take an interest in that particular subject. On certain points, too, Mrs. Philpot might have given us more information with little increased labour. Thus, in speaking of tree worship in Babylonia (p. 7), we might with advantage have been told that Rim-Sin, a king of Babylonia about B.C. 2300, calls himself “magician of the holy tree of Eridu,” and also that a cuneiform inscription actually describes this tree “with its root of crystal which stretcheth to the abyss.” On p. to, the “sacred tree of Heliopolis,” of which Mrs. Philpot speaks, is, of course, the famous Persea tree near which the Cat (7.e. the Sun) slew the serpent of darkness ; both Cat and Tree are de- picted in the vignette which accompanies the seventeenth chapter of the “Book of the Dead.” In the same city, too, flourished the famous olive tree which is mentioned in the text of the pyramid of Unas (line 70), inscribed about B.c. 3500. The Tamarisk tree (Asev), which is mentioned in the forty-second chapter, and the Cedar tree, which plays such an important part in the “ Tale of the Two Brothers,’ should also have been noticed. In seme cases a little more information might well have been given to the reader. Thus, the Arabs believed that the Taba tree (see p. 132) was specially created by God along with the Throne, and the Garden of Eden, and Adam ; this statement is important, for it shows that the Muhammedans could not imagine Paradise without a tree. The account of Alexander’s visit to the trees of the Sun and Moon in India, not Persia, should have been taken from Alexanders letter to Aristotle as given in Pseudo-Callisthenes (ed. Miller, Book iii.), for the Persian translation, or rather version, modifies a great deal of it, and omits many important points. On the vreat trees of India and Africa the histories of Mastdi NO. 1430, VOL. 55] (ii. 81-83) and Ibn-Batuta (iv. 391 f.)—both available in good French translations—might have been consulted, and Mrs. Philpot would have derived scores of valuable hints about trees and their worship from Yule’s edition of ‘Ser Marco Polo,” vol. i. (2nd ed.). The four cross- bars of the Tet-pillar (p. 117) are in reality four pillars, of which only the tops are seen, and these represent the four cardinal points ; the late Mr. O’Neill’s “ Night of the Gods” contains many facts relating to the universe- tree or pillar. The pillar which joins the two paradises (p. 132) is not called “strength of the Hill of Sion,” but “foundation (7é&hd) of the Hill of Sion.” Among proofs of the beliefs in the existence of a “tree of life” at a very early period may be mentioned one which occurs in the text of the pyramid of Pepi I., where we read that the deceased goes to the great lake round which the gods sit, and that they give him to eat of the tree of life upon which they themselves do live; now these words were inscribed about B.C. 3500, and it is more than probable that they were first written many, many centuries before that date. We do not call attention to these facts from any wish to find fault, but only to indicate the sources whence Mrs. Philpot may derive additional information when a second edition of her book is called for. We believe that her book will be read with pleasure by many, but it would greatly help the general reader to give him definite facts and figures which he could remember and think upon after he has closed the book. OUR BOOK SHELF. Relics of Primeval Life. By Sir J. Willam Dawson, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. Pp. xiv + 336. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897.) FOR more than thirty-five years Eozoon Canadense has been before geologists, and the evidence brought forward in support of its organic nature, and against it, has been sufficient to enable people competent to judge the ques- tion to arrive at a firm conclusion one way or the other. The case for Eozoon as a Laurentian fossil is stated by Sir William Dawson in this volume, and the observation of similar characteristics in decidedly mineral structures is either ingeniously explained, or the resemblance is declared to be illusory. The work represents the sub- stance of a course of lectures on Pre-Cambrian fossils, delivered in the Lowell Institute, Boston, and will be read as much for the account it contains of early animal life, as for the debatable matters with which it deals. The True Grasses. By Eduard Hackel.. Translated from ‘Die Natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien” by F. Lamson-Scribner and Effie A. Southworth. Pp. 228. 8vo, with rro illustrations in the text. (Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1896.) THIS appears to be a very good translation of a work which does not materially differ from Bentham and Hooker’s ‘‘ Genera Plantarum,” except that the diagnoses are much briefer, though, on the other hand, they are sup- plemented by some figures which, by the way, are printed much too black. What part Effie Southworth took in the translation is not apparent, for the preface is signed by F. Lamson-Scribner, dating from the University of Tennessee, without any mention of the former. In fact, the book was first published in America. It is important to state that some botanical knowledge is necessary to enable a person to use the book, and also that, with the exception of the cereals anda few others only the genera Marcu 25, 1897 | AI OM Cg 485 are dealt with. Of these there are upwards of 300, and a rough estimate of the total number of species in the world puts them at 3000. Prof. Hackel is a well-known and accepted authority on this difficult family, so that the translation will be welcome to those botanists who are not familiar with either Latin or German. The intro- ductory chapter on the structure, morphology and physiology of grasses enhances the value of this little book. It may be of interest to add, in this connection, that the grasses of British India, described in Sir Joseph Hooker’s voluminous “Flora,” just completed, number $50 species belonging to about 150 genera! W. B. H. The New Poultry Guide for British Farmers and Others. By Kinard B. Baghot-De la Bere. Pp. 65. (London : Seeley ana Co., Ltd., 1897.) ‘THIS book is addressed to small landowners and tenant farmers ot Great Britain. It is a concise and practical guide to the selection and keeping of poultry for profit. Written by one who has had a wide experience, the book should appeal forcibly to the distressful agriculturist, and make him start a poultry farm at once 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.) Liquefaction of Air by Self-intensive Refrigeration. From a recently published paper by Dr. Carl Linde, on the above subject, it appears that in his most successful attempt without the use of auxiliary refrigeration, he was able, with a -copper-tube apparatus weighing 132 Ibs., to liquefy air in two hours, with an average higher pressure of 190 atmospheres. It will be of interest to those who have followed this subject to hear of the latest performance, which constitutes a great advance on the above results; the weight of the copper coil having been reduced to less than one-sixth, the time required for liquefaction to less than one-fourth, and the pressure of the compressed air to less than one-half. An apparatus which I designed on an improved plan, and which was completed in May 1896, was exhibited at work at the conversazione of the Royal Dublin Society held on the 1oth inst. ; and, the liquid being easily removable as produced, it supplied the material for repeated demonstrations during the evening, with the usual experiments. Air at an average pressure of 87 atmospheres was supplied by a compressor lent by Messrs. Arthur Guinness, Son, and Co., which had been formerly used for compressing carbonic acid gas ; and the compressed air was carried through 80 feet of copper pipe to the room in which the apparatus worked. No auxiliary cooling by carbonic acid or other agents was used to reduce the temperature of the compressed air before or after it reached the apparatus. The copper tube in the exchanger, weighing only 20lbs., was disposed in a special arrangement of coils, so that the tem- perature was exchanged over a range of 202° C. within 14 of a degree, the compressed air entering at + 10° C., passing through the liquid state at — 192° C., and issuing a few seconds later at +8°6° C. When a start was made with the apparatus at atmospheric temperature, the jet of liquid air was clearly seen in twenty-five minutes, and the liquid was collecting in the receiver in thirty- three minutes from the start. When the apparatus was cooled down by continuous working, the liquid began to collect again in two minutes after emptying the receiver, and accumulated at a good rate : the exact quantities of liquid and air for a given time have yet to be measured. The receiver is a glass vessel protected by a vacuum of the kind invented by Mr. Crookes, first applied to refrigeration work by M. Cailletet, of Paris, and improved and popularised by Prof. Dewar. It is further protected by a special glass NO. 1430, VOL. 55] attachment fitted in such a way that the vacuum vessel can be readily removed without any risk of fracturing it by movement in contact with rubber hardened by cold to the rigidity of stone, and can be quickly replaced without interfering with the effective action of the apparatus. The apparatus has been very strongly and neatly made by Brin’s Oxygen Company, of Westminster, and tested to a very high pressure. It should be mentioned that in the almost impossible event of a joint giving way, no one can be hurt, since the high- pressure air exists only in the form of a thin column or thread with very small admission-passages. The harmlessness of a burst under these conditions has been practically demonstrated with a joint constructed in such a way as to burst inside a similar construction at 120 atmospheres, when the effect proved to be quite as mild as had been anticipated, and entirely harmless—a mere blowing off. This is the only apparatus existing in the United Kingdom which liquefies air without auxiliary refrigerating agents, March 13. W. Hampson. Patterns produced by Charged Conductors on Sensitive Plates. IN your issue of January 21, 1897, Mr. James I’Anson publishes some coin photographs showing the effect of the brush discharge around the edge of the coins, and around the portions in high relief, and asks if any similar results have been obtained by others. } In the Physical Review (vol. ii. p. 59, 1893) is an article on electric photography, in which are published some similar photo- graphs made by me in 1892 by exactly the same method de- scribed by Mr. ’Anson. Thesame method is also described by Prof. F. J. Smith, whose ‘‘Inductoscript” should be by this time well known in England. The rays from the discharge around the edge of the coin are plainly shown in one of my photographs in the Physecal Review, and are commented upon in the article. I also gave a photograph made by the same process when the coin was insulated from the photographic plate by a sheet of mica, and mentioned others made with the coin insulated from the plate by shellac, paraffin, and gutta-percha, which would seem to disprove Mr. I’Anson’s theory that the brushes are due to electrified streams of air coming in contact with the sensitised plate. : During the past year, I have repeated these experiments with both the coin and the photographic plate carefully insulated and placed between the plates of a condenser attached to the dis- charging knobs of a large induction coil. I have made in this way photographs of coins, and other conductors, imbedded in the centre of a block of paraffin two centimetres thick, under which circumstances they could not send off streams of electri- fied air. I have also repeated in this way some of the X-ray shadow effects by placing objects between the condenser plates and the photographic plate, to intercept the waves sent off from the con- denser plates themselves. A good conductor placed near the photographic plate will regularly be photographed more strongly than the condenser plates, even though it be only one thickness of gold-leaf on glass ; but if placed several centimetres from the photographic plate, and near one of the condenser plates, it may cast a shadow on the photographic plate. An insulator placed upon the photographic plate usually casts a shadow upon it, but in some cases insulators of high specific inductive capacity seemed more transparent than the air to the waves sent oft from the condenser plates. Since the oscillations in such a condenser field must corre- spond very closely in character with longitudinal waves in the ether, it seems probable that if X-rays are longitudinal ether waves, their wave-length must be very short ; as, otherwise, they would induce waves in conductors similar to those induced in an alternating condenser field. : ‘ I enclose a photograph of two coins placed side by side on a sheet of mica which was laid upon the photographic plate. The whole was placed in a light-tight box, and inserted between the condenser plates, from which it was carefully insulated by large panes of heavy plate-glass. The condenser plates were 4°5 cm. apart, and a 5cm. spark was passed between the discharging knobs of the coil for two minutes, after which the plate was taken out and developed in the usual manner. It was found later that an exposure of a few seconds gave equally good results 486 MAT ORE ocr [Marcu 25, 1897 This photograph was selected for comparison with those of Mr. I’Anson because the rays are plainly shown, while the shadow of the mica sheet, which was between the coins and the photo- graphic plate, can also be plainly seen. It will be noticed that the rays are most numerous between the coins. FERNANDO SANFORD. Stanford University. Cal., February 19. [The photograph referred to by Mr. Sanford is similar to one which illustrated Mr. T’Anson’s letter (p. 270), the chief difference being that a greater number of rays are shown in the space separating the two coins. —Eb, NATURE.] Laboratory Use of Acetylene. IN your issue of September 3, 1896, appeared a short letter stating that acetylene was in use in our laboratory for blow- pipe work, and further stating that we hoped to introduce the gas on to the benches. From one or two inquiries received since then, it would seem that the fact of our now having succeeded in doing this will be of interest, as, indeed, it should be to any one possessing or contemplating the erection of a laboratory in the country where ordinary gas is costly or not obtainable. We use an ordinary Bunsen of special dimensions, the aperture of the jet being very small, and the tube (also of small diameter) is provided with a cap to protect the burner from dust when not in use. The generator is a modified form of one of those at present in the market, and gives between seven and eight inches water pressure. With six inches pressure a perfectly non-sooty flame of good size can be obtained, and a ‘‘ quarter Bunsen flame” under as little as three and a half inches. If turned lower than this, the flame becomes luminous, the draught becoming in- sufficient. The flame is steady, noiseless, and, unless turned too low, evinces no tendency to strike down. The consumption of gas averages one cubic foot per burner per hour. The flame possesses, of course, great heating power, one volume of acetylene being for practical purposes nearly twice as effective as one volume of ordinary gas. Thismeans an immense saving of time in all heating operations, and in many cases, such as small fusions and simple glass-working operations, we are able alto- gether to dispense with the blow-pipe ; the burner alone supply- ing quite sufficient heat. Our installation has only just come into use, but, so far, has given us no trouble. We have used an acetylene blow-pipe for nearly a year, and have had no difficulties. The cocks and general fittings should be thorougkly good ; any one who has not gone into the matter will be surprised to find what an indifferent article, as regards leakage, is the average gas-cock. It will be found that the cocks tend to work stiff, probably on account of the absorption of the acetylene by the lubricant, and it is much to be desired that the question of the most suitable lubricant should be investigated. The Laboratory, Felsted School, Essex. A. E. MuNBY. Immunity from Snake-bites. IN case any of your readers may be working on the subject suggested by Mr. Dawson Williams in Narure, March 4, page 415, that mosquitoes may be the carriers of pathogenic microbes, I send you the following. In a town in the interior of Asia Minor, where I resided some years, and where malarial fever was at all times very common, I frequently noticed that when the wind blew from the direction of swamps in the vicinity, bringing numbers of mosquitoes, there would be an increase in the number of men, both native and European, down with fever about a week later. Had the wind brought the malaria, or dust containing fever germs from the swamps, the increase in number of fever cases might have been expected within two or three days ; bufas generally a week elapsed, some less direct cause was to be sought, and I always thought the mosquitoes were the culprits. That mosquitoes do more than inject a specific toxin may be inferred from a fact I have noticed—that people who have been living in the interior of this country and have become inured to the bites of the insects from the swamps, on coming to this town, where sewerage and dirt of all descriptions abound, are painfully conscious of the attacks of mosquitoes here, and ace versa. Those who have suffered much from fever are generally im- mune from the usual pain of mosquito bites, and I have heard NO. 1430, VOL. 55)] natives say that they have suffered so much from fever that even the mosquitoes will not bite them. During the summer months, in certain localities in the interior, labourers are exposed to the bites and stings of tarantulas and scorpions. I have frequently seen men stung several times in the same season, and found that zzvaréably they suffered less from each successive sting or bite. J. Buiss. Smyrna, March 12. The Stereoscopic Studies of Clouds. SINCE 1894, I have been making stereoscopic studies of clouds. with wide separation of the cameras. Beyond the direct interest of the pictures, the method has a practical value. (1) In the measure of the distance of clouds by photogram- meters, it is usual to mark bya pin-prick the corresponding points of the two prints. Through the vagueness of cloud out- lines it is easy to err in doing this, but any error thus made is easily detected by the stereoscope. I have recently learnt that this method has been already suggested by Mr. M, J. Amsler-Laffon, of Schaffhausen, but I do not know whether it has been previously put to a practical test. (2) My photographs were taken by visible signal without electric connection, some of them with a base of fully five hundred yards, and the clear stereoscopic definition seems to show that in ordinary cases the expensive electric connection of the cameras may be dispensed with, without affecting the value of the plates for purposes of measurement. 19 The Boltons, S.W. JoHN TENNANT. FAMOUS SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOPS. I.—LORD KELVIN’S LABORATORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. S Lord Kelvin stated nearly twelve years ago, in an address at the opening of the Physical and Chemical Laboratories at the University College of North Wales, the establishment of scientific laboratories at universities and colleges for the experimental training of students is a comparatively recent idea. Private laboratories, no doubt, existed at a very early period. The old alchemists had places, sometimes secret retreats, meanly appointed, like the den of Wayland Smith, sometimes, when the purse and protection of a powerful patron were at their command, more luxurious quarters, in which they carried on their search for the elixir of life, and the key to the transmutation of metals. Der in Gesellschaft von Adepten, Sich in die schwarze Kiiche schloss, Und, nach unendlichen Recepten, Das Widrige zusammengoss. When what was spurious and unscientific in the old alchemy had gradually sublimed away, when chemistry had grown up in its place, and the experimental study of natural philosophy had begun, the only laboratories (anatomical schools excepted), as a rule, were those in the houses of investigators, and to these admission was given by the masters only to their favourite disciples. There the work done was entirely that of research : such a thing as a course of laboratory exercises, carried on with a view to the passing of an examinational test of experi- mental knowledge and dexterity, was undreamed of. What a change has taken place! Now, no scheme of instruction in physics, chemistry, or biology is deemed complete which does not include an extensive course of practical work to be performed by the ordinary students ; and excellent and well-appointed laboratories are pro- vided at every institution which aims at giving university instruction in scientific’subjects. This is all as it should be, were it not that the examinational test is in too many cases made a great deal too much of. The Scottish Universities have often been criticised adversely, most frequently by men who knew little about Marcu 25, 1897 | IAT ORE 487 them or the work they do, but on several memorable occasions they have led the way in scientific progress. To a resident graduate of the University of Cambridge the world owes the Newtonian Philosophy, but it was James Gregory, in the University of St. Andrews, who first taught the Newtonian doctrines in a University course ; and Lord Kelvin was, we believe, the first teacher of Natural Philosophy who opened a physical laboratory to his students. ‘The beginning was a memorable one. Soon after his appointment fifty years ago to the Glasgow Chair, Lord Kelvin was beginning his great series ot researches on the Electrodynamic Qualities of Matter, and invited his students to aid him. Others hearing of the new work going on volunteered for service, and new branches of research were quickly opened out. Then began that famous experimental work which has been carried on at Glasgow through half a century, and still so actively continues. The physical laboratory for many years was a disused wine-cellar in the old University buildings. To this was added, in course of time, the discarded Blackstone exam- ination room, and in this modest suite of rooms the experimental work of the de- partment was done, until the University removed twenty- six years ago to its palatial buildings at Gilmorehill. For the most part the work done in this laboratory was of the nature of research. A good man was set to make some of the easier observ- ations in an_ investigation which was in progress, and, beginning thus, he in a short time obtained very consider- able skill in experimental processes by carrying out the determinations of the various physical constants which were required for the final result. For the best men this plan answered remarkably well. Their in- terest was excited, was kept alive by their constant inter- course with the guiding spirit of the place, and their zeal was such that, as the writer can testify, the laboratory corps, as it used to be called, has been known to divide itself into two squads—one which worked during the day, the other during the night, for weeks together, so that the work never paused. The University of Glasgow is built somewhat after the fashion of colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, in the form of a double quadrangle, and in a style of Gothic archi- tecture, with crow-step gables and turrets, rather common in baronial residences in Scotland. Although the amount of space devoted to the Depart- ment of Natural Philosophy in the University is con- siderable, the physical laboratory, it must be confessed, suffers from the general plan adopted for the buildings. Of the convenience of the quadrangular arrangement for a college, consisting in the main of suites of rooms for students and fellows, with dining-rooms, class-rooms, &c., there can be no question ; but for a wmiversity, in which provision must be made for great experimental departments, such as_ physics, chemistry, physiology, zoology, and anatomy, it is far from being well adapted, Such departments are best provided for by detached NO. 1430, VOL. 55] ‘Good Words.””| Fic. 1. buildings, or “ Institute,” as they are called in Germany, if possible within the University grounds. | The adjoining figure gives a view of a part of the general | working laboratory. In the foreground is a writing- table, on which stands a magnetostatic voltmeter. At | that table Lord Kelvin generally sits when he is in the laboratory, and occupies himself with the consideration of results which are being obtained by the men at work in the laboratory, or with the dictation of his correspond- ence to his secretary. A little to the right is a stone erection built on an in- dependent foundation. This contains a chamber in which apparatus requiring a steady support can be suspended ; and it was here that the pendulum was hung by which | Messrs. George and Horace Darwin made their first | attempt to determine directly the attraction of the moon on a body at the earth’s surface. Behind the writing-table is another table with vertical beams at its corners, which give it somewhat of the appearance of a ‘‘four-poster” bedstead. To these [from a photograph by T. and R. Annan and Sons, Glasgow. View of part ot the General Laboratory. | vertical beams cross-bars are attached for the support of pieces of apparatus in the manner shown in the illus- | tration. | Inthe background are two stone pillars supporting a partition wall of the rooms above, and to these were led | wires from a large battery of tray Daniell cells which, | before the advent of really practical dynamos, stood in the right-hand corner of the laboratory under the stalr- case, and supplied the current required for the various kinds of experimental work in progress. On the left of the pillars 1s seen part of another four-poster, and the door of a private room, partitioned off from the main laboratory, in which special experiments, or reductions of results can be carried on without interruption. Passing up the stairway, seen at the back in the illus- tration, we arrive on the upper floor in a small room formed under the seats of the Lecture Theatre. Thence | we can pass directly into the Lecture Theatre, or into the Apparatus Room, which is directly behind it. 488 The adjoining figure gives a view of the interior of the Lecture Theatre as seen from its large oriel window in the front of the building. It is a lofty apartment lighted munly by two large windows, one the oriel just referred to, the other, seen in the picture, looking into the west quadrangle. experiments, in illustration of those lectures on the “ Pro- perties of Matter,” which have always formed a most interesting and suggestive part of Lord Kelvin’s course, and which, to every one who has heard them, have inten- sified the regret, felt by so many, that the second volume of Thomson and Tait’s “ Natural P hilosophy,” in which this subject was to be specially treated, is not to appear. In one of these experiments a slab of pitch, or of shoe- makers’ wax in water in a glass jar, is made to confine a number of common corks below it, while in the water From “Good Words." | Fic. 2.—Lecture Theatre, from front window. above the jar are placed a few lead bullets. After a month or above the pitch, while the lead bullets have sunk down through the pitch to the bottom of the jar. Other corks are on their way through, and, being imbedded in the pitch, are lost to view ; and of the paths followed by the corks and bullets, which have made the passage, no trace remains. All the time the pitch or wax is so brittle as to fly to pieces if thrown down ona table, or violently struck with a hammer. To the small continuously applied forces due to the corks and bullets the pitch has behaved like a fluid ; in- deed, its properties have been precisely those of a highly viscous liquid. shape, but the resisting force has depended on the rate of progress of the change, not, as elastic resistance would, on the amount of change already accomplished. On the other hand, a piece of the same pitch melted into the form of a bell, and struck with a hammer in the NO. 1430, VOL. 55] NATURE On the sill of the latter window, which is passed each day by every student entering or leaving the room, are usually arranged a series of semi-secular [From a photograph by T. and R, two some of the corks are found in the water | It has offered resistance to change of [Marcu 25 5, 1897 ordinary way, would give out a musical note, showing that for rapidly alternating changes of shape the forces excited in the pitch are proportional to the strains pro- duced ; which indicates that the material under the latter conditions possesses the properties of a solid. Thus one and the same substance may, according to the circum- stances in which it is placed, behave either as a viscous liquid or as an elastic solid. This result is important as bearing upon the difficulty as to how the luminiferous ether, under any conceivable estimate of its density, can possess so high a degree of rigidity as to transmit the waves of transverse oscillation, which, according to the elastic solid theory of the ether, we have in light, with a velocity of 3 x 10!° centimetres per second ; while the planets and the components of double or multiple stars move freely through it. The difficulty (if it is a real difficulty, and is not to be got rid of in a new view of the propagation of light based on electromagnetic theory) is not explained by this experi- ment ; but it is reduced by it to an affair of properties of matter, by being shown to have a parallel in a pheno- menon of which we have undoubted experience. Another piece of apparatus in the window is a model glacier in which a slope of wood takes the place of the sloping bed on the moun- tain-side, and shoemakers’ wax that | of Mice: [See Dr. Bottomley’s descrip- tion in NATURE for De- cember 18, 1879 (vol. xxi. p. 159).] In the window also are generally displayed tubes illustrating the diffusion of liquids into one another, and. the osmotic passage of a sugar solution through a diaphragm. On the other side of the room is a large oriel window, which is partly visible in the view of the class-room table and lecture appar- atus given in Fig. 3. Set up in this oriel window are two tall tubes running nearly the whole height of the room, and _pro- tected by wooden cases fitted with glass doors. One of these tubes illustrates the diffusion of sulphate of copper solution upwards into water, and the water itself in the opposite direction. The other tube shows the same thing for water and alcohol. These tubes were set up nearly a quarter of a century ago, soon after the new building was taken possession of by the University; and the original surfaces of separation, with the dates, are marked upon them. This is, perhaps, the longest ex- periment on diffusion that has ever been carried on ; but of course it is capable of infinite duration, as an in- finite time would have to elapse before the liquids in the tubes were completely mixed by this process. In his lectures Lord Kelvin is fond of accomplishing the work of an infinite time in diffusion, by reversing two or three times.a closed tube in which the liquids have innan and Sons, Glasgow. | been originally separated by their different specific gravities. The progress of diffusion in the secular experiments is shown by the motion of specific gravity beads (small Marcu 25, 1897 | beads of glass of known mean specific gravity), which float in the liquid, and mark by their change of position the advance within the liquid of a stratum of given den- sity. Thus the state of the liquids can be seen at a glance without either disturbing the apparatus, or setting up more or less troublesome observing instruments. The picture shows the lecture-table with apparatus for illustrating gyrostatic action and precessional motion. On the table and to the right are ordinary gyrostats, to- wards the left are two hollow spheroidal gyrostats which can be filled with water, and between stands a model, well known to all Glasgow students, for illustrating the precessional motion of the earth, which arises from its gyrostatic action. One of the hollow spheroids is oblate, the other is prolate, with the same deviation from spher- icity in each case. When they are filled with water and rotated, the oblate spheroid behaves like an ordinary solid gyrostat ; the motion of the other is unstable, and NEA LORE 489 struments of more modern design, which are far more historically interesting. One of these is the first reflect- ing galvanometer used by Lord Kelvin as a receiving instrument for signals through a submarine cable, the identical galvanometer, in fact, with which signals were received on board ship in the famous cable expedition of 1857, 1858 ; another is one of the pieces of apparatus with which Joule determined the dynamical equivalent of heat ; and another is a replica of Dr. Andrews’ apparatus for the investigation of the critical states of gases. In another room upstairs there used to be a complete museum of electrometers and other electrical instru- ments. There were to be found old attracted disc-, heterostatic, and idiostatic-electrometers, and a series of instruments illustrating the development of the quadrant form of electrometer, from the first rude model to the marvellously complete and delicate contrivance for measuring differences of electric potential, which is not Fic. 3.—Lecture Table, the spin disappears immediately. On the wall are dia- grams showing the construction of a gyrostat and its rotational stability under various modes of support which render it essentially unstable when there is no rotation. Above the lecture-table is a large opening extending to the roof, so that itis possible to suspend from the roof- beams pendulums, ropes, gyrostats, and many other things of great importance for physical illustration. The apparatus-room is a large apartment, like the other rooms of the laboratory, from eighteen to twenty feet in height. It contains two large cases of instruments occupying a large part of the floor-space, and two smaller wall-cases at the ends of the room. Here are stored the instruments used for class illustrations and research ; but in the cases also are many pieces of apparatus, quaint and old-fashioned in form and ornamentation, made to a great extent from fine old mahogany. Besides “urvater Hausrath” the cases contain several in- NO. 1430, VOL. 55 | these with gyrostats, precessional globe, &c., Field, Glasgow. (From a photograph by J. Loc khart and diagrams illustrating gyrostatic action. one of the least of the benefits Lord Kelvin has conferred on electrical science. Beyond the lecture-room, on the side remote from the apparatus-room, is the private room of the Professor of Natural Philosophy. There Lord Kelvin, in the early years of the new University buildings, used to work a good deal. Now the private room is occupied for the most part by his nephew, Dr. J. T, Bottomley, who has had the adjoining room fitted with benches, mercury air- pumps, and other apparatus suitable for investigation of the properties of high vacua. On the floor above the apparatus-room and lecture- room are further cases for apparatus, and a battery-room the floor of which is caulked to prevent liquid from pass- ing through into the rooms beneath. The Physical Department and Lord Kelvin’s house at the University are lighted with electricity. Current is generated for this purpose by a dynamo driven by a 490 NATURE | MARCH 25, 1897 gas-engine in a small room on the ground-floor adjoining the general physical laboratory. The dynamo is kept continually running, and feeds a large secondary battery in another small room above the engine-room. This battery is used to supply current for special laboratory purposes, and also to feed and regulate the incandescent lamps throughout the department. Perhaps the first telephone line to be established in this country was that erected between the University and the instrument factory of Mr. James White, who used to be well known as Lord Kelvin’s instrument-maker. This line existed alone for some time, and formed the nucleus from which sprang the Glasgow Telephone Exchange, one of the first to be established in Britain. Before leaving the laboratory proper we must not omit to mention the secular experiments on the effect of long- continued pulling stress on the length of wires of different materials, which are being carried out under the superintendence of Dr. J. T. Bottomley in one of the From “Good IWords.’”’| Fic, 4.—Interior of Study in Lord Kelvin’s House at the University lofty rooms of the University tower. There, within a case of iron extending from a short distance above the floor of one room to the bottom of the one beneath it, a distance of about sixty feet, are hung wires of gold, platinum, and palladium, two for each metal, one of the two in each case being loaded with three-fourths of the breaking weight, the other with about one-tenth of the breaking weight. The lengths of these wires are observed from time to time by Dr. Bottomley by means of cathetometer specially constructed for the purpose (sce B.A. Rep., 1879, 1886). In the same room there used to exist, and probably exists still, a mercury pressure-gauge, consisting of a long iron tube running for about 100 feet down a well which passed from the lofty room in which the wires are sus- pended to another below it in the tower. In speaking of Lord Kelvin’s laboratory we ought not to confine ourselves to the University laboratory, or even to Glasgow. Lord Kelvin’s house, for example, is part of his laboratory ; ; In fact, in a very true sense his laboratory NO. 1430, VORu 55) [From a photograph by 7. and RK. or workshop includes wherever he happens to be. In train and steamer, at home or abroad, he is ever at work ; and, no matter where he may be, he 1s in constant com- munication by post and telegraph with the corps of workers at Glasgow, is in daily receipt of the results of their work, and occupied with the deduction of conse- quences, and the consideration of how the researches in progress may be developed and extended. The adjoining figure is a view of Lord Kelvin’s study in his house at the University. The writing-table at the window is that generally used by Lord Kelvin ; that in the middle of the room is the table of his secretary. In this room he spends several hours of each day, when he is at home, carrying on his literary work with his secre- tary, contriving models to illustrate the arrangement of the molecules in a crystal, molecular tactics, or mechanism for imitating the functions of the luminiferous ether, or occupied with one of his numerous inventions. The practical applications of physical science which Lord Kelvin has made are very varied, and they still occupy aconsiderable amount of his time and attention. Just outside his study, in the hall of his Glasgow house, stands a very ‘remarkable clock which is designed to run at an almost strictly uniform rate (instead of dis- continuously, like ordinary clocks and watches), and to show Greenwich mean time to a higher degree of ap- proximation than is pos- sible with a clock possessing any of the ordinary escape- ments. , diameter. It is said to be one of the most beautiful O12 ye RE: ; [APRIL 29, 1897 trees of the forest, and is capable of producing in a good season as much as from Jo to 15 lbs. of rubber per tree. For the purpose of extracting the rubber, a deep vertical cut is made through the bark, and several oblique cuts on each side running into the main channel, at the base of which a vessel is placed to receive the exuding milk, which is coagulated by allowing a quantity to stand for some days in a cavity made in the trunk of a tree, so that the watery portion evaporates or soaks into the wood, leaving the solid portion behind, which is kneaded and pressed together into a solid mass, or the milk is placed in a vessel and boiled, the rubber beginning to coagulate almost immediately heat is applied. The whole history of this interesting discovery and develop- ment is given in the Aew Aulletin for 1895, p. 241, and 1896, p. 76, from which we learn that in January 1895, which practically marks the beginning of the industry, the exports were 21,131 lbs., valued at 1214/., and at the end of December of the same year this had increased to such an extent as to show a total for the twelve months of 5,069,504 Ibs., of the value of 269,892/. 135. 10d. As the Aulletin- remarks, “The history of this new rubber industry in Lagos is full of interest, and illustrates the wonderfully rich resources of the vast forests of West Africa. It shows also very clearly how largely these resources can be developed by judicious and intelligent action on the part of the Government.” Besides the important sources of rubbers already mentioned, there are still others belonging to the same natural order Apocynacee, natives of the Far East, which may be briefly referred to species of W2//ughbeta and Leuconotis. Alstonia plumosa yields a rubber in Fiji, whilst Forsteronia floribunda and F. gracilis yield rubbers in small quantities in Jamaica and Demerara respec- tively, though not in sufficient quantities to be of any commercial importance. From the foregoing list of plants, it will be seen how generally distributed the elastic juices are in Apo- cynaceous plants. Space will scarcely allow us even to mention the allied substance gutta-percha, the history of the introduction, development, and threatened failure of supply of which is fraught with so much interest and warning : how that -in 1842 the substance was first discovered in Singapore, and the trees cut down in such large numbers to supply the European demand, that in five years after only a few trees existed in Singapore, and a similar fate attending the trees which were afterwards found in Penang, are facts that are well known as applying to Dichopsis gutta, a sapotaceous tree, upon which the reputation of gutta- percha was at first founded, and from which the bulk of the commercial supplies have continued to be drawn, though it is more than probable that a similar substance is yielded in the East by allied trees, the botany of which, however, is but imperfectly known. A substance very like gutta-percha is furnished by Mimnusops globosa, a large forest tree, growing to a height of from 60 to 70 or even 100 feet, in Trinidad, Jamaica, Venezuela, and British Guiana. It belongs to the Sapotaceze, and the solidified milk, or gutta, was first brought to this country in 1859. Its use with us has fluctuated very much, and it cannot be looked upon as a perfect substitute for true gutta-percha. The interest at the present time is much greater towards the rubber supplies than those of gutta, and this is borne out by a few facts referring to the probable -demand, in the very near future, that have appeared in a recent number of our contemporary, Commerce, among them being a statement that the estimated out- turn of cycles in Great Britain and the United States during the present year will amount to 1,750,000; be- sides this, there is the probable development of motor carriages, and the extended application of rubber for the NO. 14.35, VOb. Sa tyres of ordinary vehicles. So that there is every pro- bability that the interest in rubber-yielding plants will go on increasing. JOHN R. JACKSON. Museum, Royal Gardens, Kew. THE RESOURCES AND THE NEEDS OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY. IS GRACE THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G., Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, has requested us to give publicity to a statement as to its financial position and requirements, which has been drawn up for him by an influential Committee of residents, and whose authority he states to be unquestionable. Its purpose is to make known to the public the true state of the University’s finances in relation to its increased duties, in the hope that means may be found for raising its endowments to the level of its present requirements. The statement seeks to remove the impression that the University is a wealthy body. The fall in agricultural values has so seriously crippled it and its constituent Colleges, that this impression is no longer justified ; anda point has been reached at which, without new endow- ments, complete efficiency and necessary expansion are gravely impeded. _Benefactions for the establishment of special prizes and scholarships have not been wanting ; but the flow of contributions for general academic pur- poses has for years practically ceased, though it is such gifts that are most needed, and at present most likely to be widely useful. It appears that while the Colleges undertake much of the teaching for the degree examinations in mathematics and classics, all the higher branches, and the entire round of the natural and physical sciences, are pro- vided for by the University, which maintains the library, the observatory, the botanic garden, eight museums, and eight laboratories. The University staff consists of about 120 professors, readers, and lecturers, whose stipends are paid partly by the common fund, partly by their emolu- ments as Fellows and Lecturers of Colleges. A Pro- fessor’s stipend of 700/. or 800/. is diminished by 200/. if he holds a Fellowship ; but in nearly all the Colleges the dividend is less than this sum, and the Professor, there- fore, does not receive his full nominal stipend. By the statutes there should be twenty Readerships at 4o0/. each: the University has been able to establish six only, and these, in general, at stipends of about 100/. to 150/. The University Lecturers are usually selected from the College staffs, and receive, as a rule, stipends of 50/. a year. In consequence of the conditions established in 1881, four-fifths of the Fellowships are now held by resident graduates. The maximum dividend is fixed at 250/., but in fifteen out of seventeen Colleges this sum is not reached, and in some the dividend does not exceed one- third of the maximum. The revenue for 1896 consisted of about 40,000/. derived from fees; about 16,500/. contributed by the Colleges as a tax on their revenues and tuition-fees ; and about 6000/7. obtained from the University endowments (tithes, rents, &c.). Of this sum, over 33,000/. was paid in stipends ; over 22,000/. for the maintenance of libraries, museums, laboratories, &c.; some 2200/. in repayment of a loan for buildings ; and 5000/. in part payment of necessary sites for new buildings adjoining the present museums. From fees it is not easy to see how more can be derived without diminishing the number of students and graduates ; the endowments are insignificant, and steadily decreasing in value ; and the College contribution has already, in view of the financial difficulties of these cor- porations, been more than once reduced. When the tax reaches its maximum in 1902, the most it can yield, in addition to its present amount, is probably about 2000/. On the other hand, greater expenditure is called for in APRIL 29, 1897 | NATURE 613 various necessary directions. The museums and labora- tories have been practically created within the present generation, but already many of them require consider- able extension and better equipment. Important branches of study are rightly claiming recognition, but their demands cannot be met without heavy capital outlay. New sites have been secured, but the money to build on them is not forthcoming. The University library must be extended ; the school of law is without a building ; the lecture-rooms for the literary and philosophical sub- jects are wholly inadequate ; there are neither central offices for University business, nor suitable rooms for University examinations; lastly, the laboratories for botany, zoology, and pathology must be rebuilt ; the departments of physiology, physics, and engineering need speedy enlargement, and the school of medicine (including pharmacology) is practically beyond repair, and must be reconstructed on another site. It is pointed out that while the total divisible income of the Colleges has fallen by 34 per cent. in the last fifteen years, the number of students has increased to 3000. Much personal devotion and sacrifice on the part of the teachers, much self-denial on the part of the ‘Colleges which have not reduced their scholarships, and other encouragements for the poorer students, and much enthusiasm for the progress of science and learning on the part of all, must have gone to produce a result so creditable to the University. It appears to us that a fair case has been made out for its substantial re-endowment in respect of many of its departments ; and, though no appeal for subscriptions is made, the facts related in the Chancellors statement may well be pondered by those who are in a position to display a wise liberality in the cause of education, learning, and research. NOTES Av a meeting held on April 13, the Academy of Natural ‘Sciences of Philadelphia conferred the Hayden Memorial Award for 1897, consisting of a bronze medal and the interest of the special endowment fund, on Prof. A. Karpinski, the Chief of the Geological Survey of Russia, in recognition of the value of his contributions to geological and paleontological science. THE Budget Commission of the French Government has decided that the sum of four thousand pounds be voted for the Pasteur Institute at Rhia-Trang, to encourage Dr. Yersin’s researches on the plague serum. The Chamber of Deputies is asked to adopt this decision. e THE British Medical Journal says there is a Bill before the New York State Legislature which provides for the establish- ment of a laboratory for the preparation of evidence for use in future trials for murder conducted by the State. In a recent ‘case 1450/7. was paid to medical witnesses for giving expert evidence. The object of the new Bill is to save this expense. Sir Epwarp Newton, K.C.M.G., died at Lowestoft on April 25, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. The youngest son of the late Wm. Newton, of Elveden, in Suffolk, he proceeded to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he took the usual degrees. Appointed, in 1859, Assistant Colonial Secretary of Mauritius, he successively became Auditor General and Colonial Secretary of that island, relinquishing the last post in 1877, on being ap- pointed Colonial Secretary and Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, whence he retired in 1883, through ill-health. He wasa member cof the mission sent by the Government of Mauritius to congratu- late the late King of Madagascar on his accession to the throne ; and, being an ardent ornithologist, availed himself of the occasion by materially increasing (as he did during a subsequent visit made with that express purpose) the knowledge of the very NO. 1435, VOL. 55 | peculiar fauna of that country, which he was almost the first English naturalist to investigate on the spot. In like manner he largely increased our knowledge of the zoology of the Mascarene Islands generally, and it is mainly due to his exertions that nearly complete skeletons of the marvellous ‘‘ Solitaire’ of Rodriguez were recovered from the caves of that island, as described in the Phzlosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Sir Edward was one of the founders of the British Ornitho- logists’ Union, a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and a Corre- sponding Member of the Zoological Society of London. WE regret to see the announcements of the death of Dr. E. S. Bastin, professor of botany and materia medica at the Phila- delphia College of Pharmacy, and of Mr. Louis P. Casella, the well-known scientific instrument maker. THE southern portion of Bronx Park, which the Commis- sioners of the Sinking Fund of the City of New York have just allotted for the use of the New York Zoological Society, em- braces an area of about 260 acres. The city authorities will annually provide the funds for the maintenance and care of the buildings, animals and collections in the Zoological Garden which will be established in the Park; but the grant for the first year is not to exceed sixty thousand dollars. The erection and original equipment of the buildings, and the animals to stock them, have to be paid for by the Zuological Society, which has to raise one hundred thousand dollars by subscription before this time next year, and the further sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars within three years of the commencement of the work of converting Bronx Park into a Zoological Garden. Strong efforts are therefore being made to secure to the Society the sympathy and support of a large number of members. An attractive report on the plans and purposes of the Society has been printed and circulated, and in it Mr. William T. Horn- aday, the Director of the proposed Garden, describes the zoo- logical gardens of Europe, and dwells upon the advantages offered by Bronx Park. He holds that none of the Gardens he visited ‘‘ occupies ground whichcan for one moment becompared, either in physical character or in extent, with the matchless site that has been chosen by this Society for the Zoological Park of America.” One of the conditions of the grant of South Bronx Park to the Society is that the Zoological Garden and its collec- tions shall be open free to the public for not less than seven hours a day, or at least five days a week. Tue Belgian Royal Academy announces prizes, mostly of the value of 600 francs, to be awarded in 1898 for essays on certain questions connected with the following subjects: In mathematical and physical science—on the critical phenomena, on theories of the constitution of solutions, on the correspondences ( Verwandt- schaften) between two spaces, and on the influence of the radical NO, in certain compounds. In biological science—on the macro- and micro-chemistry of digestion in carnivorous plants, on the physiology of some invertebrate animal, and on the organisa- tion and ‘development of the Platoda. A further prize of 1000 francs is offered, in memory of Jean-Servais Stas, for the best determination of the atomic weight of some element for which this constant is at present uncertain. In the last number of its Proceedings, the London Mathe- matical Society publishes the outlines of seven lectures on the Partitions of Numbers, which were delivered by the late Prof. Sylvester at King’s College, London, during the year 1859. The outline of each lecture was printed shortly before it delivery, and copies handed to those in attendance. The Professor’s attention was shortly afterwards diverted to another branch of mathematics, with the result that his re- searches on compound partitions have hitherto remained un- published ; but shortly before his death, Prof, Sylvester yielded 614 INALTOR EF [APRIL 29, 1897 to the suggestion of the Council of the London Mathematical Society, so far as to assent to the publication of these outlines with all their imperfections on their heads. ONE of the most important problems now attracting the attention of seismologists is the choice of a system of stations in which to carry out the seismic survey of the world. In the plans so far proposed, advantage would, for obvious reasons, be taken of the existence of astronomical observatories, care being at the same time exercised to obtain a nearly uniform distribution of stations over the earth’s surface. Prof. G. Grablovitz has re- cently, however, made the important suggestion that these stations should rather follow the distribution of voleanoes and the great lines of fracture of the globe. He points out that the majority of active volcanoes are situated close to three great circles, and he proposes that seismic stations should be founded near the six points of intersection of these circles, and near twelve other points symmetrically placed on the three circles. There are several obvious difficulties in the way of such an arrangement ; but it is, nevertheless, one that deserves a very careful consideration. In the Bulletin de 1 Académie Royale de Belgique, M. P. de Heen attacks the ordinary accepted theory of the critical point, according to which the horizontal portions of the isothermals of a substance gradually diminish to a vanishing point, and the extremities of these portions lie on a continuous curve whose tangent is horizontal at that point. M. de Heen maintains that the rectilinear portion of the isothermals does not vanish at the critical point, but that just after passing that point its direction gradually becomes inclined to the horizontal axis. IN the Monthly Weather Review for January, of the U.S. Weather Bureau, Mr. A. L. Rotch gives an account of the cloud observations being made at the Blue Hill Observatory, Massachusetts, since May 1, 1896, in accordance with the request of the International Meteorological Committee. There are three theodolite stations in the same straight line, at which simultaneous observations of height and velocity are made twice daily, when conditions permit. Points on the clouds are selected by telephonic com- munication, and, when practicable, from three to five observa- tions are taken on the same point, at intervals of a minute, and are reduced by simple trigonometrical formule. The theodolite measurements are supplemented by other methods, devised by Mr. Clayton, to determine the heights of the lower clouds, in- cluding the use of kites. It is found necessary to employ these additional methods, because the low clouds are so indefinite in form, or cover the sky with such a uniform veil, that it is impossible to measure them with theodolites or photogrammeters. We may confidently look for valuable results from these persistent and careful observations. THE Zeitschrift for March contains an interesting communication on the oldest meteorographs, for which we are indebted to the indefatigable bibliographical researches of Dr. Hellmann. It was known from Birch’s “* History of the Royal Society,” that Sir Christopher Wren had constructed a meteorograph about the year 1660; but a com- plete description of the apparatus was wanting, as only a portion of it was shown in the plate. But Dr. Hellmann has discovered both a description anda sketch of the instrument in the Yournal des voyages de M. de Monconys (Lyon, 1665-1666). As this work is scarce, although a later edition of it is in the Library of the Royal Society (London), Dr. Hellmann quotes the passages referring to the meteorograph, and reproduces the sketch. The rain-gauge, forming part of the instrument, was the first of its kind. During a visit to London in 1663, Monconys obtained particulars from Wren of a hygrometer which he had also invented, and a description and sketch of this are given in the Zerfschrift. NO. 1435, VOL. 55] Meteorologische Wren, therefore, constructed the second condensation hygro- meter ; but this does not appear to be generally known, as no mention is made of it in Mr. Symons’s ‘‘ History of Hygro- meters” (Quart. Fourn. Meteor. Soc., vol. vii.). The first condensation hygrometer was invented by Prince Ferdinand II. of Tuscany, about ten years earlier. Tue effect of hardness on the electrical and magnetic con- stants of steel, with particular reference to the tempering of the magnetic parts of instruments, is the subject of a short paper, by Dr. Carl Barus, in the March number of Terrestrial Magnetism. The following rules, given by Dr. Barus, for the practical treatment of magnets, where great secular permanence of magnetisation is the principal desideratum, should prove of great service in physical laboratories and to scientific instrument makers. (1) Rods tempered glass-hard are not to be used as essential parts of magnetic instruments. (2) Having tempered a given steel rod in such a way as insures uniformity of glass- hardness throughout its length, expose it for a long time (say 20-30 hours; in case of massive magnets even longer intervals of exposure are preferable) to the annealing effect of steam (100°). The operation may be interrupted as often as desirable. The magnet will then exhibit the maximum of permanent hard- ness for 100°. (3) Magnetise the rod—whether originally a magnet or not is quite immaterial—to saturation, and then expose it again for about five hours (in case of massive magnets even larger intervals of exposure are preferable) to the annealing effect of steam (100°). The operation may be interrupted as often as desirable. The magnet will then exhibit both the maximum of permanent magnetisation as well as the maximum of permanent hardness corresponding to 100°. Its degree of magnetic permanence against effects of temperature (less than 100°), time, and percussion is probably the highest conveniently attainable. WORKING in the physical laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. R. W. Wood has succeeded in producing diffraction phenomena with R6éntgen rays. The source of the rays was an arc-like discharge between two very small beads of platinum in a high vacuum. The discharge bulb was only about an inch in diameter, while the radiation (which came from an area about thesize of a pin-head) was strong enough to show the bones in the fore-arm. The ‘‘arc” appeared to be a new form of kathode discharge, and could only be produced under peculiar conditions. Mr. Wood used a tube with a platinum slit 0°11 mm. wide, mounted within the bulb at a distance of 2 mm. from the radiating bead. The second slit of variable width’ was placed at a distance of 10 cm. from the first,and the photographic plate at distances varying from 10 to 30 cm. from this. The images of the slit on the plate showed a distinct dark line on each edge, which could only be explained on the supposition that interference occurred. The plate was at too great a distance from the slit for such an effect to be produced by reflection of the rays from the edges. Images of fine wires showed similar phenomena. THe study of the origin and significance of ornamental devices and patterns is engaging fresh workers. In a recent number of G/odus (Band Ixxi. p. 197), H. Strebel discusses certain ornamental motives of ancient Mexico. The series of designs with which he is here concerned are attributes of the Wind-god, Quetzalcoatl. The similarity of these devices from the Pueblo Indians, right down to Peru, indicate that there was an original community of culture. THE directors of the Biltmore Herbarium have prepared a catalogue of the duplicate specimens in the collection, with the view of effecting exchanges. The list represents mainly plants indigenous to Western North Carolina, which have been care- APRIL 29, 1897 | WATURE 615 fully dried and, in many instances, specially prepared for dis- tribution. The catalogue can be obtained from the curator, Mr. C. D. Beadle, Biltmore, North Carolina, U.S.A. In June 1895, Messrs. P. A. Rydberg and C. L. Shear were commissioned by the Secretary of Agriculture of the United ‘States to pay a three months’ visit to certain points in the States of Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Colorado, for the purpose of collecting roots and seeds of grasses and other forage plants, and of obtaining information from farmers and others as to their economic value. The Report of this Commission forms Bulletin No. 5 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division -of Agrostology. A large number of grasses are described and figured, and notes are appended with regard to their value to -agriculturists. THE St. Petersburg Society of Naturalists, section of Botany, proposes to issue a full herbarium of the flora of European Russia, ‘similar to Fries’s ‘‘ Herbarium normale” and to Kerner’s ‘© Flora exsiccata Austro-hungarica.” It will be issued in parts -of fifty species each, under the editorship of S. I. Korzinski, and every person who will send to the editor (St. Petersburg Univer- sity) two species, represented by fifty specimens each, will be -entitled to receive one part of the herbarium. A preliminary ‘communication with the editor would save the trouble of a double collection of the same species, in which case the person who has sent its plants first will have the priority. Each part will contain the species fastened to paper, or not if pre- ferred, and each species will have a printed note giving the name of the plant, the spot wherefrom it comes, and various literary and critical observations. The copies which may remain over, after the contributors have been supplied with their parts, will be sold. De icaTE filaments of living matter flow out from the proto- plasm of many one-celled animals, and exhibit remarkable movements. Similar thread-forming phenomena are said, by Gwendolen Foulke Andrews, to appear when the protoplasm of developing starfish and sea-urchin eggs are examined under very high powers; they are termed by the author the spennzng activities of the living substance (fowrnal of Morphology, February 1897, vol. xii.). It is claimed that the filaments are projected from normal Echinoderm eggs; and that they are concerned in the formation of the egg membrane. The facts appear to point to a physiological drawing together of the cells by the filaments, rather than to any physical and chemical **cyto-tropismus.” Also, a physiological, rather than a physical, reaction to mechanical stimulus of pressure or shaking is in- dicated ; in fact, the cause of the spinning activities is held to be physiological rather than physico-chemical. For the living substance, cell-walls apparently do not a prison make, for we read : ‘‘ Whatever may be the significance of the cell-wall in the development of these eggs, it surely cannot be thought a separator, in either a physical or physiological sense, of the cell contents from other portions of the common mass.” Or, as put in other words, ‘‘the peripheral substance of eggs and cells is freely protoplastic, despite its appearance under less magnification of being a smooth and stable pellicle.” THE following lectures will be given during May at the Royal Wictoria Hall, at 8.30 :—May 4, ‘‘ Mountains of Skye,” by Dr. ’T. K. Rose ; May 11,‘‘ More about Réntgen and other Rays,” by Prof. A. W. Porter ; May 18, ‘‘ Travel and Adventure in South Africa,” by Mr. F. C. Selous; May 25, ‘‘ Growth of the Colonies in the Queen’s Reign,” by Mr. O'Donnell. WE have received vol. xl. part v. and vol. xxx. part iv. of the Annals of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College. NO. 1435, VOL. 55] The first of these gives the observations made at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory under the direction of Mr. A. Lawrence Rotch, and contains an appendix, including summaries of observations for the lustrum and decade, a discussion of them, and a bibliography. The second of these volumes deals with a discussion of the cloud observations by Mr. H. Helm Clayton. This is described somewhat in detail, and several interesting plates showing, for instance, the average cloudiness during cyclones, anti-cyclones, their movements, and numerous annual and diurnal curves, illustrating average cloudiness at Blue Hill. Four common species of the family Dermestidz have become vegetarians ; and their conversion forms the subject of a paper in Bulletin No. 8 (New Series), of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Division of Entomology). Cyclopzdias and text- books inform us that the members of this well-known family feed upon dried animal substances. The depredations of certain species on leather, hides, and dried meats; of others on carpets, furs, and woollen goods ; and of still others on dried insects, and other ‘‘ objects of natural history” are, unfor- tunately, too well known to require further comment. Within recent years, however, several household dermestids have been suspected of living in the larval condition upon vegetable sub- stances, and the charge of having vegetarian proclivities has now been brought home to four species, viz. dt/agenus piceus, or black carpet beetle ; Zrogoderma tarsale, a bad cabinet pest ; Z7ogo- derma sternale, and Anthrenus verbasct. The first-named is found guilty of feeding upon flour and meal ; the second revels in fiery-red pepper ; and the third species appears to be able to thrive on such laxative substances as castor-beans and flax- seed. The change from a natural animal-feeding habit to a vegetable one is attributed to altered environment. We have just received the Report of the U.S. National Museum, under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year 1894. About two hundred pages of this report are devoted to reviewing the work accomplished in the various scientific departments of the Museum, and general administrative matters; the remaining five hundred pages are taken up with most valuable papers describing and illustrating collections in the Museum. These papers have already been referred to (p. 469), and we need only now give expression to the gratitude which all men of science feel towards the Smith- sonian Institution for the many ways in which it extends know- ledge among men.— = - b-eeee nes On the Colour and Colour-Patterns of Moths and Butterflies. By A. R. W. SERIE osc oS The Primate Brain. By Dr. W. B. Benham... . Lecture-Room Demonstration of Orbits of Bodies under the Action of a Central Attraction. (///zs- trated.) By R.W. Wood... . .. ‘oXcet eeZe University and Educational Intelligence ..... Societies and Academies. (///ustraled.) . . 1... Diary of Societies oo soo Reka tek) Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ... . | 607 612 617 EGY EE KOT. «Jp Of Nature trusts the mind which ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. the solid g7 buzlds ‘ound for aye.”—WORDSWORTH. No. 1410, VOL. 55 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] Reserved. {All Rights are IN DUCTION Coors. APPS’ PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured concurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. ene a iii “X" RAY “FOCUS” TUBES, —— FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 35s. and 68s. Complete Apparatus for Réntgen “‘X” Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. Detailed List on Application. The Frena Gamera POSSHSHSHOOSOOOOOD unique HAND-CAMERA application to Ltd., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, E.C. KeB°DAISHI UP-Jo-DATS PARTICULARS of this may be had FREE on | R. & J. BECK, | STRAINED WiISiIon. Distressing Headaches, Indigestion, Simulated Neuralgia, and Nervous Depression, are frequently caused by some peculiarity of the Vision, which can at once be overcome by the use of proper glasses. SEE; “OUR EYES,” By JOHN BROWNING, F.8.A.S., F.R.MLS., President of the British Optical .\ssociation, Xe. (Now in its Sixteenth Edition.) ORN Bye Sie Lot NIG POMS si Or Consult, F Free of Charge of Charge, MR. JOHN BROWNING, Ophthalmic Optician, (63 STRAND, LONDON. PRIGE EREE. NEGRETTI a ZAMBRA’S BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPES. Makers of the ‘OFFICER OF THE WATCH" TELESCOPE, , in use on all the vessels of H.M. Navy. Nickel-plated, covered with Brown eather. PRICE.... . £2 10s. Y Perrect DeFiniTion & HicH Power. TELESCOPE. “ARMY SIGNALLING” As supplied by NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA to the War Office. Length, when closed, 1x inches. Combining high power and portability. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN. 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL; 122 REGENT STREET. ILLUSTRATED PRICE Lists FREE By Post. SCs il NATURE [ NoveMBER 5, 1896 THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY. EXTERNAL EXAMINERSHIPS. The following External Examinerships will fall Vacant in December 1896. Each is tenable for three years, at the expiration cf which the Examiner is not eligible for re-election. Examinership. Retiring Examiner. (7) ANATOMY Prof. ALEXANDER MACALISTER. (2) eas MISTRY Prof. SypNEY YOUNG, (3) G Prof. BonNEY. (y) H i Prof. Rye. (5) Ne GasE tee Prof. BURNSIDE (6) MEDICINE - Dr. THomas Bartow. (7) OBSTETRICS & ‘DISE:! ASES | Del Gontinaworne OF WOMEN.. (8) PHYSICS 5 (9) PHYSIOL! OGY Applications, which may be in on or before November 25, Further particulars may be obtained from ALFRED HUGHES, Registrar. The Victoria University, Manchester. BALLIOL COLLEGE, CHRIST CHURCH, AND TRINITY COLEEGE, OXFORD. NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIPS AND EXHIBITIONS. A Combined Examination for Natural Science Scholarships and Exhibi- tions will be held by the above Colleges, beginning on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1896. Three Scholarships and two Exhibitions will be offered, the Scholarships being worth £80 a year. The subjects for Examination will be Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, but Candidates will not be expected to offer themselves in more than two of these. Particulars may be obtained by application to A. VERNON HARCOURT. Prof. FirzGERALD. Prof. SCHAFER. companied by Testimonials, should be sent Christ Church, Oxford: NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIP. KEBLE COLLEGE, OXFORD. A SCHOLARSHIP of the annual value of £60, together with Laboratory fees, not exceeding £20 per annum, will be awarded at this College in December 1806. The Examination commences Tuesday, December 8 Subjects : Chemistry or Biology, with Elementary Mechanics and Physics for all Candidates, and Elementary Chemistry for those who offer Biology. For full particulars apply to W.Harcuetr Jackson, Keble College, Qxford. LECTURES ON CELLULOSE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. Mr. C. F. Cross, of the firm of Cross and Bevan, will deliver a Course of Fifteen Lectures, at University College, on Cellulose : the Chemistry of the Vegetable Fibres, and of their industrial preparation and uses. The Lectures will be held on Friday evenings, from 7.15 to 9.30, commencing on FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6 The Course will deal especially with the Cellulose Group of Carbon Com- pounds, thereby covering a very wide field, and will include Wood, Cotton, Peat, Lignite, Coal, Textiles, Paper, Celluloid, Artificial Silk, the Willesden Process, and other industrial applications. Fee for Course, £1 15. t xs. (payable by Artisans in two instalments). QUEEN’S S COLLEGES, IRELAND. The PROFESSORSHIP OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY in the QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST, being about to become vacant, Candidates for that Office are requested to forward their Testimonials to the Under Secretary, Dublin Castle, on or before NOVEMBER ar next, in order that the same may be submitted to His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant. The Candidate who may be selected for the above Professorship will have to enter upon his duties forthwith. Dublin Castle, October 29, 1896. LINNEAN SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY. MACLEAY BACTERIOLOGIST. Applications for the position of Bacteriologist to the Society are invited by the Council, and must be forwarded by mail leaving London not later than December 11. Salary, £350 per annum. Full particulars on appli- cation to DuLtau & Co., 37 Soho Square, London, W. ABERYSTWYTH INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL. The Local Governing Body are prepared to appoint a JUNIOR ASSIS- TANT MASTER to teach Experimental Science, at a Salary of £100 per annum. Applications, stating Age, Qualifications, and Experience, with one copy of not more than four recent Testimonials, must reach me on or before Wednesday, November 18, 1896. SAMUEL EVANS, Clerk to the Local Governing Body. 6 Portland Street, Aberystwyth. tH E TEAC hee Rk Sy ‘GU 1p: 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at ory) except NSS MINERALS, FOSSILS, ROCKS, | NEWLY PU BLISHED CATALOGUES. No. 54.—Collection of 396 Crystal Models in Wood, in 32 Classes, according to Professor Groru’s Lehrbuch der Physikalischen ‘Krystalio- graphie, 3rd Edition. No. 11r.—Collection of 280 Crystal Models in Paste-board, according to Professor URBA, Prague. No. 12.—Collection of 102 Crystal Models in Table Glass, in 30 Classes, according to Professor RAUMHAUER, Friburg, Switzerland. Collection of 32 Models for Tectonical Geology, according to Professor Ka.kowsky, Dresden. My other Catalogues: I. Mineralogy (Minerals, Meteorites, Mineral Preparations for Exhibiting Optical Phenomena, Mineralogical Apparatus and Utensils). II. Palzontology and General Geology (Illustrated). IV. Rocks, Thin Sections of Rocks, Petrographical Apparatus and Utensils. Will be supplied Gratis on Application. Dr; Fy KGaRA. N dee Rhenish Mineral Office, Bonn on the Rhine. ESTABLISHED 1833. (Represented by Messrs. HARRINGTON Bros., Cork, Ireland, and Oliver’ s Yard, 53A City Road, London. ) AMERICAN NEW, RARE, BEAUTIFUL, MINERALS. AND WELL CRYSTALLIZED. The Largest and most varied Stock in the World. We solicit the Patronage of MusEums, CoLLEGEs, ScHOoLs, TEACHERS, and those desiring carefully selected and accurately labelled Mineralogical material. IWsite for Catalogue and Circulars, mailed free. Crystallized Diaspore, Endlichite, Leadhillite, Lawsonite, Northupite, and many other recent discoveries are offered at moderate prices. DR. A. HE. FOOTE (WarrEN M. Foore, Manager), NORTH FORTY-FIRST STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA., U.S.A (Established 1876.) COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS, ROCKS, OR FOSSILS, ‘For the Use of Students, Science Teachers, Prospectors, &c., and to Illustrate the leading Text-books, in Boxes, with Trays. 50 Specimens, 10s. 6d.; 100 do., 21s.; 200 do., 42s, New Price List of Minerals, Rocks, and Stratigraphical Series of Fossils, Post Free. ROCK SECTIONS for the MICROSCOPE, from rs. 6d. each, Post Free CaTALOGUES GRATIS. CABINETS, GLASS-CAPPED BOXES, TRAYS, HAMMERS, &c., always in stock. THOMAS 1224-26-28 } D. RUSS Eee 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. =a H. BUTLER, M.A. Oxon., Assoc. R. 8. Mines, NATURAL ‘HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD; LONDIONG Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite, Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite, Petzite, P harmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art :—20 Typical Rocks (about 3x 4), 20SuseeG, Types. of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6¢. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, ‘and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms. Chalk-Grains, Re- allized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6@. each set. cal Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Paleontology. On Sale : sh Birds, their r Egs ‘and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. im WEEKLY ‘© To the Of Nature trusts the mind which ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. solid ground burlds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1411, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] (All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILS. Messrs. NEWTON & CO., of 3 Frerr Street, Lonpon, have made an arrangement with Mr. Apps by which the results of his unequalled experience in large Coil making have been fully placed at their disposal. As he has been unable to cope with the demand for these | instruments, Apps’ Patented Coils are now manufactured con- currently by Messrs, Newron & Co. on their own premises. These Coils have for many years been acknowledged the best and most efficient in the world, and it is hoped that the high quality of workmanship maintained in Messrs. 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Including 6-inch Coil, Batte sarger ; Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyz anide Screen, oy in. x 7 in. £23.10 0 BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLUORESCENCE, in neat Frames with Handles. 7 iM. X.5.1M., 21s..; gt in. X 7.in., 32s. 6d. ; 11} in. X ghin., 55s. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, 2 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. covered in ebonite, and are of the | NALDER BROS. & CO. LONDON. N. C. S. TEHEOMSON REFLECTING GALVANOMETER, 5000 OHMS: RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE L939 10 O Write for CATALOGUES, Cable Address: - SECOHM, LONDON. No Agents in U.S.A, This instrument delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for 360 C.0.D. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA’S BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPES. Makers of the “*OFFICER OF THE WATCH" TELESCOPE, in use on all the vessels of H.M. Navy. NECRETTIZ ZA BRA — ES Nickel-plated, covered with Brown Leather. PRICE ... -- £2 10s. Perrect Derinirion & Hicu Power, “ARMY SIGNALLING” TELESCOPE. As supplied by NEGRETT!I & ZAMBRA to the War Office. Leugth, when closed, 11 inches. Combining high power and portability. NEGRETT!I & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL; 122 REGENT STREET. ILLUSTRATED Prick Lists FREE BY Post. x Na Fe “ THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY. EXTERNAL EXAMINERSHIPS. The following External Examinerships will fall Vacant in December 1396. Each is tenable for three years, at the expiration of which the Examiner is not eligible for re-election. Retiring Examiner. NDER MACALISTER. Prof. SYDNEY YOUNG. Prof. BoNNEY. Prof. RYLE. Prof. BURNSIDE. Dr. THomas Barlow. Examinership. (7) ANATOMY (2) CHEMISTRY (3) GEOLOGY 0 (4) HE oW... ~ (5) MATHEMATICS (6) MEDICINE 7 kee Se (7) OBSTETRICS & a eal OF WOMEN... “Ss Dr. CuULLINGWORTH. (8) PHYSICS ... =e Prof. FirzErRALD, (9) PHYSIOLOGY ... Be ... Prof. SCHAFER. (Gao) ENGLISH LANGUAGE \ J. Gotrancy, M.A. and LITERATURE J Prof. G Saintspury, M.A. Applications, which may be accompanied by Testimonials, should be sent in on or before November 25, 1806. Further particulars may be obtained from ALFRED HUGHES, Registrar. The Victoria University, Manchester. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE. (ONE OF THE CONSTITUENT COLLEGES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES.) LECTURER IN GEOLOGY. The Council of the College is prepared to appoint a Lecturer in Geology at a stipend of 4200 per annum, with an allowance for Evening Work in the Technical School. Particulars of duties may be obtained on application to the undersigned, to whom applications, with twenty-five copies of testi- monials, must be sent not later than December 31, 1896. J. AUSTEN JENKINS, B.A., Secretary and Registrar. University College, Cardiff, November 6, 1896. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES. (A CONSTITUENT COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES.) Applications are invited for the Chair of Mathematics (Pure and Applied) now Vacant in this College. The Council will elect on December 16. The last date for receiving applications will be announced next week. For further particulars apply to JOHN EDWARD LLOYD, M.A, Bangor, November 3, 1806. Secretary and Registrar. MASON COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM. APPOINTMENT OF DEMONSTRATOR IN PHYSIOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. The Council invite applications on or before November 28, 1806, for the above Appointment [vacant in consequence of the election of Mr. Swale Vincent to a British Medical Association Research Scholarship. The duties will commence on January 6, 1897. Particulars of the stipend, conditions, and duties will be sent on appli- cation to the undersigned, to whom all applications for the Appointment should be sent. GEO. H. MORLEY, Secretary. ABERYSTWYTH INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL. The Local Governing Body are prepared to appoint a JUNIOR ASSIS- TANT MASTER to teach Experimental Science, at a Salary of £100 per annum. Applications, stating Age, Qualifications, and Experience, with one copy of not more than four recent Testimonials, must reach me on or before Wednesday, November 18, 1896. SAMUEL EVANS, / f Clerk to the Local Governing Body. 6 Portland Street, Aberystwyth. LINNEAN SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY. MACLEAY BACTERIOLOGIST. Applications for the position of Bacteriologist to the Society are invited by the Council, and must be forwarded by mail leaving London not later than December rz. Salary, £350 per annum. Full particulars on appli- cation to Dutau & Co., 37 Soho Square, London, W. INDIAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. A Vacancy having occurred on the Geological Survey of India, candidates are invited to apply to the Under Secretary of State for India, India Office, Whitehall, London, with certificates of qualifications and age. Candidates must be under 25 years of age, and must be qualified in Geology and Chemistry. The salary of the post begins at 350 rupees a month. Further particulars will be furnished on written application to the Revenue Secretary, India Office, Whitehall. A. GODLEY. [ NovEMBER 12, 1806 NATURAL SCIENCE SCHOLARSHIP KEBLE COLLEGE, OXFORD. A SCHOLARSHIP of the annual value of £60, together with Laboratory fees, not exceeding £20 per annum, will be awarded at this College December 6. The Examination commences Tuesday, December 8. ; Subjects : Chemistry or Biology, with Elementary Mechanics and Physics for all Candidates, and Elementary Chemistry for those who offer Biology. For full particulars apply to W. Hatcuetrtr Jackson, Keble College, Oxford. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. PrincipaAL—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senior-InstRUcTOR—C. CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS, ROCKS, OR FOSSILS, For the Use of Students, Science Teachers, Prospectors, &c., and to Illustrate the leading Text-books, in Boxes, with Trays. 50 Specimens, 10s. 6d.; 100 do., 21s.; 200 do., 42s. New Price List of Minerals, Rocks, and Stratigraphical Series of Fossils, Post Free. ROCK SECTIONS for the MICROSCOPE, from 1s. 6d. each, Post Free CaTALoGuEs GRATIS. CABINETS, GLASS-CAPPED BOXES, TRAYS, HAMMERS, &c., always in stock. THOMAS De, RUS SEE 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. F. H. BUTLE R, M.A. Oxon., Assoc. R. 8. Mines, NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON. Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects - of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite, Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite, Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art:—2o0 Typical Rocks (about 3” x 4”), 20s.; 16 Types of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6¢@. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms. Chalk-Grains, Re- crystallized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6d. each set. Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Palzontology. On Sale: British Birds, their Eggs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY. COLLECTIONS AND MICROSCOPIC SLIDES. New Catalogues of Minerals, &c., now ready. Collections of Specimens— Minerals, Fossils, and Rocks. Minerals for Chemical Work, &c. Physiography Collections. Geological Apparatus and Appliances. New Supplementary List of Microscopic Sections. List of Rock Specimens. s Geological Hammers. a Cabinets. ” Meteorites. Catalogue of Minerals for selecting single Specimens, price 2d. JAMES R. GREGORY & CO. STORES AND OFFICES: 1 KELSO PLACE, KENSINGTON, W. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis, China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. Eee EEKILY °° To the Of Nature trusts the ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF solid g mind which SCIENCE. rOuUna builds for aye.” —WorbDSWoRTH. No. 1412, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1o, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] [All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILs. APPS’ PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured | concurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. «Xx? RAY PROcUS” TUBES, 25s. FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 35s. and 63s. Complete Apparatus for Réntgen ‘“‘X”’ Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. Detailed List on Application. BECK’S MICROSCOPES. No. 25a.—THIS MODEL, with Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £6 10s. =n MODEL, with -in. Object Glasses, Two ‘Byenieres and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. No. . 29B. The erate of Abbe Condenser to 25B with Iris Diaphragm and Focussing and Swinging Adjustments, £8 15s. STAND No. 25. A FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J. BECK, LT0., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, F.C. r-in. and 4-in. Object Glasses, | Be UNG. S “ec IRIS ” MICROSCOPE’ Is a superior instrument, well adapted for the Student’s use ; it is made entirely of Brass, and perfectly fitted ; it has a sliding body, drawer tube, fine adjust- | ment, A eyepiece, and 3% in. 1 and } in. objectives. £6 2s. 6d. PRICE - - Illustrated Catalogue post free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, w.C. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA’S 'BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPES. “OFFICER OF THE WATCH” TELESCOPE, in use on all the vessels of H.M. Na | Makers of the ‘ Nickel-plated, covered with Brown eather. PRICE ... £2 10s, ® Perrecr Derinition & Hich POWER, SIGNALLING” TELESCOPE. | | “ARMY £2 2s. As supplied by NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA to the War Office. Length, when closed, 11 inches. Combining high power and portability. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN, 88 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches: 45 CORNHILL; 122 REGENT STREET. ILLUSTRATED Prick Lists FREE By Post. WATORE [NovEMBER 19, 1896 UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF NORTH WALES. (A CONSTITUENT COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES.) ications are invited for the Chair of Mathematics (Pure and Applied) cant in this College. The Council will Elect on December 16. Stipend, £400. Forty Copies of the Application and Testimonials to be in the hands of the undersigned not later than Monday, November 30. The Professor will be expected to enter on his duties at the beginning of the New Year. For further particulars apply to JOHN EDWARD LLOYD, M.A., Bangor, Nov embey II, 1896. Secretary and: Registrar. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE. (ONE OF THE CONSTITUENT COLLEGES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES.) LECTURER IN GEOLOGY. The Cours il of the College is prepared to appoint a Lecturer in Geology ita stipend of £200 per annum, with an allowance for Evening Work in the Technical School. Particulars of duties may be obtained on application to the undersigned, to whom applications, with tw entye -five copies of testi- monials, must be sent not later than December 31, 1896. J. AUSTIN JENKINS, B.A., Secretary and Registrar. University C ollege, Cardiff, ‘Soman. 1896. MASON COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM. APPOINTMENT OF DEMONSTRATOR IN PHYSIOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT. The Council invite applications on or before November 28, 1896, for the above Appointment vacant in consequence of the election of Mr, Swale Vincent to a British Medical Association Research Scholarship. The duties will commence on January 6, 1897. Particulars of the stipend, conditions, and duties will be sent on appli- sation to the undersigned, to whom all applications for the Appointment should be sent. GEO. H. MORLEY, Secretary. “THE TEACHERS’ GUILD, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. CHRISTMAS VACANCIES.—Early application should now be made. Candidates wanted especially for Science, General Subjects, and Music. PARTNERSHIPS AND TRANSFERS.—A good Boys’ School, Day or Boarding, Wanted; also Mastership with view to Partnership in Preparatory School. INDIAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. A Vacancy having occurred on the Geological Survey of India, candidates are invited to apply to the Under Secretary of State for India, India Office, Whitehall, London, with certificates of qualifications and age. Candidates must be under 25 years of age, and must be qualified in Geology and Chemistry. The salary of the post begins at 350 rupees a month. Further particulars will be furnished on written application to the Revenue Secretary, India Office, Whitehall. A. GODLEY. LINNEAN SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY. MACLEAY BACTERIOLOGIST. Applications for the position of Bacteriologist to the Society are invited | by the Council, and must be forwarded by mail leaving London not later than December 11. Salary, £350 per annum. Full particulars on appli- ation to DuLtau & Co., 37 Soho Square, London, W. SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL BOOKS. MINERALS. NOTICE OF REMOVAL. LN e take pleasure in announcing that a long Jease has been secured on the arge building, situated in the heart of the business section of Philadelphia, No. 1317 ARCH STREET, where our Central Offices and Sales Rooms will be located after NOVEMBER 235, 1896. While the bulk of both Minerals and Books will remain on storage, we shall make in these large and well-lighted Show-rooms a display of rare and beautiful Miherals. unequalled by that of any similar establishment in the world. MINERALS for Museums, Collectors, Teachers and Students. Every kind and quality of Minera alogical material required for Cabinets, or in study and investigation, always kept on hand. 128-fage Mineral Catalogue, free. Book Lists on eve ry subject of Science and Medicine, on application. (Established in 1876.) DR. A. E. FOOTE (WarREN M. Foote, Manager), 2317 ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA., U.S.A. WATKINS & DONCASTER, NATURALISTS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF ENTOMOLOGICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC APPLIANCES AND CABINETS. Plain Ring Nets, wire or cane, including Stick, 1s. 3¢., 2s., 2s. 6d. Fold- ing Nets, 3s. 6d., 4s. Pocket Boxes, 6d., od., 15., 15. 6d. Zinc relaxing Boxes, 9d., 15-, 18. 6d., 25. Store Boxes, 2s. 6d., 45.,58.,6s. Setting Boards, flat or oval, from 5d. ‘to 1s. 8d. Setting Houses, gs. 6d., 11s. 6d., 145. Breeding Cage, 2s. 6a., 45., 58., 78. 6@. Botanical Cases, japanned double tin, ts. 6d., 25. gd., 35. 6d. 45. 6d., 7s. 6d. Botanical Paper, from 1s. 1d. to 2s. 2d. per quire. Insect Cases, 2s. 6d. to 11s. Forceps for removing Insects, 15. 6d., 2s., 28. 6d. per pair. Cabinet Cork, 7 by 34, 1s., 1s. 4d. per doz. Nested Willow- chip Boxes, 4 doz. 8a.—Our new Label List of British Micro-lepidoptera, with English and Latin names, 1s. 6¢. Improved Pocket Pupa-Digger in leather sheath, 1s. gd. Taxidermists’ Companion, contain- ing most necessary implements. for skinning, ros. 6d. ; Scalpels, with ebony handles, 1s. 3¢.; Fine Pointed Scissors, 2s. per pair; Egg Drills 2d., 3¢., 1555 Brass Blowpipes, 4@., 6d. A large stock of British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Birds’ Eggs —Entomological Pins of every kind.—Benzoline and Oil Lanterns for sugaring, &c. (mew and improved pattern), 2s. 6d. and ss. each. A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS AND BIRDS’ EGGS. Cabinets.—Special Show Room. For Particulars and Measurements see our Catalogue (66 pp.), which will be sent post free on application. Birds, Mammals, &c., Preserved and Mounted by First-class Workmien. 36 STRAND, LONDON W.C. (Five doors from Charing Cross.) COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS, ROCKS, OR FOSSILS, For the Use of Students, Science Teachers, Prospectors, &c., and to Illustrate the leading Text-books, in Boxes, with Trays. 5O Specimens, 10s. 6d.; 100 do., 2ls.; 200 do., 42s, New Price List of Minerals, Rocks, and Stratigraphical Series of Fossils, Post Free. ROCK SECTIONS for the MICROSCOPE, from rs. 6d. each, Post Free CaTaLoGuEs GRATIS. CABINETS, GLASS-CAPPED BOXES, TRAYS, HAMMERS, &c., always in stock. THOMAS Ds RUSS-E.EL 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. F. H. BUTLE R, M.A. Oxon., Assoc. R. 8. Mines, NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON. Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite, Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite, Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art :—2o Typic al Rocks (about 3” x 4”), 20s.; 16 Types of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6a. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms. Chalk-Grains, Re- crystallized Sandstone, Péle’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6a. each set. Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Palzontology. On Sale: British Birds, their Legs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY. COLLECTIONS AND MICROSCOPIC SLIDES. New Catalogues of Minerals, &c., now ready. Collections of Specimens— Minerals, Fossils, and Rocks. Minerals for Chemical Work, &c. Physiography Collections. Geological Apparatus and Appliances. New Supplementary List of Microscopic Sections. List of Rock Specimens. _ Geological Hammers. 5 Cabinets. Meteorites. Catalogue of Minerals for selecting single Specimens, price od. JAMES R. GREGORY & CO. STORES AND OFFICES: 1 KELSO PLACE, KENSINGTON, W. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectroneiea Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BROs.), 56 Crogsland Road, _ Chalk Farm, London, N. Ww. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. A WEEKLY °§To the ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. solid g round Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1413, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, NOVEMBE R 26, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] [All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILS. Messrs. NEWTON & CO., of 3 Freer Srreer, Lonpon, . have made an arrangement with Mr. Aprs by which the results of his unequalled experience in large Coil making have been fully placed at their disposal. As he has been unable to cope with the demand for these instruments, Apps’ Patented Coils are now manufactured con- currently-by Messrs. NEwron & Co. on their own premises. These Coils:have for many years been acknowledged the best and most efficient in the world, and it is hoped that the high quality of workmanship maintained in Messrs. NEWTON & Co.’s workshops may still further increase their reputation. All the Coils up to 10-inch are tested to considerably more than the guaranteed length of spark. Spark in air. Reis. a. Spark in air eS d. I in, ces. 'O 8 in. (with pillars) 27 io fo) eye ToerO' © | I0 ,, Pe SOR (oO 3» Hs 1212 0} 15 ,, h 63 0 0 aoa; : Peers DS, (0) | 18 ” 7s: Mesto) 6 ,, (with pillars) 22 10 oO "Larger sizes to order. All the above Coils are covered in ebonite, and are of the highest quality, and all are fitted with Commutator and five pairs of Terminals so that they can be used with Primary Batteries or Accumulators or direct from the main, and the Condenser can be | cut out if desired, which should be done when using alternate currents. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. | Sev A. Including 3-inch Coil, our own make, Batteries, Focus ube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, Zin. x 5 in, . £138 0 0 Set B. Including 6-inch Coil, Batteries, ‘Large r : Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, 9} in. x 7 in. £23 10 0 BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLUORESCE NCE, in neat Frames with Handles. 7 in. X 5in., 215.3 gh in. x 7 in., 32s. 6d. ; tr} in. X g}in., 55s. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, L. 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. ‘NALDER BROS. & CO., tonoon. D'ARSONVAL GALVANOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. Write for CATALOGUES. D’'ARSONVAL GALVANOMETER (As illustrated). VERY PORTABLE SENSITIVE. IN STOCK. £5 0 0 NO AGENTS IN U.S.A. [eens & ZAMBRA’S | ‘BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPES. Makers of the “OFFICER OF THE WATCH” TELESCOPE, in use on ae the vessels of H.M. Navy Nickel-plated, covered with Brown eather. £2 10s. PRICE ..: Perrect Derinition & HicH Power. “ARMY SIGNALLING” TELESCOPE. £2 2s. As supplied by NEGRETT! & ZAMBRA to the War Office. Length, when closed, rx inches. Combining high power and portability. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL; 122 REGENT STREET. ILLUSTRATED Prick Lists FREE By Post. XXVI1 INEIROTRE [ NovEMBER 26, 1896 INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY VOE GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 30 BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, LONDON, W.C. The NEXT EXAMINATIONS for the MEMBERSHIP of this INSTI- TUTE will be held on TUESDAY, January 12, 1897, and three following days. In consequence of the increase in the number of Candidates whose applica- tions for Examination have been accepted by the Council, it is probable that more than the two ordinary Examinations (January and July) may be held in 1897. Application forms can be obtained from address. All Candidates must produce evidence of having passed a Preliminary Ex- amination in subjects of General Education, and of having takena Systematic Course of at least three years’ study in one of the Colleges approved by the Council ; or, of having been engaged for two years in the Laboratory of a Fellow of the Institute, and for two other years in one of the approved Colleges. The Council desire it to be understood that the right to use the letters A.1.C. and F.1.C. belongs to persons who have passed through the Course of Study and the Examinations prescribed by the Institute. A Prospectus, containing full particulars of the regulations for admission to the Membership of the Institute, may be obtained from Messrs. BLUNDELL, Taytor, & Co., 173 Upper Thames Street, London, E.C., price One Shilling. —By Order of the Council, the Secretary at the above J. MILLAR THOMSON, Registrar. ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS, 117 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH. LIST of PRIZES offered by the SOCIETY for PAPERS submitted during the Session 1896-97. (:) A KEITH PRIZE, value 30 Sovereigns, for some important Invention, Improvement, or Discovery in the Useful Arts, primarily submitted to the Society during the Session. HEPBURN PRIZE, value 12 Sovereigns, for such Invention or Communication submitted to the Society as shall be approved of by the Society or its Prize Committee. MAKDOUGALL-BRISBANE PRIZE, value 10 Sovereigns, for such Communication of Merit or such Invention as shall be approved of by the Society or its Prize Committee. REID and AULD PRIZE, value about 7 Sovereigns, for any Novelty in the Art of Clock or Watch Making, if such should be considered worthy of a Prize. (4) A For further information with regard to these Prizes and conditions, apply to the Secretary, who is now prepared to receive Communications for next Session. WM. ALLAN CARTER, C.E., Secretary. SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY. ST. GEORGE’S HALL,’ LANGHAM PLAGE; President : Right Hon. the LORD HOBHOUSE, K.C.S.I. The Opening Lecture on SUNDAY, November 29, at 4 o'clock pre- cisely, by ARTHUR DIOSY, Esq. Subjects of the Sultan. Personal experiences amongst the various Races inhabiting the Turkish Empire,” with oxyhydrogen lantern _illus- trations. Payment at the doors. Penny. Tickets for each Series of Six Lectures (one for each Lecture) to the Six- penny seats reduced to rs. 6d. Members’ Annual Subscription, 4c. Letters to be addressed to the Hon. Treasurer, W. H. Domvitte, Esq., 221 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park, W. One Shilling (reserved seats), Sixpence, and One CHRISTMAS LECTURES. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. Prof. SILVANUS P. THOMPSON, D.Sc., F.R.S., will deliver a Course of Six Lectures (adapted to a Juvenile Auditory) on “ Visible and Invisible Light” (experimentally illustrated), commencing on Tuesday, December 29, 1896, at 3 o'clock; to be continued on December 31; and January 2, 5, 7, 9, 1897. Subscription (for Non-Members) to this Course, One Guinea (Children under Sixteen, Half-a-Guinea) ; to all the Courses in the Season, Two Guineas. Tickets may now be obtained at the Institution. INDIAN GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. A Vacancy having occurred on the Geological Survey of India, candidates are invited to apply to the Under Secretary of State for India, India Office, Whitehall. London, with certificates of qualifications and age. Candidates must be under 25 years of age, and must be qualified in Geology and Chemistry. The salary of the post begins at 350 rupees a month, Further particulars will be furnished on written application the Revenue Secretary, India Office, Whitehall. A. GODLEY. WANTED.— RESIDENT ASSISTANT SCIENCE TEACHER. Preference given to Asc. R.C.S.—Apply, “HH, H.,” Fairlawn Villa, 32 Grange Road, Ealing, W. to THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principac—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senior-INstrucror—C, CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. THE TEACHER'S GUILE D, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. “CHALLENGER” REPORTS (Zoology) for SALE.—A complete Set, including Narrative of the Voyage, Deep Sea Deposits, and Summary of Results. Forty-six large quarto Volumes, as published, offered at £60.—Apply to “‘ Mariner,” Nature Office. FOR SALE, Maximum and Minimum Thermometers, Hygrometer (Wet and Dry Bulbs), Kew tested, Steven- son's Screen and Rain Gauge. Never been used. Bargain.—FRop- SHAM, 3 Harpur Street, Bedford. -SPECTROSCOPE. WANTED, to Purchase, Second-Hand, a Spectroscope, with two to four Prisms. State Price and Maker's name. Address, ‘‘ N.,” 4 Branstone Road, Kew Gardens. ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS FOR DISSECTION. All types required for Science Courses, perfect condition guaranteed The following are some of the chief forms, with prices : Scyllium, 10d. each; 8s. doz. Sipunculus, 3s. to 4s. doz. Amphioxus, od. each. Echinus (large), ros. doz. Astacus, gd. each. Cucumatia (large), 1s. 4¢. each. Anodon, ad. each. Apus. ts. each. Rana, 6d. each. Nebalia, rs. per tube. Gammarus, rs. per tube. Scorpio, rs. to 1s. 6d. each. Scolopendra, rs. 6¢. each. Aplysia, 8d. to rod. each. Haliotis, 8d. each. Loligo media, rod. each. Mya, rod. each. Pedicellina., 1s. per tube, Salpa, rs. 6d. per tube. Ascidia, 8d. each. Raia, 1s. to 2s. 6d. each. Lacerta, rod. each. Noctiluca, ts. 3d. per tube. Grantia, rs. 3d. per tube, Sycon, 1s. 3@. per tube. Medusoids, rs. 3d. per tube. Aurelia, tod. each. Coryne, rs. per tube. Obelia, rs. per tube. Ascaris (large), 8¢. each. Cerebratulus, rs. 6d. each. Nereis, 6d. each. Arenicola, 6d. each. Sagitta, 1s. per tube. REDUCTION ON LARGER QUANTITIES. JAMES HORNELL, BIOLOGICAL STATION, JERSEY. LIVING SPECIMENS FOR THE MICROSCOPE. Volvox, Spirogyra, Desmids, Diatoms, Amoeba, Arcella, Actinospherium, Vorticella, Stentor, Hydra, Floscularia, Stephanoceros, Melicerta, and many other Specimens of Pond Life. Price rs. per Tube, Post Free. Helix pomatia, Astacus, Amphioxus, Rana, Anodon, &c., for Dissection purposes. THOMAS BOLTON, 25 BALSALL HEATH ROAD, BIRMINGHAM. MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE LABORATORY, PLYMOUTH. The following animals can always be supplied, either living or preserved by the best methods :— Sycon ; Clava, Obelia, Sertularia; Actinia, Tealia, Caryophyllia, Alcy- onium ; Hormiphora (preserved) ; Leptoplana ; Lineus, Amphiporus ; Nereis, Aphrodite, Arenicola, Lanice, Terebella; Lepas, Balanus, Gammarus, Ligia, Mysis, Nebalia, Carcinus; Patella, Buccinum, Eledone, Pectens Bugula, Crisia, Pedicellina; Hclothuria, Asterias, Echinus ; Ascidia, Salpa (preserved), Scyllium, Raia, &c., &c. For prices and more detailed lists apply to Biological Laboratory, Plymouth. THE DIRECTOR. JX NAN SEN IOEIEIUS 1 RVG END) JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.’—Wordswortn. No. 1414, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1806. [PRICE SIXPENCE. {All Rights are Reserved. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] INDUCTION COILS. | | APPS’ PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured | concurrently by NEWTON "LEET STREET, LONDON. & CO.,;3 1 ip Ne ~ | inn ““X” RAY “FOCUS” TUBES, 25s. _ FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 35s. and 63s. Complete Apparatus for Réntgen “ X”’ Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. Detailed List on Application. No Scientific Man should | be without a FRENA CAMERA. Full particulars st ) | adapted for the Student’s use; “it is made entirely of Brass, and BE @wy ON NGe 4s CS OS oe MICROSCOPE Is a superior instrument, well perfectly fitted ; it has a sliding body, drawer tube, fine adjust. ment, A eyepiece, and 3 in and } in. objectives. £6 2s. 6d. PRICE - Lllustrated Catalogue post free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, © NEDO NN, WV iG. | CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. ema “iL BAROGRAPHS AND_THERMOGRAPHS. {i See The Barograph is fitted in a Mahogany Case with Glass Front, as shown above. The Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass Front, for either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to invalids and others who are unable to take daily readings of the ordinary free on application. Ae Ltd., 68 Cornhill, London, E.C. instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS TO THE QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. hes—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. Branc XXXIV NATURE | DECEMBER 3, 1896 NOTICE. N AotW Reis Of THuRSDAY NEXT, DECEMBER 10, will contain the TO VotuME LIV. Its price will be ONE SHILLING. Advertisements intended, for insertion in this Number should reach the Publishers by the morning of WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9. “NATURE” OFFICE; 29 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. THE BRISTOL GAS COMPANY. TENDER FOR TAR. The Directors of this Compary invite TENDERS for the Purchase of the TAR to be produced at all or either of their three Stations during a period of One, Two, or Three Years, commencing on the ist day of January, 1897. The annual quantities of Tar produced at each of the Stations at present are, approximately, as follows :— Avon Street Canons’ Marsh Stapleton ops oO L865 Further particulars, with Forms of Tender, may be obtained on, applica- tion to the Undersigned, to whom also Tenders sealed, and endorsed “Tender for Tar,’ must be delivered not later than WEDNESDAY, the oth day of December proximo. 650,000 JOHN PHILLIPS, Secretary. Chief Offices, Canons’ Marsh, November 26, 1896. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE. (ONE OF THE CONSTITUENT COLLEGES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES.) LECTURER IN GEOLOGY. The Council of the College is prepared to appoint a Lecturer in Geology at a stipend of 4200 per annum, with an allowance for Evening Work in the Technical School. Particulars of duties may be obtained on application to the undersigned, to whom applications, with twenty-five copies of testi- monials, must be sent not later than December 31, 1896. J. AUSTIN JENKINS, B.A., Secretary and Registrar. University College, Cardiff, November 6, 1896. QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA. DEPARTMENT OF MINES. Brisbane, October 22, 1896. APPLICATIONS are invited for the Office of ASSISTANT on the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. Salary, £300 per annum. Actual travelling expenses paid. 4 Applications, accompanied by Testimonials (copies in the first instance), and an account of the Candidate's experience in Geology and Mining, to be lodged not later than February 15, 1897, with the UNDER SeCRETARY, Department of Mines, Brisbane, Queensland. P. F. SELLHEIM, Under Secretary. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH. November 19, 1896. The Council invite APPLICATIONS for the POST of ASSISTANT LECTURER in the DEPARTMENT of LOGIC and PHILOSOPHY. Applications, together with Testimonials, must be forwarded, on or before December 10, to the undersigned, from whom further particulars may be obtained. T. MORTIMER GREEN, Registrar. Wy HOE aE AGC Hel Resse GaUpleizgD: 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. WANTED.— RESIDENT ASSISTANT SCIENCE TEACHER. Preference given to Asc. R.C.S.—Apply, ““H. H.” Fairlawn Villa, 32 Grange Road, Ealing, W. “*CHALLENGER”’ REPORTS (Zoology) for SALE.—A complete Set, including Narrative of the Voyage, Deep Sea Deposits, and Summary of Results. Forty-six large yuarto Volumes, as published, offered at £60.—Apply to ‘“‘ Mariner,’ NATURE Office. Sale bp #Huction. TUESDAY NEXT. A GENERAL COLLECTION OF NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMENS. Also CABINETS, BOOKS, CURIOSITIES, &c. MR. J. C. STEVENS will Sell the above by AUC TION at his Great Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, on TUESDAY next, DECEMBER 8, at Half-past Twelve precisely. On view Day prior, 12 to 4, and Morning of Sale, and Catalogues had. Government Grant of £4000 to defray the Expenses of Scientific Investigations. Applications for the year 1897, to be considered at the Annual Meeting of the Government Grant Com- mittee, must be forwarded to the CLERK to the Government Grant Committee, Royal Society, Burlington. House, London, W., by January 31, and must be written upon Printed Forms which can be obtained from the CLERK. COMPLETE SKELETON OF COW, DOUBLE-HORNED RHINOCEROS (R._ sumatrensis); also Skeleton, with Skin, of Brow-antlered Stag (C. eldi). May be seen by appointment, Offers requested.—‘‘ Ru1noceRos,” c/o Kinc & Co., ** Geolog. Foren. Foérhandl" ; Stockholm, 1896. ‘“‘ Kongl. Vetens- kaps—Akademische Férhandlingar,” page 469; Stockholm, 1896.)— Address, Frans Linpguist, Engineer, Malmbergel, Sweden. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients, own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BROS.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. MINERALS, FOSSILS, ROCKS, JUST PUBLISHED, THE FOLLOWING CATALOGUES: (1) SUPPLEMENT 2 to CATALOGUE IV. (Rocks, &c.). Containing New Local Suites (Vosges, Tannus, Harz, Saxony, Auvergne, Finland, Milos, &c.), with thin Sections. : For Introduction into Petrography. PROPERLY-MOUNTED MINERAL-SECTIONS. 120 Sections, M.180. 40 Sections, M.5o. (2) HALF-YEAR CIRCULAR, No. 9, concerning New Acquisitions in- Fossils. Showing the result of the Newest Excavations from the Jurassic and Eocene of Vicenza. i Permian of Nonnenbweiler, Rhenish Prussia, Jurassic-Sand of Glos, rance. Elephant-Grots of Sicily. Dr. FF) ERRAND Bonn on the Rhine. Rhenish Mineral Office. ESTABLISHED 1833. (Represented by Messrs. HARRINGTON Bros., Cork, Ireland, and Oliver’s Yard, 53A City Road, London, E.C.) SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL BOOKS. MINERALS. NOTICE OF REMOVAL. We take pleasure in announcing that a long lease has been secured on the large building, situated in the heart of the business section of Philadelphia, No. 1817 ARCH STREET, where our Central Offices and Sales Rooms will be located after NOVEMBER 25, 1896. While the bulk of both Minerals and Books will remain on storage, we shall make in these large and well-lighted Show-rooms a display of rare and beautiful Minerals. unequalled by that of any similar establishment in the world. MINERALS for Museums, Collectors, Teachers and Students. Every kind and quality of Mineralogical material required for Cabinets, or in study and investigation, always kept on hand. 128-fage Mineral Catalogue, free. Book Lists on every subject of Science and Medicine, on application. (Established in 1876.) DR. A. BE. FOOTE (WarrEN M. Foote, Manager), 1317 ARCH STREET, PHILADELPHIA A PAY, U.S.A. INDEX NUMBER. mo WEEKLY IELEUSRRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 4 “To the Of Nature trusts the solid ground mind which builds for aye.’ ’— WORDSWORTH. No. 1415, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, DECEMBER To; 1896. [PRICE ONE SHILLING. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] (All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILS. Messrs. NEWTON & CO., of 3 Freer Srreer, Lonpon, have made an arrangement with Mr. Apps by which the results of his unequalled experience in large Coil making have been fully placed at their disposal. As he has been unable to cope with the demand for these instruments, Apps’ Patented Coils are now manufactured con- currently by Messrs. Newron & Co. on their own premises. These Coils have for many years been acknowledged the best and most efficient in the world, and it is hoped that the high quality of workmanship maintained in Messrs. NEWTON & Co.’s workshops may still further increase their reputation. All the Coils up to 10-inch are tested to considerably more than the guaranteed length of spark. Spark in air. Hos. a Spark in air oy CA I in. ees, 0 8 in. (with oillats) = 10 0 ules mot Peetu to Oo | IO e Bio 2a Ie) 3» - 12 0 ns en a a 63 0 O : >» Pens 0) | 18 7s; 2) {9) 5 (with pillars) ES 10 oO "Larger sizes Stolerder a the above Coils are covered in ebonite, and are of the highest quality, and all are fitted with Commutatorand five pairs of Terminals so that they can be used with Primary Batteries or Accumulators or direct from the main, and the Condenser can be cut out if desired, which should be done when using alternate currents. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. / our own make, Batteries, Focus Ser A. Including 3-inch Coil, ube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, Zin. Xx 5 in. £13 0 0 Ser B. Including 6-inch Coil, Batteries, ‘Larger “Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, gf in. x 7 in. £23 10 0 BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLU ORESCE NCE, in neat Frames with Handles. 7 in. X 5 im., 21s. ; of in. x 7 in., 325. 6d. ; 11f in. X of in., 555. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, L: 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. NALDER BROS. & CO. LONDON. N. GC. S. THOMSON REFLECTING GALVANOMETER. 5000 OHMS RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE #9 10 O Write for CATALOGUES. Cable Address: SECOHM, LONDON. No Agents in U.S.A. This instrument delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A, for $60 C.0.D. HRISTMAS PRESENTS. TRAVELLERS SCIENTIFIC MEI TE | Aneroid Barometer ih Aiseade Seales Cae with Patent Dial and | Thermometer for Air Temperatures (or a Clinical Thermometer may be substituted). PRICE £4 10s. to £7 10s. “Special” Illustrated Price List of Instruments suitable for Presents free by Post to all parts of the World. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, ScrenrTiFic INSTRUMENT MAKERS TO THE QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. Teleptone No. 6583. Telegraphic Address: ** Negretti, London.” xlit NATURE [ DECEMBER 10, 1896 ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS, 117 GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH. LIST of PRIZES offered by the SOCIETY for PAPERS submitted during the Session 1896-97. x1) A KEITH PRIZE, value 30 Sovereigns, for some important Invention, Improvement, or Discovery in the Useful Arts, primarily submitted to the Society during the Session. HEPBURN PRIZE, value 12 Sovereigns, for such Invention or Communication submitted to the Society as shall be approved of by the Society or its Prize Committee. MAKDOUGALL-BRISBANE PRIZE, value 1o Sovereigns, for such Communication of Merit or such Invention as shall be approved of by the Society or its Prize Committee. REID and AULD PRIZE, value about 7 Sovereigns, for any Novelty in the Art of Clock or Watch Making, if such should be considered worthy of a Prize. (4) A these elve Prizes and conditions, apply For further information with regard to Communications for next ecretary, who is now prepared to re¢ WM. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Miss EMILY PENROSE. SESSION 1896-7. The LENT TERMwill BEGIN on THURSDAY, JANUARY 14. Courses in preparation for all the Examinations in the Faculties of Arts and Science held by the University of London. Special Course of Scientific Instruction in Hygiene and Public Health. Lectures in all branches of Higher Education. Students for Practical Work. Art School open from to to 4. reside in the College. ALLAN CARTER, C.E., Secretary. Principal : Six Laboratories open to Students can LUCY J. RUSSELL, THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principac—G. W. p—E TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senrior-INstrRucrorR—C. CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a_ Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper’ s Hill and the Central Institution. CLEY, OF WORCESTER. VICTORIA INSTITUTE. WANTED, ASSISTANT SCIENCE LECTURER, to take part in the Teaching of the Organised Science Day School, and to deliver Evening Lectures on Physiology, Geology, Elementary Mechanics, and Plane and Solid Soom: He will also be required to assist in the Chemical La- atory. Gra aduate, with some experience in teaching, preferred. Com- mencing Salary, £120 per anrum. Applications, with copies of three recent testimonials, to be sent in, on or before December 19, to THOMAS DUCKWORTH, Org nising BEEF DR Honorary Secretary. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED MATHEMATICS. A JUNIOR DEMONSTR ATOR is Required to assist in the Graphical Teaching g in the Drawing Office. Preference will be given to one who has been through the Gray hical Courses in this or a similar Technical School. Apply in the first place by Letter, stating Qualifications, to Prof. Kart PEARSON. THE TEACHERS’ GUILD, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at BESET ubursdays: ““CHALLENGER’’ REPORTS (Zoology) for SALE.—A complete Set, including Narrative of the Voyage, Deep Sea Deposits, and Summary of Results. Forty-six large quarto Volumes, as published, offered at £60.—Apply to ‘‘ Mariner,’ Nature Office. BERICHTE, year, Post free. free.— Brown, 1895, 1896, Unbound, 15s. per Also Parts for 1897, sent week after Beta 20s. Post 54 Hythe Road, Swindon. “xX” RAY Photography. INDUCTION COILS Our Coils are _ of ENGLISH MAKE == wound in sections == and covered in vul- * canite. The work- manship is of a high quality, and they are well finished. Complete Apparatus from £10. LENGTH OF SPARK. 3 inches. 4 inches. 6 inches. £6 6s. £9 15s. £15 each, net. If fitted with Electric Lamp and Switch for Screen work, as sho in Illustration, 15s. each extra. Catalogue of “X” Ray " Ray Apparatus post free on application. JAMES: WOOLLEY, SONS & C0., LT'D., MANCHESTER. TSS tag STANLEY | Mathematical Instrument Manufacturer to H. M. Government, Council of India, Science and Art Department, Admiralty, &c. Mathematical, Drawing, and Surveying Instruments of every description Of the Highest Quality and Finish, at most Moderate Prices. Illustrated Price List Post Free. W. F.S. obtained the only Medal in the Great Wxhibition of 1862 for Excellence of Construction of Mathematical Instruments, and the only GoL> MeEpaAt in the International Inventions Exhibition 1885 for Mathematical Work. Silver Medal, Architects’ Exhibition, 1886. Address :—GREAT TURNSTILE, HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. DE VERE, Manufacturer of every description of CONJURING APPARATUS AND MECHANICAL NOVELTIES. Tricks and Illusions for Theatres, Marionettes, Guignols, Automatons, Juggling Apparatus, &c. 39 RUE DE TREVISE 339, PARIS. Catalogue in Fnglish, Post Free, 2}¢. Large Catalngnein French 120 pp.. Post Free, 15. NEW CAMERA The ‘‘ AMBER,” +m FOR HAND OR STAND, cll From £5 3s. 6d. Lllustrated Catalogue Free. THORNTON-PICKARD, ALTRINCHAM. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optica Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. wt MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “*To the solid ground O, Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”-—WorvDsSWoRTH. No. 1416, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1806. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILs. APPS’ PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured concurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. “xX” RAY “FOCUS” TUBES, 25s. - FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 35s. and 68s. Complete Apparatus for Réntgen “‘X” Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. Detailed List on Application. BECK’S MICROSCOPES. No. 25A._THIS MODEL, with I-in. and 4-in, Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £6 10s. 258.—THIS MODEL, with No. 3-in. and } Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. 298.—The addition of Abbe Condenser to 25B with Iris Diaphragm and Focussing and Swinging Adjustments, £8 15s. No. STAND No. 25. FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J, BECK, LTD., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, B.C. -in. Object Glasses, | BROWNINGS SPECTROSCOPES. THE MINIATURE SPECTROSCOPE. This instrument will show many of Fraunhofer’s lines, the bright lines of the metals and gases, and the absorption bands in coloured gases, crystals, or liquids. | Price, with Plain Slit, £1 25. ; | Morocco Case, £1 145. ; ditto, in Morocco Case, £2 6s. Iilustrated Catalogue of DA Post Free. JOHN BROW 'N-T-N'G; MANUFACTURING OPTICIAN, 63 STRAND, LONDON, WC. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. ditto, with Adjustable Slit in with Achromatic Lens, &c., THE CINEMATOGRAPH. This Apparatus is capable of producing Animated Pictures of the highest and can be easily manipulated ‘without the assistance of a skilled operator by following the instructions supplied w ith same. Price, including Lantern, Oxyhy drogen Burner Limes, &c., complete, £36. Films for same, £4 10s. each. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. class, NATURE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALBEMARLE -STREET, PICCADILLY, W. LECTURE ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE EASTER, 1897. Lecture Hour, 3 O'CLOCK P.M. CHRISTMAS -LECTURES. Tuompson, D.Sc., F.R.S., 47.2.7. Six Lectures (adapted to a Juvenile Auditory) on “Light, Visible and Invisible.” On December 29 (Tuesday), December 31, 1896; January 2, 5, 7, 9, 1897. One Guinea the Course ; Children under 16, Half-a-Guinea. Prof. Aucustus D. Water, M.D., F.R.S., Fullerian Professor of Physiology, R.I. Twelve Lectures’ on ** Animal Electricity.” On Tuesdays, January 19, 26, February 2, 9, 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, April 6. One Guinea the Course. Prof: Henry A. Miers, M.A., Secrets of Crystals.” On Thursdays, Guinea, J. W. Grecory, History). Three Thursdays, Febr Prof. Sirvanus P. “Some Half-a- Three Lectures on February 4. F.R.S. January 21, 28, F.G.S., of the The Problems of Arctic Geology. British Museum (Natural Esq., D.Sc., On Lectures on “ 3, 25. Half-a-Guinea. Litt.D., Prof. PERcy GARDNER, F.S.A., Professor of Classical Archzo- logy and Art in the University of Oxford. Three Lectures on ‘‘ Greek History and Extant Monuments.” On Thursdays, March 4, 11, 18. Half-a- Guinea. Prof. W. Bovp Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., F Bere F.G.S. Three Lectures n “The Relation of Geol to History.” The Incoming of Man, 2. The Frontier of History in Britain. 3. Rona an Britain. On Thursdays, March 25, April x, 8. Half-a-Guinea. Cart ARMBRUSTER, Esq. Three Lectures on “ Neglected Italian and French Composers.” (With Musical Illustrations.) On Saturdays, January 23, 30, February 6. Half-a-Guinea. WaLtTeR FREWEN Lorp, Esq. Three Lectures on ‘‘ The Growth of the Mediterranean Route to the East.” On Saturdays, February 13, 20, 27. Half-a-Guinea The Right Hon. Lorp RayvieicH, M.A., D.C.L.,, LL.D.,,F.R S., M.R.I., Professor of Natural Philosophy, R.I. Six Lectures on * Elec- tricity and Electrical Vibrations.” On Saturdays, March 6, 13, 20, 27, April 3, 10. One Guinea. Subscription (to Non-Members) to all Courses of Lectures (extending from Christmas to Midsummer), Two Guineas. Tickets issued daily at the Institution, or sent by post on receipt of Cheque or Post-Office Order. Members may purchase not less than Three Single Lecture Tickets, avail- able for any Afternoon Lecture, for Half-a-Guinea. The Friday Evening Meetings will begin on January 22 at 9 p.m., when Prof. Dewar will give a Discourse on ‘“‘ Properties of Liquid Oxygen.’ tg Succeeding Discourses will probably be given by the Right Rey. The Lorp BisHor oF Lonpon, Prof. JAGADISs CHUNDER BOsE, Prof. Joun MILNE, Dr. G. JoHNSTONE STONEY, Lieut.-Colonel C. R. CoNvER, Mr. SHELFORD Bipwe tt, Prof. ARTHUR SMITHELLS, Sir Epwarp MaunpbE THompson, K.C.B., Sir Witt1am TuRNER, Mr. Cuar_es T. Heycock, The Right Hon. Lorp RayLeiGuH, and other gentlemen. To these Meetings Members and their Friends only are admitted. Persons desirous of becoming Members are requested to apply to the SECRETARY. When proposed they are immediately admitted to all the Lectures, to the Friday Evening Meetings, and to the Library and Reading Rooms; and their Families are admitted to the Lectures at a reduced charge. Payment: First Year, Ten Guineas; afterw ards, Five Guineas a Year ; or a composition of Sixty Guineas. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Principal : Miss EMILY PENROSE. SION 1896-7. The LENT TERM will BEGIN on THURSDAY, JANUARY 14. Courses in preparation for all the Examinations in the Faculties of Arts and Science held by the University of London, Special Course of Scientific Instruction in Hygiene and Public Health. Lectures in all branches of Higher Education. Students for Practical Work. Art School open from 10 to 4. reside in the College. Six Laboratories open to Students can LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. THE TEACHERS” GUTED, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. ASSISTANT Required in the DEPARTMENT of AGRIC!'LTURE, with ability to help in the Superintendence of Demonstration Plots. Salary at the rate of £150 a year. The Engagement will be for Three Months certain, with power of renewal. Applications will be received by the Recistrar of the College, up to January 9 OUNDLE SCHOOL. WANTED, for next Term, a Skilled Workman as WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR ; one who can take charge of a Steam-engine and Small Dynamo Plant essential. To a suitable man good wages will be paid. Apply to the Heap Master, Oundle School, Northamptonshire. LCecet ages DOS 1896 Complete Apparatus from £10. INDUCTION colts Our Coils are of _ ENGLISH MAKE, wound in sections, and covered in vul- canite. The work- manship is of a high quality, and they are well finished. LENGTH OF SPARK. 3 inches. 4 inches. 6 inches. £6 6s. £9 15s. £15 each, net. If fitted with Electric Lamp and Switch for Screen work, as shown in Illustration, 15s. each extra. Catalogue of “X” Ray Apparatus post free on application. JAMES. WOOLLEY, SONS & CO., LTD., MANCHESTER. FREDK. JACKSON & Co. (Late MOTTERSHEAD & CO.), 14 CROSS STREET, MANCHESTER Goods Entrance: 10 Half-Moon Street, LABORATORY FURNISHERS, Importers, Manufacturers, and Dealers in CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL APPARATUS Of every Description. Fine Chemicals, Volumetric Solutions, Plain and Stoppered Bottles, AND EVERY LABORATORY REQUIREMENT. EN Nllustrated Catalogue of Apparatus, with Price List ‘ of Chemicals, free on application. Telegraphic Address—‘‘ APPARATUS, MANCHESTER. \/HORNTON. ILLUSTRATED 2» NEW CATALOGUE CAMERA The ‘“‘ AMBER,” For HAND or STAND, £5 3s, 6d. Apparatus for estimation of sulphur in spent oxide. peu From THE THORNTON: -PICKARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY, ALTRINCHAM. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis China, Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. EIGHT, E.Pss: ACCUMULATORS, as good as New. Cost £20; lowest Price, £8.—50 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, between ro and 4 o'clock. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, J 4 Hatton Garden, London. ‘ Catalogues Free. IPTIGAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients’ wn designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. sb 6 4) mB WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ‘°To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.’—Worvswortu. No. 1417, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1806. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved tera! WPUCTION COILS. = = NALDER BROS. & CO., conoon. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON Bi ie one teecence in large Coil mating bare teen'| D’ARGONVAL -GALVANOMETER fully placed at their disposal. : As he has been unable to cope with the demand for these Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. instruments, Apps’ Patented Coils are now manufactured con- currently by Messrs. NEwron & Co. on their own. premises. Write for These Coils have for many years been acknowledged the best | CATALOGUES. and most efficient in the world, and it is hoped that the high | = quality of workmanship maintained in Messrs. NEWTON & Co.’s D'ARSONVAL workshops may still further increase their reputation. All the Coils up to 10-inch are tested to considerably more | than the joaeannees length of spark. | CALVANOMETER Spark in air. ess) 2. Spark in air. & ai} Gsiullustrated): ais «tee ees 5) O 8 in. (with pillars) zi 7a oO | Sy Sr ETO, 0). IO-',3: « /g58 95 615 oO | Vener OR TABLE: CuSy on meeteer2 © | 15 ,; e ) &3 (ore) SENSITIVE. Bossy we eis CO | 18, =4 She Or O | eee 6 ,, (with pillars):22 10 oO Larger sizes to order. IN STOCK. All the above Coils are covered in ebonite, and are of the ee highest quality, andall are fitted with Commutator and five pairs £5 _O (@) of Terminals so that they can be used with Primary Batteries or 2 Accumulators or direct from the main, and the Condenser can be | = NO AGENTS cut out if desired, which should be done when using alternate | — U. e A. currents. | THE PRESENTS. CINEMATOGRAPH. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. / _CHRISTHAS Ser A. Including 3-inch Coil, our own make, Batteries, Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino- SUE anide Screen, 7in. X 5 in. £13 0 0} ti By is Apparatus is capable of producing Animated Pictures of the ees Ser B. Including 6-inch Go rik Batte ries, Sere er r Kc ocus ; Tube, class, and can be easily manipulated without the assistance of a skilled Tube Ho D Scre x Ider, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, 94 in. x 7 in. £23 10 0 operator by following the instructions supplied with same. BARIUM- PLATINO- CYANIDE SCREENS. Price , including L teen Oxyhydrog en Burner Limes, &c., complete, £36. EXCELLENT FLUORESCENCE, in neat Frames with a NEGR E ee & TA MBRA 7 in. X 5 in., 218.3 9 in 7 in., 325. 6d. 5 119 in. X of in., JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS. ‘p. 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. : 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C, | Branches—5 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. viii CHRISTMAS LECTURES. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. Prof. Strvanus P. Tuomreson, D.Sc., F.R.S., will, on Tuesday next (December 29), at Three o'clock, begin a Course of Six Lectures (adapted to aJuvenile Auditory), on ‘Light, Visible and Invisible” (experimentally illustrated), Subscription (for Non-Members) to this Course, One Guinea (Children under Sixteen, Half-a-Guinea); to all the Courses in the Season, Two Guineas. Tickets may now be obtained at the Institution. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principat—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. SEnior-INsTRUCTOR—C. CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. " The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. ROAD, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND ARTS. The next Term begins Tuesday, January 12. Prospectus (post free) from the REGISTRAR. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. ASSISTANT Required in the DEPARTMENT of AGRICULTURE, with ability to help in the Superintendence of Demonstration Plots, Salary at the rate of £150 a year. The Engagement will be for Three Months certain, with power of renewal. Applications will be received by the Recisrrar of the College, up to January 9. THE DEA CHER S* GUseep 74 GOWER STREET, W.G. * REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. OUNDLE SCHOOL. WANTED, for next Term, a Skilled Workman as WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR ; one who can take charge of a Steam-engine and Small Dynamo Plant essential. To a suitable man good wages will be paid. ‘Apply to the HEap Masrer, Oundle School, Northamptonshire. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients’ own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, Yj 44 Hatton Garden, London. NJ : Catalogues Free. THE MOST NUTRITIOUS COCOA. EPPS’S GRATEFUL—COMFORT ING. COCOA WITH FULL NATURAL FLAVOUR. NATGORE [ DEcEMBER 24, 1896 tHE “2 NaSOMIO LO GES at; AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF GENERAL ENTOMOLOGY, Edited by RicHarp Sourtn, F.E.S., With the Assistance of Rosert ADKIN, F.E.S. Martin Jacosy, F.E.S. T R. Bitvurs, F.E.S. J. H. Leecn, B.A., F.L.S., F.E.S. W. Lucas Distant, F.E.S., &c. Dr. D. Suarp, F.R.S., F.E.S. &c. Epwarp A. Fircu, F.L.S., F.E.S. | G. H. VERRALL, F.E.S. F, W. Frouawk, F.E.S. W. Warren, M.A., F.E.S. W. F. Kirsy, F.E.S. Founded by the late Edward Newman in 1840, this Journal has been the popular organ of British Entomologists since 1864. Its contents deal chiefly with the home fauna, but there are frequent articlesand notes on matters of interest pertaining to the Entomology of various parts of the world. Published on the first of each month. Price 6d. Subscription, 6s. per annum post free to any country. London: WEST, NEWMAN, & CO., 54 Hatton Garden, E.C. THE ZOOLOGIST. A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, Edited by W. L. Disrant, F.E.S., &c., contains— Original Articles by well-known naturalists in every branch of zoology ; habits of animals; arrival and departure of migratory birds; occurrence of rare birds ; distribution and migration of British fresh-water fish ; new or rare marine fish; local aquaria; British reptiles; British land and fresh- water mollusca, with remarks on the haunts and habits of the species ; and other matters of general interest to those who delight in natural history. Reports of the Linnean, Zoological, and Entomological Societies. Reviews of natural history books. Occasional translations from foreign zoological journals of important and interesting articles in various branches of Zoology There are occasional woodcuts. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., Lrp., Stationer’s Hall Court, E.C. THE ENTOMOLOGISTS’ MONTHLY MAGAZINE. Price Sixpence, Monthly. Edited by C. G. Barrett, G. C. CHampion, F.Z.S., J. W. DouGtas, W. W. Fow ter, M.A., F.L.S., R. McLacuvan, F.R.S., E. SAUNDERS, F.L.S., and Lorp Wa tsINnGHAM, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. This Magazine, commenced in 1864, contains standard articles and notes on all subjects connected with Entomology, and especially on the Insects of the British Isles. Subscription—Six Shillings per Annum, post free. GURNEY & JACKSON (Mr. Van Voorst's Successors), 1 Paternoster Row. London : NORTH BRITISH AGRICULTURIST, the Chief Agricultural Journal in Scotland, circulates extensively among Landowners, Farmers, Resident agents, and others interested in the management of land throughout the United Kingdom. The AGRICULTURIST is published every Wednesday afternoon in time for the Evening Mails, and contains Reports of all the principal British and Irish Markets of the week. The special attention of Land Agents is directed to the AGRICUL- TURIST as one of the best existing Papers for Advertising Farms to be Let, and Estates for Sale. Advertisers addressing themselves to Farmers will find the AGRICUL- TURIST a first-class medium for reaching that Class. Price 3@. By Post 34d. Annual Subscription, payable in advance, 14s. Offices—377 High Street, Edinburgh, and 145 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C. Money Orders payable to C. and R. ANDERSON. HOLLOWAY’S PILLS CURE Biliousness, Sick Headache, Indigestion and all Internal Complaints. CAN BE TAKEN BY THE MOST DELICATE Holloway’s Pills and Ointment may be obtained of all Medicine Vendors. A WEEKLY IRLUSDRADED JOURNAL. OF SCIENCE: “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1418, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1896. [PRICE SIXPENCE Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved. NEWTONIAN X-RAY CURRENT METER. The principal difficulty in | ‘€X” Ray photography has been to judge the length of This can easily be an ammeter exposure. done by fusing and voltmeter permanently in the circuit. The arrange- ment answers the purpose admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- produced from day to day, and the voltage being con- stant, the number of amperes, on which the rapidity of ex- posure then entirely depends, can be varied as desired and adjusted to the greatest nicety by the tension screw of the coil. “*X* Ray Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. Sore MAKERS: NEWTON & CO. 3 FLEET STREET,.LONDON. The rena Gamera etecesesooosoveres PARTICULARS of this unigue HAND-CAMERA may be had FREE on application to Ltd., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, E.C. UP-T°-DATS KO BoDAISIII R. & J. BECK, . BROWNINGS SPECTROSCOPES. bic = THE MINIATURE SPECTROSCOPE. This instrument will show many of Fraunhofer’s lines, the bright lines of the metals and gases, and the absorption bands in coloured gases, crystals, or liquids. Price, with Plain Slit, 41 2s. ; ditto, with Adjustable Slit in Morocco Case, £1 145.; ditto, with Achromatic Lens, &c., in Morocco Case, £2 6s. Illustrated Catalogue of Spectroscopes, Post Free. JO: EEN BROWN ENG, MANUFACTURING OPTICIAN, 63--ST-RAN.D, LONDON, W.-C. NEW YEAR'S GIFTS. THE CINEMATOGRAPH. TD} Mt i apable of producing Animated Pictures of the highest y manipulated without the assistance of a skilled operator by following the instructions, supplied with same. Price, including Lantern, Oxyhydrogen Burner Limes, &c., complete, £36. Films for same, £4 10s. each. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. : Brarche:-—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. YY Ixvi NATURE [ DECEMBER 31, 1396 THE DAVY FARADAY RESEARCH LABORATORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. DIRECTORS The Right Hon. LORD RAYLEIGH, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D EsRs- Prof. DEWAR, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LABORATORY: Dr, ALEXANDER SCOTT, M.A., D.Sc. This Laboratory, which has been founded by Dr. Ludwig Mond, F-.R.S., as a Memorial of Davy and Faraday, “for the purpose of promoting original research in Pure and Physical Chemistry,” will be open on January 18. Under the Deed of Trust, workers in the Laboratory are entitled, free of charge, to Gas, Electricity and Water, as far as available, and, at the dis- cretion of the Directors, to the use of the apparatus belonging to the Laboratory, together with such materials and chemicals as may be authorised. All persons desiring to be admitted as workers, must send evidence of scientific training, qualification, and previous experience in original research, along with a statement of the nature of the investigation they propose to undertake. Further information, together with forms of appli- ¢ation, can be had from the Assistant SECRETARY, Royal Institution. BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, BURLINGTON HOUSE, LONDON, W. The NEXT ANNUAL MEETING of the ASSOCIATION will be held at TORONTO, CANADA, commencing on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1897. PRESIDENT-ELECT : Sir JOHN EVANS, K.C.B., D.C.L., Treasurer of the Royal Society. Information about local arrangements may be obtained from the SECRE- rARIES, Toronto, or at the London Office. G. GRIFFITH, Assistant General Secretary. BIRKBECK INSTITUTION, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, E.C. DAY AND EVENING CLASSES. Principal: G. ARMITAGE Situ, M.A. The New Term cominences January 4, 1897. Science Classes for London University Examinations. and Botany ... ‘ 4 a on Mr. A. B. REnpDLE, M.A., B.Sc. Biology and Zoology ... Mr. H. W. Untuank, B.A., B.Sc. ES er Mr. Woopwarp, B.A., B.Sc., F.I.C. TTS a cal ae { Mr. Gosstino, B.Sc., Hess Maat § Mr. Cray, B.A., B.Sc. Er alae tad ss \ Mr. F. J. Cuesuire. Vental Science . The PRINCIPAL. The Laboratories have been recently enlarged, and their equipment is very complete. Classes in all Branches of Science, Art, Languages, &c. Prospectus and Details on application to SECRETARY. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Principal: Miss EMILY PENROSE. SESSION 1896-7. : The LENT TERM will BEGIN on THURSDAY, JANUARY 1. Courses in preparation for all the Examinations in the Faculties of Arts and Science held by the University of London. Special Course of Scientific Instruction in Hygiene and Public Health. Lectures in all branches of Higher Education. Students for Practical Work. reside in the College. Six Laboratories open to Art School open from ro to 4. Students can LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. THE -TiehAtC Hie YRS) s Ga lala» 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. : VICTORIA UNIVERSITY, THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND ARTS. The next Term begins Tuesday, January 12. as Prospectus (post free) from the REGISTRAR. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. ASSISTANT Required in the DEPARTMENT of AGRICULTURE, with ability to help in the Superintendence of Demonstration Plots. Salary at the rate of £150 a year. The Engagement will be for Three Months certain, with power of renewal. Applications will be received by the RecisTrAR of the College, up to January o- BRADFORD TECHNICAL COLLEGE. WANTED, after the Christmas holidays, an ASSISTANT in the Physical Laboratory ; salary 475 perannum. Applications, stating age and qualifications, to be addressed the SEcrETARY, Technical College, Bradford. WATKINS & DONCASTER, NATURALISTS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF ENTOMOLOGICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC APPLIANCES AND CABINETS. Plain Ring Nets, wire or cane, including Stick, 1s. 3d., 2s., 2s. 6d. Fold- ing Nets, 3s. 6d., 4s. Pocket Boxes, 6d., od., 18., 1s. 6a. Zinc relaxing Boxes, 9d., 1s., 1s. 6d., 2s. Store Boxes, 2s. 6d., 45., 55-,6s. Setting Boards, flat or oval, from sd. to rs. 8d. Setting Houses, os. 6d., 11s. 6d., 145. Breeding Cage, 2s. 6d., 4s., 5s., 7s. 6a. Botanical Cases, japanned double tin, 1s. 6d., 25. gd., 38. 6@., 45. 6d., 7s. 62. Botanical Paper, from 1s. rd. to 2s. 2d. per quire. Insect Cases, 2s. 6d. to 11s. Forceps for removing Insects, 1s. 6¢., 2s., 2s. 6d. per pair. Cabinet Cork, 7 by 34, 1s., 1s. 4d. per doz. Nested Willow-chip Boxes, 4 doz. 8¢.—Our new Label List of British Micro-lepidoptera, with English and Latin names, rs. 6¢. Improved Pocket Pupa-Digger in leather sheath, rs. 9¢. Taxidermists’ Companion, contain- ing most necessary implements for skinning, ros. 6d. ; Scalpels, with ebony handles, rs. 3¢@.; Fine Pointed Scissors, 2s. per pair; Egg Drills 2¢., 3d., ts.; Brass Blowpipes, 4¢., 6d. A large stock of British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Birds’ Eggs —Entomological Pins of every kind.—Benzoline and Oil Lanterns for sugaring, &c. (mew and improved pattern), 2s. 6d. and 5s. each. A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS AND BIRDS' EGGS. . Cabinets.—Special Show Room. For Particulars and Measurements see our Catalogue (66 pp.), which will be sent post free on application. Birds, Mammals, &*c., Preserved and Mounted by First-class Workmen. 36 STRAND, LONDON W.C. (Five doors from Charing Cross.) COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS, ROCKS, OR FOSSILS, For the Use of Students, Science Teachers, Prospectors, &c., and to Illustrate the leading Text-books, in Boxes, with Trays. 50 Specimens, 10s. 6d.; 100 do., 21s.; 200 do., 42s, New Price List of Minerals, Rocks, and Stratigraphical Series of Fossils, Post Free. ROCK SECTIONS for the MICROSCOPE, from rs. 6d. each, Post Free CaTaLoGuEs GRATIS. CABINETS, GLASS-CAPPED BOXES, TRAYS, HAMMERS, &c., always in stock. THOMAS D. RUSSEEE 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. | F. ‘H. BUTLER, M.A. Oxon., Assoc. R. 8. Mines, NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON. | Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite, Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art:—2zo0 Typical Rocks (about 3” x 4”), 20s.; 16 Types of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6@. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms Chalk-Grains, Re- crystallized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6@. each set, Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Palzontology. On Sale, british Birds, their Eggs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. ‘ GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY. COLLECTIONS AND MICROSCOPIC SLIDES. New Catalogues of Minerals, &c., now ready. Collections of Specimens— Minerals, Fossils, and Rocks. Minerals for Chemical Work, &c. Physiography Collections. Geological Apparatus and Appliances. New Supplementary List of Microscopic Sections. List of Rock Specimens. ie Geological Hammers. > Cabinets. " Meteorites. . Catalogue of Minerals for selecting single Specimens, price 2d. JAMES R. GREGORY & CO. STORES AND OFFICES: 1 KELSO PLACE, KENSINGTON, W, A WEEKLY ILLUSERALED: JOURNAE FOP TSCHENGE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind 7% which builds —WOoRDSWORTH. oa = oF jor aye. No. 1419, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] [All Rights are Reserved. PEW Tune X-RAY CURRENT METER. | The principal difficulty in X-Ray photography has been to judge the length of This can easily be using an X-Ray Current Meter. The arrange- ment answers the purpose admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- produced from day to day. and the voltage being con- stant, the number of amperes, on which the rapidity of ex- posure then entirely depends, can be varied as desired and adjusted to the greatest nicety by the tension screw : of the coil. “x” Rav Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. Sore MAKERS: NEWwWTron s& CO. 3 PRM teSEREET, LONDON. List of Apps-Newton Induction Corts and Apparatus Post Free on applicati e xposure. done by HEWTON SCP Longon A\-Ray NALDER BROS. & CO. LONDON. _ N. CG. S. THOMSON REFLECTING GALVANOMETER. &000 OHMS RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE £939 10 O Write for CATALOGUES. Cable Address: SECOHM, LONDON. No Agents in U.S.A. This instrument delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for 60 C.0.D. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. Ser A. Including 3-inch Coil, our own make Batteries, Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cy anide Screen, 7 in. X 5 in. £13 0 0 Ser B. Including Ganch Goil: Batteries, Lars rer ; Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium- Platino- Cyanide Screen, of in. x 7in. £23 10 0 BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLUORESCENCE, in neat Frames with Handles. 7 in. X 5 in., 21S.; of in. X 7 in., 325- 6d. 3 11} in. X gf in., 555. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. - Naan & ZAMBRA’S THERMOMETERS. The outside Window Bracket Thermometer enables the observer to read the Present Temperature from inside the House. PRICE 2l/- and upwards. Accurigté Thermometers for all Purposes. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LISTS FREE TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD- NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to Her Majesty the Queen and British and Foreign Governments, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. BRANCHES— 45 Cornhill, and 122 Regent Street, London. Crystal Palace. Photographic Studios : NATURE [JANUARY 7, 1897 Government Grant of £4000 to defray the Expenses of Scientific Investigation. January 3r is the last day for receiving Appl ons. Forms may be obtained from the CLERK to the Government Grant Committee, Royal Society, Burlington House, London. BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, BURLINGTON HOUSE, LONDON, W. The NEXT ANNUAL MEETING of the ASSOCIATION will be held at TORONTO, CANADA, commencing on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1897. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Sir JOHN EVANS, K.C.B., D.C.L., Treasurer of the Royal Society. Information about local arrangements may be obtained from the SEcRE- TARIES, Toronto, or at the London Office. G. GRIFFITH, Assistant General Secretary. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Miss EMILY PENROSE. SESSION 1896-7. The LENT TERM will BEGIN on THURSDAY, JANUARY 14. Courses in preparation for all the Examinations in the Faculties of Arts and Science held by the University of London. Special Course of Scientific Instruction in Hygiene and Public Health. Lectures in all branches of Higher Education. Six Laboratories open to Students for Practical Work. Art School open from ro to 4. Students can reside in the College. LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary, “THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principac—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sz., M.I.E.E. Senior-Instrucror—C. CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and ‘Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering ; Cooper’ s Hill and the Central Institution. Principal : CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. JUNIOR ASSISTANT in the Art Branch of the South Kensington Museum (18-25), January 28. The date specified is the latest at which Applic ations can be received. They must be made on Forms to be obtained, with particulars, from the SECRETARY, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W. THE TEACHERS’ GUILD, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. - KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON. GEOLOGY. Prof. SEELEY, F.R.S., will resume his Evening Lectures in the Faculty of Science, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, beginning January 21, 1897. Further particulars at the Office of the College. WALTER SMITH, Secretary. TRAVELLER’S ALTAZIMUTH (CASELLA’S).—Altitude Instrument, Optical Compass, Clinometer, and wie) ing one Instrument; perfect condition. Cost £6 6s. ; half- price. — Conservative Club, Gloucester. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clien s’ own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. Aj MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. | ALFRED JORGENSEN’S LABORATORY FOR THE PHYSIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY OF FERMENTATION. COPENHAGEN, V. (Esraz.isHED 1881.) STUDENTS’ SESSIONS.—Courses of Instruction in the Physio- logy and Technology of Fermentation for Beginners and Ad- vanced Students, with particular regard to HANSEN’s System for the Pure Cultivation and Analysis of Yeast and the applica- tion of selected pure Yeast types in practice. (x) Mould-fungi. (2) Forms of Transition between Mould-fungi and Saccharomyces Yeast-fungi. (3) Yeast-fungi: Culture Yeast Types, Wild Yeasts, Disease Yeast. (4) Fermentation Bacteria. (5) Preparation of absolutely pure Cultures of Yeast-fungi. (6) Preparation of Cultures on a large scale. (7) Comparative Experiments with Mass Culture, and Instruc- tion in their Use in Practice (in Breweries, Distilleries, Wine Fermentation, &c.). (8) Supervision of Fermentation Establishments. (9) Preservation of Selected Types of Yeast. (10) Instruction in the Use of Yeast Propagating Machines. The English, French, Danish and German languages are used in the instruction. The Laboratory possesses a numerous collection of Culture-Yeast Types (for Breweries, Distilleries, Grape Wine, Fruit Wine), Wild Yeasts (Disease Yeast), and Fermentation Bacteria, all of which are supplied for use in Laboratories and in practice. Manuals of Instruction :—Alfred Jérgensen : ‘‘ Micro-Organismsand Fer- mentation,’ new edition, 1893 (published by F. W. Lyon, Eastcheap Buildings, London). French Edition (Société d’Editions Scientifiques, ete? 1894). Third German Edition (P. Parey, Berlin, 1892). . Chr, Hansen ; ‘Practical Studies in Fermentation (Contributions to See L ife- history of Micro-Organisms)”’ (E. F. Spon, London, 1895). French Résumé in the “‘ Comptes rendus du Laboratoire de Carlsberg” (Hagerup, Copenhagen). German Edition (R. Oldenbourg, Munich, 18g0-1895)) Prospectus gratis on application. The Laboratory has up to this day been frequented by 380 Students from all countries, among them by 41 English and American Students. _ MINERALS, FOSSILS, ROCKS. COLLECTIONS OF THIN SLICES FOR PRACTI- CAL MICROSCOPIC PETROGRAPHICAL STUDY. These Collections contain thin Slices of all of the more important Types of Rocks, as mentioned in the latest edition of the ‘‘ Microscopic Physiography of Rocks,” by H. Rosenbusch (Stuttgart, 1896). Toeach one will be added a printed short description of all the Speci- mens and Slices, in order that the student himself might be able to recognise and determine the constituents of the Rock. Collections of 120, 180, and 250 Thin Slices. Price, in Elegant Cases, £7 1os., £11 5S., £16 5S., respectively. The same Collections, inclusive of the Specimens (size, 34 x 44 inches), £12 1os., £19 10s., £28 158., re- spectively. As all thin Slices will be microscopically examined before being delivered, we can guarantee their perfect reliability, and that they exhibit all the characteristics of the rocks, as mentioned in the above-named description. Dr. VR Ke ACN az Bonn on Rhine, Rhenish Mineral Office. ESTABLISHED 1833. (Represented by Messrs. HARRINGTON Bros., Oliver’s Yard, 53A oy Road, Lowes: E.C. ; and Cork, Ireland. We WATKINS & DONCASTER, NATURALISTS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF ENTOMOLOGICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC APPLIANCES AND CABINETS. Plain Ring Nets, wire or cane, including Stick, rs. 3d., 2s., 2s.,6d. Fold- ing Nets, 3s. 6d., 4s. Pocket Boxes, 6d., od@., 15., 15. 6d. "Zine relaxing Boxes, od., 1s., 18. 6d., 2s. Store Boxes, 2s. 6d., 4s., 5s., 6s. Setting Boards, flat or oval, from 5d. to rs, 8d. Setting Houses, gs. 6d., 115. 6d., 145. Breeding Cage, 2s. 6d., 48-, 55., 75. 6d. Botanical Cases, japanned double tin, 1s. 6d., 2s. 9d., 35. 6d., 45. 6d., 7s. 6d. Botanical Paper, from 1s. 1d. to 2s. 2d. per quire. Insect Cases, 2s. 6d. to 11s. Forceps for removing Insects, 1s, 6d., 28., 28. 6d. per pair. Cabinet Cork, 7 by 34, rs., 1s. 4d. per doz. Nested Willow- chip Boxes, 4 doz. 8¢.—Our new Label List of British Micro-lepidoptera, with English and Latin names, rs. 6¢. Improved Pocket Pupa-Digger in leather sheath, rs. 9¢. Taxidermists’ Companion, contain- ing most necessary implements. for skinning, ros. 6d. ; Scalpels, with ebony handles, 1s. 3@.; Fine Pointed Scissors, 2s. per pair; Egg Drills 2d., 3., ts.; Brass Blowpipes, 4d., 6d. A large stock of British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Birds’ Eggs —Entomological Pins of every kind.—Benzoline and Oil Lanterns for sugaring, &c. (mew and improved pattern), 2s. 6d. and 5s. each. A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS AND BIRDS’. EGGS. Cabinets.—Special Show Room. For Particulars and Measurements see our Catalogue (66 pp.), which will be sent post free on application. Birds, Mammals, &c., Preserved and Mounted by First-class Workmen. 36 STRAND, LONDON W.C. (Five doors from Charing Cross.) A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “©To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH. No. 1420, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved. NEWTONIAN X-RAY CURRENT METER. oa principal difficulty in - Ray photography has aA to judge the length of exposure. This can easily be done “by using an X-Ray Current Meter. The arrange- ment answers the purpose admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- produced from day to day, and the voltage being con- stant, the number of amperes, on which the rapidity of ex- can be varied as desired and adjusted to the greatest of the coil. *““X%” Ray Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. So_e Makers: NEWTON & CO. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. List of Apps-Newton Induction Coils and X-Ray Apparatus Post Free on application. BECK'S MICROSCOPES. No. 25a. —THIS MODEL, with I-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £6 10s. . 258. THIS MODEL, with 3-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. 29B.—The addition of Abbe Condenser to 25B with Iris Diaphragm and Focussing and Swinging Adjustments, £8 15s. FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J, BECK, LT0., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, E.¢. No. STAND No. 25. posure then entirely depends, | nicety by the tension screw | RIPPON ASTRONOMICAL. TELESCOPE. With 3-inch Achromatic Object-Glass of excellent quality, with brass body, one ‘Terrestrial and two Celestial Eyepieces, in Case complete... Guaranteed to be capable of dividing Double Stars and showing Saturn's ‘Ring and Jupiter's Belts, Price £6 10s. Od. Catalogue of Astronomical Telescopes sent Free. - JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C. “NBGRETT! & ZAMBRA’S THERMOMETERS. The outside Window Bracket Thermometer enables the observer to read the Present Temperature from inside the House. PRICE 21/- and upwards, Accurate Thermometers for all Purposes. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LISTS FREE TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. NEGRETTI. & ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to Her Majesty the Queen and British and Foreign Governments, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. BRANCHES— 45 Cornhill, and 122 Regent Street, London. Crystal Palace. Photographic Studios : Ixxxll NATURE [JANuaky 14, 1897 THE DAVY FARADAY RESEARCH LABORATORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. DIRECTORS: The Right Hon. LORD RAYLEIGH, M.A., IBIERID ES 1S IRS Prof. DEWAR, M.A-, LEL.D., F.R.S. SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LABORATORY: Dr. ALEXANDER SCOTT, M.A., D.Sc. This Laboratory, which has been founded by Dr. Ludwig Mond, F.R.S., a Memorial of Davy and Faraday, ‘‘for the purpose of promoting arch in Pure and Physical Chemistry,” DiGaee as original re January 18 Under the Deed of Trust, workers in the Laboratory are entitled, free of charge, to Gas, Electricity and Water, as far as available, and, at the dis- cretion of the Directors, to the use of the apparatus belonging to the Laboratory, together with such materials and chemicals as may be authorised. All persons desiring to be admitted as workers, must send evidence of scientific training, qualification, and previous experience in original research, along with a statement propose to undertake. Further information, together with forms of appli- cation, can be had from the AssIsTANT SECRETARY, Royal Institution. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. gee next (January 19) at Three o'clock, Prof. A. D. WALLER M.D., F.R.S., Fullerian Professor of Physiology. First of Twelve Lectures on ‘Animal Slectricity."" One Guinea the Course. THURSDAY (January 21), at Three o'clock. Prof. Henry Mgrs, M.A., F.R.S. First of Three Lectures on ‘‘Some Secrets of Crystals.” Half-a-Guinea SATURDAY (January Esq. First of Three Lectures on posers.’ (With Vocal Illustrations.) Half-a-Guinea Subscription to all the Courses in the Season, Two Guineas. FRIDAY EVENING (January 22), Nine o'clock, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., on ‘Properties of Liquid Oxygen.” Meetings Members and their friends only are admitted. 23), at Three o'clock. Cart ARMBRUSTER, To these CENTRAL WELSH BOARD FOR INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION. The Executive Committee of the Board are prepared to receive Applications for the post of CHIEF INSPECTOR. Commencing Salary, £600 per Annum, exclusive of Travelling Expenses. Applications must be received on or before the 9th day of February next by the undersigned, from whom full particulars, with copies of the Scheme, may be obtained. A. C. HUMPHREYS-OWEN (Chairman), Glansevern, Berriew, Montgomeryshire. January 9, 1897. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Principal: Miss EMILY PENROSE. SESSION 1896-7. The LENT TERM will BEGIN on THURSDAY, JANUARY 14. Courses in preparation for all the Examinations in the Faculties of Arts and Science held by the University of London. Special Course of Scientific Instruction in Hygiene and Public Health. Lectures in all branches of Higher Education. Students for Practical Work. ceside in the College. Six Laboratories open to Art School open from ro to 4. Students can LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. will be open on | of the nature of the investigation they | “* Neglected Italian and French Com- | Prof. Dewar, | Sales by Huction. | FRIDAY, JANUARY 15s. | SEVERAL VALUABLE MICROSCOPES BY LEADING MAKERS. | A NUMBER OF EXPENSIVE OBJECTIVES, AND VARIOUS MICROSCOPIC APPARATUS, SLIDES IN CABINETS, &c. MR. J.C. STEVENS will include the above in his SALE by AUCTION at his Great Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, on FRIDAY, JANUARY 15. MONDAY, JANUARY 25. COLLECTION OF NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMENS. MR. J. C. STEVENS will Sell the above by Auction at his Great Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, on MONDAY, JANUARY 2s, at Half-past Twelve precisely. On view Saturday prior, r2 to 4, and Morning of Sale, and Catalogues had, CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. JUNIOR ASSISTANT in the Art Branch of the South Kensington Museum ( , January 28. The date specified is the latest at which Applications can be received. They must be made on Forms to be | obtained, with particulars, from the SecreTary, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W. THE TEACHERS’ GUMS: 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. | “*NATURE” WANTED; Posted regularly of issue. Half-price offered —H. H. Ropyouns, North Wales. A GENERAL within one week County School, Pwllheli, OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, ptical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients’ own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros. !}, 56 Core Road, els oes London, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. SHEL S Free. COLLECTIONS OF MINERALS, ROCKS, OR FOSSILS, For the Use of Students, Science Teachers, Prospectors, &c., and to Illustrate the leading Text-books, in Boxes, with Trays. 5O Specimens, 10s. 6d.; 100 do., 21s.; 200 do., 42s, New Price List of Minerals, Rocks, and Stratigraphical Series of Fossils, Post Free. ROCK SECTIONS for the MICROSCOPE, from rs. 6¢. each, Post Free CaTaLoGuEs GRATIS. CABINETS, GLASS-CAPPED BOXES, TRAYS, HAMMERS, &c., always in stock. THOMAS Q ) Db. RUSSEBEE 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. a H. BUTLER, M.A. oan. kuoe R. 8. Mines, NATURAL ‘HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON. Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite, Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, i in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art :—20 Ty, pical Rocks (about 3” x 4%, 20s.; 16 Types of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6¢. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms, Chalk-Grains, Re- crystallized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6d. each set. Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Palzontology. OnsSale, British Birds, their Eggs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. Pee Wi K LY . To ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —Woxpswortu. No. 1421, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved. NEWTONIAN X-RAY CURRENT METER. Gone principal difficulty in -Ray photography has Nea to judge the length of exposure. This can easily be done by using an X-Ray Current Meter. The arrange- ment answers the purpose admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- produced from day to day, and the voltage being con- stant, the number of amperes, on which the rapidity of ex- posure then entirely depends, can be varied as desired and adjusted to the greatest nicety by the tension screw of the coil. ““X” Rav Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. SOLE Makers: NEWB TON & CO. 5 Peis D REET, LONDON: List of Apps-Newton Induction Coils and X-Ray Apparatus Post Free on application. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. IEWTON & 0 LonpoN AuroRcs Ser A. Including 3-inch Coil, our own make, Batteries, Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, 7in. X 5 in. £13 0 0 SET Be. Tacleanie 6-inch Coil, Batteries, ‘Larger Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium- Platino- Cyanide Screen, 9f in. x 7in. £23 10 O {BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLUORESCEN CE, in neat ae with Handles. 7 in. X 5 in,, 21s. 3 Of in. X 7 in., 32s. 6a. ; 11f in. X Ofin., 555. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. NALDER BROS. & GO., tonoon. D'ARSONVAL GALVANOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. Write for CATALOGUES. D'ARSONVAL CALVANOMETER (As illustrated). VERY PORTABLE. SENSITIVE. IN STOCK. £5 00 NO AGENTS IN U.S.A. pBeRET & ZAMBRA'S THERMOMETERS, The outside Window Bracket Thermometer enables the observer to read the Present Temperature from inside the House. PRICE 21/- and upwards. Accurate Thermometers for al/ Purposes. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LISTS FREE TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD- NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to Her Majesty the Queen and British and Foreign Governments, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. BRANCHES— 45 Cornhill, and 122 Regent Street, London. Photographic Studios : Crystal Palace, MEAT R L: [ JANUARY 21, 1897 CENTRAL WELSH BOARD FOR INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION. The Executive Committee of the Board are prepared to receive Applications for the post of CHIEF INSPECTOR. Commencing Salary, £600 per Annum, exclusive of Travelling Expenses. Applications must be received on or before the 9th day of February next by the undersigned, from whom full particulars, with copies of the Scheme, may be obtained. A. C. HUMPHREYS-OWEN (Chairman), Glansevern, Berriew, Montgomeryshire. January 9, 1897. THE DAVY FARADAY RESEARCH LABORATORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. DIRECTORS: The Right Hon. LORD RAYLEIGH, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D!) FR. S: Prof. DEWAR, M.A., LL.D:, BaR«S: SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LABORATORY: Dr. ALEXANDER SCOTT, M.A., D.Sc. This Laboratory, which has been founded by Dr. Ludwig Mond, F.RS., | as a Memorial of Davy and Faraday, ‘“‘for the purpose of promoting | original research in Pure and Physical Chemistry,” is now open. Under the Deed of Trust, workers in the Laboratory are entitled, free of charge, to Gas, Electricity and Water, as far as available, and, at the dis- cretion of the Directors, to the use of the apparatus belonging to the Laboratory, together with such materials and chemicals as may be authorised. All persons desiring to be admitted as workers, must send evidence of scientific training, qualification, and previous experience in original research, along with a statement of the nature of the investigation they propose to undertake. Further information, together with forms of appli- cation, can be had from the Assistant SECRETARY, Royal Institution. KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON. BACTERIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. Director—Professor CRoOKSHANK. Demonstrator—G. Newman, M.D., D.P.H. EVENING CLASS. An Evening Class of Lectures and Practical Laboratory Instruction for Medical Practitioners, Veterinary Surgeons, Analysts, &c., is held on Monday Evenings, at 7 p.m. (Fee, £3 3s.). Early application to Dk. NEwMan for admission is desirable. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HUUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. ; Principac—G. W. bE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senror-Instrucror—C. CAPITO, M.1.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. DRAUGHTSMAN in the Hydrographical Department of the Admiralty (17-25), -February 17. Expertness in Hydrographical Chart Drawing essential. The date specified is the latest at which applications can be received. They must be made on forms to be obtained, with particulars, from the SEcRETARY, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. JUNIOR ASSISTANT in the Art Branch of the South Kensington Museum (18-25), January 28. The date specified is the latest at which Applications can be received. They must be made on Forms to be obtained, with particulars, from the SEcRETARY, Civil Service Commission, London, S W. THE TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL DINNER of the Old Students of the Royal School of Mines will be held at 7 o'clock on TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1897, at the Criterion Restaurant. The Chair will be taken by T. K. Ross, Esq., D.Sc., Assoc.R.S.M., of the Royal Mint. Tickets, 7s. 6d. each, may be obtained from the Hon. Secretary, H. G. Graves, 5 Robert Street, Adelphi, W.C. THE DE AC oR 'S .GiUpeeD: 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. GROWING CHILDREN, AND DIS- ORDERS OF DEVELOPMENT. By T. W. NUNN, F.R.C.S. Consulting Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital, &e. London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. Price Two Shillings. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis China Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W: wi, LIVING SPECIMENS FOR: THE MICROSCOPE. Volvox, Spirogyra, Desmids, Diatoms, Amceba, Arcella, Actinosphzrium, Vorticella, Stentor, Hydra, Floscularia, Stephanoceros, Melicerta, and many other Specimens of Pond Life. Price 1s. per Tube, Post Free. Helix pomatia, Astacus, Amphioxus, Rana, Anodon, &c., for Dissection purposes, THOMAS BOLTON, 25 BALSALL HEATH ROAD, BIRMINGHAM. MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE LABORATORY, PLYMOUTH. The following animals can always be supplied, either living or preserved by the best methods :— Sycon ; Clava, Obelia, Sertularia; Actinia, Tealia, Caryophyllia, Alcy- onium ; Hormiphora (preserved) ; Leptoplana ; Lineus, Amphiporus ; Nereis, Aphrodite, Arenicola, Lanice, Terebella; Lepas, Balanus, Gammarus, Ligia, Mysis, Nebalia, Carcinus; Patella, Buccinum, Eledone, Pectens, Bugula, Crisia, Pedicellina; Hclothuria, Asterias, Echinus ; Ascidia, Salpa (preserved), Scyllium, Raia, &e., &c. For prices and more detailed lists apply to Biological Laboratory, Plymouth. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. THE DIRECTOR. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid & Of Nature trusts the mind which butids for aye. yound ”__WORDSWORTH, No. 1422, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 7 lSOz7s [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] ah [All Rights are Reserved. NEWTONIAN X-RAY CURRENT METER. | ee principal difficulty in -Ray photography has ans to judge the length of exposure. This can easily be done by using an X-Ray Current Meter. The arrange- ment answers the purpose admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- produced from day to day, and. the. voltage being con- IEWTON & C2 Lonoon “erent on which the rapidity of ex- posure then entirely depends, can be yaried as desired and adjusted to the greatest nicety by the tension screw of the coil. stant, the number ofamperes, | | RIPPON = _— ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE, ““X* Ray Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- | With 3-inch Achromatic Object-Glass of excellent quality, with brass body, meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. SoLreE Makers: NEW$BTFON & CO. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. List of Apps-Newton Induction Coils and X-Ray Apparatus Post Free on application. Warr. mea BECK Ae. pon Dow AY, Y i if should de without a free on application. R.& J. BECK, Ltd., 68 Cornhill, London, E.C. one Terrestrial and two Celestial Eyepieces, in Case complete. Guaranteed | to be capable of dividing Double Stars and showing Saturn's Ring | Jupiter's Belts, and Price £6 10s. Od. Catalogue of Astronomical Telescopes sent Free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C. No Scientific Man | ‘NEGRETT & ZAMBRA’S THERMOMETERS. The outside Window Bracket Thermometer enables the observer to read the Present Temperature from inside the House. PRICE 21/- and upwards, Accurate Thermometers for al/ Purposes. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LISTS FREE TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD- Full particulars | | | | NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to Her Majesty the Queen and British and Foreign Governments, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. BRANCHES— Hf ll 45 Cornhill, and 122 Regent Street, London. Photographic Studios : Crystal Palace. xeviil NATURE [JANUARY 28, 1897 KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON. BACTERIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. Director—Professor CROOKSHANK. Demonstrator—G. NEwMan, M.D., D.P.H. EVENING CLASS. An Evening Class of Lectures and Practical Laboratory Instruction for Vedical Practitioners, Veterinary Surgeons, Analysts, &c., isheld on Monday Evenings, at 7 p.m. (Fee, £3 3s.). f Early application to Dr. NEWMAN for admission is desirable. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Principal—MISS EMILY PENROSE. LENT TERM SESSION 1856-97. The Half-Term will begin on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22. LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. DRAUGHTSMAN in the Hydrographical Department of the Admiralty (17-25), February 17. Expertness in Hydrographical Chart Drawing €ssential. a The date specified is the latest at which applications can be received. They must be made on forms to be obtained, with particulars, from the SECRETARY, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W. THE TEACHERS’ GUILD, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. Aj ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis China Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. TO SCIENCE LECTURERS. THE CINEMATOGRAPH FOR LIVING PHOTOGRAPHS. See Mr. HUGHES'S PATENT COMBINATION OPTICAL LANTERN, used by late W, LAnT-CARPENTER, Esq., Prof. ForBes, &c. Miniature Triple Lantern constructed for B. J. MALDEN, Esq.; great success. New Oxyhydrogen Microscope. Science Lanterns for Class Demonstration. Magnificent Results. Docwra Triple, Prize Medal, Highest Award. Supplied to the Royal Polytechnic Institution, Dr. H. Grat- TAN GuiINNess, Madame ApELINA Parti, &c., &c. Patent Pamphengos Science Lanterns. The Universal Lantern 4-inch Condensers, 4-wick Lamp, Portrait Combination front Lenses, 18s. 6¢., Marvellous value. Science Lecture Sets. Novelties. Outfits in the World. MANUFACTURER OF ‘ ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. THE ART OF PROJECTION, AND COMPLETE MAGIC LANTERN MANUAL, by an Expert. Over tco fine Illus- trations, with Priceless Wrinkles in all Branches of Optical ‘Projection. Never before published. How to choose, what to avoid, and how to use Oil, Limelight, Dissulving Electric, Opaque, Microscopic, and Polarising Lanterns, Slide M g and Painting, Enlarging, Register- ing, &c.. &c. Prof. MALDEN says :—‘‘A thoroughly practical work, and should be studied by the experienced operator and amateur alike.” A complete vade mecum of Optical Lantern Manipulations. Price, bound in Cloth, 3s. 6d. ; Postage, sd. Worthits weight in gold. Send for Opinions of the Scientific Press to Mr. HUGHES, Brewster House, Mortimer Road, Kingsland, North London. WATKINS & DONCASTER, NATURALISTS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF ENTOMOLOGICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC APPLIANCES AND CABINETS. Plain Ring Nets, wire or cane, including Stick, rs. 3d., 25., 2s. 6d. Fold- ing Nets, 3s. 6d., 4s. Pocket Boxes, 6d., g@., 15., 1s. 6a. Zinc relaxing Boxes, gd., 18., 1s. 6d., 2s. Store Boxes, as. 6d., 45., 55-, 6s. Setting Boards, flat or oval, from 5d. to 1s. 8d. Setting Houses, 9s. 6d., 11s. 6¢., 145. Breeding Cage, 2s. 6d., 4s., 5s., 7s. 6d. Botanical Cases, japanned double tin, rs. 6d., 25. g@., 3s. 6d., 4s. 6d., 7s. 62. Botanical Paper, from 1s. 1d. to 2s. 2d. per quire. Insect Cases, 2s. 6d. to 11s. Forceps for removing Insects, 1s. 6d¢., 28., 2s. 6d. per pair. Cabinet Cork, 7 by 34, 1s., 1s. 4d. per doz. Nested Willow-chip Boxes, 4 doz. 8¢.—Our new Label List of British Micro-lepidoptera, with English and Latin names, 1s. 6¢. Improved Pocket Pupa-Digger in leather sheath, 1s. 9¢. Taxidermists’ Companion, contain- ing most necessary implements for skinning, ros. 6d. ; Scalpels, with ebony handles, rs. 3¢.; Fine Pointed Scissors, 2s. per pair; Egg Drills 2d., 3¢., 1s.; Brass Blowpipes, 4d., 6d. A large stock of British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Birds’ Eggs —Entomological Pins of every kind.—Benzoline and Oil Lanterns for sugaring, &c. (new and improved pattern), 2s. 6d. and 5s. each. A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS AND BIRDS’ EGGS. Cabinets.—Special Show Room. For Particulars and Measurements see our Catalogue (66 pp.), which will be sent post free on application, Birds, Mammats, &c., Preserved and Mounted by First-class Workmen., 36 STRAND LONDON: W.C. (Five doors from Charing Cross.) MINERALS OF SPECIAL INTEREST AND BEAUTY. Transparent and White Calcites in attractive Crystal groups ; Baryta Crystals in many Colours—White, Brown, Blue, and Golden-brown, with phantom enclosures; Specular Iron in brilliant Crystals; Pink Rubelite in Lepidolite ; Red Quartz in small but vividly attractive specimens ; Native Arsenic Crystals from Japan; Senarmontite from Algeria, &c. Spectal Mineral List Post Free. Collections to Illustrate Geology and Physiography. THOMAS DBD, RUSS Eee 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. ia H. BUTLE R, M.A. oxea Assoc. R. 8. Mines, NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON. Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite, Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art:—zo Typical Rocks (about 3” x 4”), 20s.; 16 Types of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6¢. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms, Chalk-Grains, Re- crystallized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6d. each set. Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Palzontology. On>Sale, British Birds, their Eggs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. LIVING SPECIMENS FOR THE MICROSCOPE. Volvox, Spirogyra, Desmids, Diatoms, Amoeba, Arcella, Actinospherium, Vorticella, Stentor, Hydra, Floscularia, Stephanoceros, Melicerta, and many other Specimens of Pond Life. Price 1s. per Tube, Post Free. Helix pomatia, Astacus, Amphioxus, Rana, Anodon, &c., for Dissection purposes. THOMAS BOLTON, 25 BALSALL HEATH ROAD, BIRMINGHAM. MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. THE LABORATORY, PLYMOUTH. The following animals can always be supplied, either living or preserved by the best methods :— Sycon ; Clava, Obelia, Sertularia; Actinia, Tealia, Caryophyllia, Alcy- onium ; Hormiphora (preserved) ; Leptoplana ; Lineus, Amphiporus ; Nereis, Aphrodite, Arenicola, Lanice, Terebella; Lepas, Balanus, Gammarus, Ligia, Mysis, Nebalia, Carcinus; Patella, Buccinum, Eledone, Pectens, Bugula, Crisia, Pedicellina; Hclothuria, Asterias, Echinus; Ascidia, Salpa (preserved), Scyllium, Raia, &c., &c. For prices and more detailed lists apply to Biological Laboratory, Plymouth. THE DIRECTOR. INVEEKLY ILLUSDRALED! JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, “© To the solid g Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” round —WORDSWORTH. ‘No. 1423, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. [—= Registered asa Newspaper at the General Post Office.] [All Rights are Reserved. NEWTONIAN X-RAY CURRENT METER. The principal difficulty in | X-Ray photography has | been to judge the length of | exposure. This can easily be done by using an X-Ray | Current Meter. Thearrange- | ment answers the purpose | admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- | produced from day to day, | and the voltage being con- | stant, the number of amperes, | on which the rapidity of ex- posure then entirely depends, | can be varied as desired and adjusted to the greatest nicety by the tension screw | of the coil. “Xx” Ray Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. SoLE MAKers: NEWwTronw s& CO. 5, FLERE ET, L ONDON. List of Apps-Newton Induction Coils and X-Ray Apparatus Post Free on application. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. Ser A. Including 3-inch Coil, our own make, Batteries, Focus ube, Tube 7in. X 5 in. . £13 0 0 Ser 7. Taiciaive 6-inch Coil, Batteries, “Larg rer r Focus Tube, Tube Holder, Barium-Platino- Cyanide Screen, 9} in. x 7in. £23 10 0 BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLUORESCENCE, in neat Frames with Handles. Holder, Barium-Platino- ce anide Screen, 7 in. X'5 in., 2ts.; of in. X 7 in., 325. 6d. ; 11} in. X g}in., 555. JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, LE: (22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.-C. NALDER BROS. & CO. LONDON. N. C. S. TELOMSon REFLECTING GALVANOMETER. 5000 OHMS RESISTANCE. VERY SENSITIVE. PRICE LS 10 O Write for CATALOGUES. Cable Address: SECOHM, LONDON. No Agents in U.S.A. This instrument delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $60 C.0.D. pene & ZAMBRA’S THERMOMETERS. The outside Window Bracket Thermometer enables the observer to read the Present Temperature from inside the House. PRICE 2lI/- and upwards, Accurate Thermometers for all Purposes. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LISTS FREE TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD- NEGRETTI & -ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to Her Majesty the Queen and British and Foreign Governments, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. BRANCHES— 45 Cornhill, and 122 Regent Street, London. Photographic Studios : Crystal Palace. cvi ad ORE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. THURSDAY next (February 11), at Three o'clock, J. W. Grecory, Esq., D.Sc. First of Three Lectures on “The Problems of Arctic Geology. Half-a-Guinea the Course. SATURDAY (February 13), at Three o'clock, WALTER FrRewen Lorp, Esq. First of a Course of Three Lectures on ‘* The Growth of the Medi- terranean Route to the East.” Half-a-Guinea. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. DRAUGHTSMAN in the Hydrographical Department of the Admiralty (17-25), February 17. Expertness in Hydrographical Chart Drawing essential. The date specified is the latest at which applications can be received. They must be made fon forms to be obtained, with particulars, from the SECRETARY, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. The Course of Instruction in ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY for Students preparing for the Prel. Sci. and Int. Sci, Examinations at the University of London begins on February 16, 1897. J. M. HORSBURGH, M.A., Secretary. THE Ty EACH ERS] G Ue Dp, 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. ASSISTANT MASTER FOR MATHE- MATICS and SCIENCE Required for next Term in a Grammar School near London. Salary, 4250. Graduate with experience, and not over 30.—For Particulars of Agency Department of Assistant Masters’ Association, apply to the Assistant Secretary, BE. A. Virco, Esq., 12, Westland’s Road, Clapham Park, S.W. VICTORIA UNIVERSITY. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. Applications will be received up to March 15 for the Appointment of DEMONSTRATOR of PHYSIOLOGY. Salary, £150. Particulars may be obtained from the COLLEGE SECRETARY. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HUUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. Principat—G. W. p—E TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senior-INstructorR—C. CAPITO, M.1.E.E., M.I.M E. | Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. ‘ The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. AND BEAUTY. Transparent and White Calcites in attractive Crystal groups; | Baryta Crystals in many Colours—White, Brown, Blue, and Golden-brown, with phantom enclosures; Specular Iron in brilliant Crystals; Pink Rubelite in Lepidolite ; Red Quartz in small but vividly attractive specimens ; Native Arsenic Crystals | from Japan; Senarmontite from Algeria, &c. | Special Mineral List Post Free. Collections to Illustrate Geology and Physiography. THOMAS D. RUSSELE,; | SPEAKING WITHOUT NOTES, 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. Manufacturer of every description of CONJURING APPARATUS AND MECHANICAL NOVELTIES Tricks and Illusions for Theatre} Marionettes, Guignols, Automaton; | Juggling Apparatus, &c. | 39 RUE DE TREVISE 3% PARIS. Catalogue in English, Post Free, 24d. Lar¢ Catalogue in French, 120 pp., Post Free, rs. | The “ AMBER, | FOR HAND OR STAND } eal From £5 38s. 6d, ! illustrated Catalogi Free. THORNTON-PICKARL Ltp., ALTRINCHAM. | } = H. BUTLER, M.A. Oxon., Assoc. R. S. Minee| NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON. Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Object of Scientific Interest. | The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, Nagyagite Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Scienc: and Art:—2o Typical Rocks (about 3” x 4”), 20s.; 16 Types of Roc} Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6@. Case of 12 Micro-slide of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms, Chalk-Grains, Re crystallized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6a. each set Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Palzontology. On Sale British Birds, thety Eggs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY. COLLECTIONS AND MICROSCOPIC SLIDES. New Catalogues of Minerals, &c., now ready. Collections of Specimens— Minerals, Fossils, and Rocks. Minerals for Chemical Work, &c. Physiography Collections. Geological Apparatus and Appliances. New Supplementary List of Microscopic Sections. List of Rock Specimens. Geological Hammers. Cabinets. 5 Meteorites. Catalogue of Minerals for selecting single Specimens, price 2d. JAMES R. GREGORY & CO. STORES AND OFFICES: 1 KELSO PLACE, KENSINGTON, W. ” ” PROF. A, LOISETTE’S ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY SYSTEM. The last, most complete and perfect edition, MIND WANDERING CURED. Indispensable in Preparing for Examinations. Handsomely bound, with portrait and autograph. Price $2.50 Americans ros. 6@. English. Prospectus with opinions of Edueators, Scientific, Professional, and Business Men all over the world FREE. Address, A. LOISETTE, 237 Fifth Avenue, New York, or 200 Regent Street, London. Not sold elsewhere. A WEEKLY [LEUSDRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ‘To the solid gr Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” ound —WORDSWORTH. No. 1424, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] [All Rights are Reserved. NEWTONIAN X-RAY CURRENT METER. The principal difficulty in X - Ray exposure. This can easily be done by using an X-Ray Current Meter. The arrange- ment answers the purpose admirably. The same con- ditions can, if desired, be re- produced from day to day, and the voltage being con- IEWTON & C2 LONDON Aurcaee on which the rapidity of ex- can be varied as desired and adjusted to the greatest nicety by the tension screw of the coil. ““X” Ray Current Meter, comprising Ammeter and Volt- meter suitable for use with Induction Coils, £5 5s. SOLE Makers: NEWTON & CO. 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. List of Apps-Newton Induction Coils and X-Ray Apparatus Post Free on application. BECK’S MICROSCOPES. 5a.—THIS MODEL, with | I-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £6 10s. . 258. THIS MODEL, with §-in, and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. . 298.—The addition of Abbe No Condenser to 258 with Iris i vail Diaphragm and _ Focussing _ = and Swinging Adjustments, STAND No. 25. £8 15s. FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J. BECK, LTD., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, E.C. photography has | been to judge the length of stant, the number of amperes, posure then entirely depends, | ASTRONOMICAL “TELESCOPE. With 3-inch Achromatic Object-Glass of excellent quality, with brass body, one Terrestrial and two Celestial Eyepieces, in Case complete. Guaranteed to be capable of dividing Double Stars and showing Saturn's Ring and Jupiter's Belts. Price £6 10s. Od. Catalogue of Astronomical Telescopes sent Free. _JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, LONDON, W.C. “NEGRETT! & ZAMBRA’S THERMOMETERS. The outside Window Bracket Thermometer enables the observer to read the Present Temperature from inside the House. PRICE 2l/- and upwards, Accurate Thermometers for all Purposes. ILLUSTRATED PRICE LISTS FREE TO ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, Scientific Instrument Makers to Her Majesty the Queen and British and Foreign Governments, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT. BRANCHES— 45 Cornhill, and 122 Regent Street, London. Photographic Studios : Crystal Palace. CXIV NATURE [ FEBRUARY I1, 1897 BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON (FOR WOMEN), YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Principal—MISS EMILY PENROSE. LENT TERM SESSION 1856-97. The Half-Term will beginon MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22. Special Classes for Students who matriculated in January. LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. The ANNIVERSARY MEETING of this Society will be held at the Society's Apartments, Burlington House, on FRIDAY, February 10, at Three o'clock. The Fellows and their Friends will Dine together at the Criterion Restaurant, Piccadilly, at 7.30 p.m. Tickets to be obtained at the Society’s Apartments. THE! TRACHE RS” GUustitD 74 GOWER STREET, W.C. REGISTRY DEPARTMENT FOR MEN. SCHOLASTIC AGENCY WORK at lowest charges to cover expenses. Registrar—W. H. Fricker, M.A., who attends daily (3 to 5 p.m. at present) except Thursdays. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. The Course of Instruction in ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY for Students preparing for the Prel. Sci. and Int. Sci. Examinations at the University of London begins on February 16, 1897. J. M. HORSBURGH, M.A., Secretary. KARACHI, INDIA. SIND MADRESSEH (MAHOMEDAN COLLEGE). A PRINCIPAL Wanted for the above State-aided Institution. Must be a Graduate in Honours of a British University, and not more than 35 years ofage. He will be required to teach English Literature, Mathematics, and Elementary Science. Salary, Rs. 450 per mensem, rising by biennial increments of Rs. 50 to Rs. 7oo permensem. A house will shortly be pro- vided rent free, and in the interim rent-free quarters will be provided. £60 allowed for Passage money. Applications will be received, up to March ro, by Sir JAMES PEILE, India Office, London, from whom further particulars as to the Appointment may be obtained. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOUTH WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE. FACULTY OF MEDICINE. The Council invites applications for the PROFESSORSHIP OF ANATOMY. Eighty copies of Application. together with testimonials, must be in the hands of the undersigned on or before MARCH 8, 1897. Further particulars may be obtained on application to J. AUSTIN JENKINS, B.A., Secretary and Registrar. University College, Cardiff, February 8, 1897. VICTORIA UNIVERSITY. THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE, LEEDS. Applications will be received up to March 15 for the Appointment of DEMONSTRATOR of PHYSIOLOGY. Salary, £150. Particulars may be obtained from the CoLLEGE SECRETARY. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. FORTHCOMING EXAMINATION. SECOND ASSISTANT to the Lecturer on Electricity at the Artillery College (20-25), February 24. Technical Training and Qualifications necessary. The date specified is the latest at which Applications can be received. They must be made on Forms to be obtained, with particulars, from the SecRETARY, Civil Service Commission, London, S.W. FOR SALE.—Fine MICROSCOPE, Ross, with accessories—1”, 3”, 3”, 1” meter Eyepiece ; Condenser ; 4 Polariser ; = Bull’s-eye Condenser ; 2 Lieberkiihns; large strong wooden Case, complete, £r 5. Also MICRO-SPECTRO- SCOPE, by Brown1nG; fine instrument, in Box, £6. Also TABLE SPECTROSCOPE, by Brow NING, I prism} in Case, 44 15s.—“* D.,” Nature Office. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients’ own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BROs.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. by Objectives ; 3 Eyepieces ; Micro- Analyser ; ; Selenite Plate ; Camera Lucida (2), &c. In MINERALS OF SPECIAL INTEREST AND BEAUTY. Transparent and White Calcites in attractive Crystal groups ; Baryta Crystals in many Colours—White, Brown, Blue, and Golden-brown, with phantom enclosures; Specular Iron in brilliant Crystals; Pink Rubelite in Lepidolite; Red Quartz in small but vividly attractive specimens ; Native Arsenic Crystals from Japan; Senarmontite from Algeria, &c. Spectal Mineral List Post Free. Collections to Illustrate Geology and Physiography. THOMASOD RUSSEL 78 NEWGATE STREET, LONDON, E.C. F. H. BUTLER, M.A. Oxon., Assoc. R. 8S. Mines, NATURAL HISTORY AGENCY, 158 BROMPTON ROAD, LONDON, Dealer in Rocks, Minerals, Fossils, and other Objects of Scientific Interest. The Minerals last received include :—Alabandite, Alexandrite, Anglesite, Anorthite, Native Arsenic and Tellurium, Beekite, Boleite, Cobaltite, Columbite, Cumengite, Hauerite, Lithiophorite, Lorandite, . Nagyagite, Petzite, Pharmacolite, Proustite, Stephanite, Sphene, Topaz, and Umangite. Collections, in boxes with divisions, as supplied to the Department of Science and Art:—2o Typical Rocks (about 3” x 4”), 20s.; 16 Types of Rock Structures, ros. ; and 13 Rock-Constituents, 7s. 6a@. Case of 12 Micro-slides of Rocks, and ditto of 6 Oozes, Polycystina, Diatoms, Chalk-Grains, Re- crystallized Sandstone, Pélé’s Hair, and Coral Limestone, 13s. 6a, each set. Practical Demonstrations given in Mineralogy and Paleontology. On Sale, British Birds, their Eggs and Nests, weekly parts, 6d. GEOLOGY AND PHYSIOGRAPHY. COLLECTIONS AND MICROSCOPIC SLIDES. New Catalogues of Minerals, &c., now ready. Collections of Specimens— Minerals, Fossils, and Rocks. Minerals for Chemical Work, &c. Physiography Collections. Geological Apparatus and Appliances. New Supplementary List of Microscopic Sections. List of Rock Specimens. i Geological Hammers. on Cabinets. Meteorites. Catalogue of Minerals for selecting single Specimens, price 2d. JAMES R. GREGORY & CO. STORES AND OFFICES: 1KELSO PLACE, KENSINGTON, W. TO SCIENCE LECTURERS. THE CINEMATOGRAPH FOR LIVING PHOTOGRAPHS. See Mr. HUGHES'S PATENT COMBINATION OPTICAL LANTERN, used by late W. Lant-CarrenTER, Esq., Prof. Forses, &c. Miniature Triple Lantern constructed for B. J. MALDEN, Esq.; great success. New Oxyhydrogen Microscope. Science Lanterns for Class Demonstration. Magnificent Results. Docwra Triple, Prize Medal, Highest Award. Supplied to the Royal Pelytechnic Institution, Dr.H. Grat- TAN GUINNESS, Madame ADELINA Patti, &c., &c. Patent Pamphengos Science Lanterns. The Universal Lantern 4-inch Condensers, 4-wick Lamp, Portrait Combination front Lenses, r8s. 6¢., Marvellous value. Science Lecture Sets. Novelties. The Lantern Kaleidoscope. Cheapest Lantern Outfits in the World. Grandly Illustrated Catalogue, over 180 choice En- gravings, 6d.; Postage, 3a. List of 300 Lecture Sets, Science Subjects, Views, &c., 6d.; Postage, 2¢.. Pamphlets Free.—W. C. HUGHES, SPECIALIST, | Brewster House, 82 Mortimer Road, Kingsland, N. ALBERT EDWARD JAMRACH (Late CHARLES JAMRACH), NATURALIST, 180 ST. GEORGE STREET EAST. Implements of Savage Warfare, Idols, Sacred Masks, Peruvian Pottery, Netsukis China Lacquer, Gongs, Shells, and other Curios. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. In 3 Vols., Demy 8vo. The WILDERNESS and its TENANTS. By JOHN MADDEN. Geographical and other Sketches Illustrative of Life in Wild Countries— Meteorological, Botanical, Zoological, Ornithological, &c. London: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., Lr». A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENGE. “©To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WoORDSWORTH. No. 1425, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved. EN DUCTION co mnnsee NALDER BROS. & 60., conoon. concurrently by ete & CO., 3 eres SEREES, = D’A RSONVAL GAL VA NOMETER Delivered Free anywhere in U.S.A. for $32 C.0.D. ? Write for CATALOGUES. D'ARSONVAL CALVANOMETER (As illustrated). i, VERY PORTABLE. coon SENSITIVE. == : === === ‘| IN STOCK, “xX” RAY “FOCUS” TUBES, 25s. FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 35s. and 63s. £5 00 Complete Apparatus for Réntgen ‘X” Rays, with NO AGENTS Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. ieee Detailed List on Application. ¥ == See mL | NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. / —garogRAPHS AND_THERMOGRAPHS. > ae = SSS SS = Ser A. Includi . - ss | Prof. A. S. Wilkins, Litt.D., LL.D., M.A. T k J G. E. Marindin, Esq., M.A. WounhGree) Soar ~ 1201 Prof. R.Y. Tyrrell, Litt.D., D.C.L. Two in the English Language, )_ | 5, ote Gollancz, Esq., M.A. Literature, and History / Vacant Two in the French Language | ail James Boielle, Esq., B.A. and Literature 5 ”'\ Prof. Victor Spiers, M.A., B.-és-L. j y; Two in the German Language | i a me i Schiiddekopf, Esq-, Ph.D., and Literature at j aa Wonca Two in the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, the Greek gene Text of the New Testament, | oI Revs a are Wright, D.D., the Evidences of the Christian 2a Seale Bae Religion, and Scripture His- Se tory... 5 coy san Two in Mental and Moet} 20 { Prof. S. Alexander, M.A. Science A oo x Prof. W ita Knight, LL.D. 2. Two in Political Economy 30 ceeau eS - Foxwell, M.A. M < Two in Mathematics and) val IE oe Ss. Hobson @Esq: poe: aves, Natural Philosophy... J TN Sant Two in Experimental Philosophy 210 of Md oeek: Ein GHe mie bry ter 240 { nue R. Dunstan, M.A., F.R.S Two in Botany and ea i J as TRY rls Geen, M8 SD, Phrysioloey < 354 Ea os . Trail, A.M., M.D., Two in Comparative ADRIOTIY ago 'F E. Beddard, Esq., M.A., F.R.S. and Zoology Vacant. . e = sc Two in Geology and Baca ll uff E Soh G. Bonney, Sc.D., M.A., ESRI -¥ J ofa Vacant. Laws. Two in Jurisprudence, Roman Law, Principles of Legisla- Ls Iw on seo me LL.D. tion, and International Law J mY: hn Si oyet ds LL.D Two in Equity and Real and) sof Vacant. s, Esq., LL.D., Personal Property os / > A & Two in Common aw and Law \ 26 His-Hon. Judge Bompas, M.A., &c. M.A. and Principles of Evidence Two in Constitutional Bitow oe { ee C. Montague, M.A. of England MEDICINE, W. H. Allchin, Esq., M.D. Vacant. William Anderson, Esq., F.R.C.S firenee Morris, Esq., M. A., M. B., Two in Medicine ... 20 ane a Two in Surgery fal ors 5 Prof. D. a Cunningham, M.D., Two in Anatomy ... i C.M., F.R.S. Prof. G. D. Thane. Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S. ; S| Bree yyiliem Stirling, M.D., D.Sc., . . Pa _{G.E Herman, Esq., M.B. Two in Obstetric Medicine a7 705) Deters HorrockaelPiccaNISOE Two in Materia Medica and Sidney Phillips, Esq., M.D. Pharmaceutical Chemistry mcd { W. Hale White, Esq., M,D Thomas Stevenson, Esq., M.D. Vacant. { Edward Seaton, Esq., M.D. Vacant. as S. Alexander, M.A. T. Claye Shaw, Esq., M.D., B.A. Two in Physiology Two in Forensic Medicine . 80 Two in State Medicine ... raed ale) Two in Mental Physiology bar 735) Music. C. H. Lloyd, Esq., Mus. Doc. Maen uitase 59 {Sic Walter Parratt, Mus. Doc. The Examiners abcve named are re-eligible, and intend to offer them- selves fcr :¢-election. Cardidates must serd in their names to the Registrar, with any attestation of their qualifications they may think desirable, on or before TUESDAY, MARCH 30. (It is particularly desired by the Senate that no application of any kind be made to its individual members.) University of London, Burlington Gardens, W., March 3, 1897. By order of the Senate, F. VICTOR DICKINS, M.B., B.Sc., Registrar. CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE. LEATHERSELLERS’, COMPANY’S RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS. The Court of the Leathersellers’ Company having placed at the disposal of the City and Guilds of London Institute a grant of 4150 a year for founding one or more Fellowships for the encouragement of Higher Research in Chemistry in its relation to Manufactures, the Executive Com- mittee of the Institute are prepared to receive applications from Candidates for appointment. The Fellowships are open to natural-born British subjects who are (a) Students of the Institute, who have completed a full three years’ course of instruction in the Chemical Department of the Central Technical College ; or (4) Candidates duly qualified in the methods of Chemical Research in its relation to Manufactures, are also eligible, without restriction as to age or place of previous study, but preferable to Class (a). A Copy of the Scheme, giving particulars of tenure, &c., under which the Fellowships will be awarded, may be had on application at the Head Office of the Institute, Gresham College, Basinghall Street, London, E.C. JOHN WATNEY, Honorary Secretary. ‘BOROUGH OF BRIGHTON. MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL. APPOINTMENT OF HEAD MASTER. The Council of the Borough of Brighton invite Applications for the post of Head Master at their New Technical School, Richmond Terrace, Brighton. Salary, 4350 per annum. Duties to commence on May 3 next. Particulars of the Qualifications required, the Duties to be performed, and the Conditions upon which the appointment will be made, together with printed Forms of Application, may be obtained on application at my Office at the Town Hall, Brighton Applications for the Appointment must be made upon the Form supplied, and must reach my Office before 10 o'clock in the forenoon of Friday, March 10, 1897. FRANCIS J. TILLSTONE, Town Clerk. Town Hall, ANG SSRN 24, 1897- HARRIS INSTITUTE, PRESTON. WANTED, a Gentleman to act as PRINCIPAL of the INSTITUTE, whose duties it will be to supervise the teaching work of the Institute and its several Branches, which include, amongst others, a School of Agri- culture, and Schools of Art, Technology, and Domestic Science. He will also be required to take part in teaching the Higher Branches of Chemistry and Physics, and to possess some knowledge of Analytical work. He will be required to devote the whole of his time and to act generally under the Council of the Institute. Salary, £350 per annum. Applications, with three testimonials, stating experience, qualifications, age, &c., to be forwarded to the undersigned on or before aes March 22, 1897- R. JOLLY, Secretary. Harris Institute, Preston. A PROFESSOR of NATURAL SCIENCE is required for the Thomason Engineering College, Rurki, in the North-West Provinces of India. He should be a practical Electrical Engineer, and qualified to lecture in and teach Electricity, Magnetism, Heat, Sound, Light, and the Elements of Chemistry, Geology, and Mineralogy. He should understand Telegraph Engineering. The Salary will be Rupees 500 a month in the first year, rising by Rs. 50 ayear to Rs. 700, If retained on termination of five years’ agreement, Salary Rs. 750 a month, rising to Rs. rooo, with benefit of Leave and Pension Rules from date of first appointment. Applications should be addressed to the S—creTARY Judicial and Public Department, India Office, London, not later than the end of March. A. GODLEY, Under Secretary of State for India. India Office, aa oe 25, 1897. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. The Right Hon. Lorp RayreicH. M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Natural Philosophy R.I., will, on SATURDAY next, MARCH 6, at Three o'clock, begin a Course of Six Lectures on “Electricity and Electrical Vibrations.” Subscription to this Course, One Guinea; to all the Courses in the Season, Two Guineas. GUY’S HOSPITAL. ENTRANCE SCHOLARSHIPS IN SEPTEMBER 1897. Five Open Scholarships: two (4150 and £60) in Science, and three (4109, £50, and £30) in Arts. Particulars and Copies of Examination PaNRS on application to the DEAN, cE s Hospital, London Bridge, S.E. GUY’S HOSPITAL. PRELIMINARY SCIENTIFIC (M.B.) LONDON. Classes are held throughout the year. Special instruction is given for the July Examination. Fee, 16 Guineas. AeVVIDEKIGYs HebG Sie wA rE Dj OURNATE Oks SCIENCE: “* To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WorpSWoRTH. No. 1428, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved. Sa e RN SLIDES NANSEN'S | POLAR EXPEDITION NEWTON & CO., ov 3 FLEET STREET, E.C., Have obtained the sole right to manufacture and sell Lantern Slides of Dr. NaNSEN’s Pictures in TPA iEST NORTH.” Price 25. each. List post free. The Slides are printed from the same Negatives as those used by Dr. Nansen at his own Lectures, which were made for him by Newron & Co. As the demand for these will probably be large, early application is advisable. “A series of singularly beautiful photographic illustra- tions.” — The gene, February 9, 1897. -BECK’S MICROSCOPES. 1-in. and }-in. Object Glasses, Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £6 10s. _ No. 258.—THIS MODEL, with 3-in. and Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. No. 298.—The addition of Abbe Condenser to 258 with Iris Diaphragm and _ Focussing and Swinging Adjustments, £8 lds. FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to R. & J, BECK, LTD., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, £.¢. STAND No. 25. No. 25A. —THIS MODEL, with | j-in. Object Glasses, | BROWNING’S PLATYSCOPIC LENS. With Larger Angles, Increased Field, and Improved Definition Engraved Real Size. AN ACHROMATIC COMBINATION, COMBINING THE DEFINITION OF A MICROSCOPE WITH THE PORTABILITY OF A POCKET LENS. “Tf you carry a small Platyscopic Pocket Lens (which every observer of Nature ought to do).”—GrANT ALLEN in Knowledge. The Platyscopic Lens is invaluable to botanists, mineralogists, or ento- me ologists, as it focuses about three times as far from the object as the oddington Lenses. This allows opaque objects to be ex: amined easily. The Platyscopic Lens is made of four degrees of power, m agnifying respectively to, 15, 20, and 30 diams. ; the lowest power, having the largest field, is the best adapted for “general use. The Lenses are set in Ebonite Cells, and mounted in Tortoiseshell Frames. Price of the Platyscopic Lens, mounted in Tortotseshell, magnt- fying either 10, 15, 20, or 30 diameters, 18s. 6a. each power. Illustrated description sent free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND. LONDON, W.C. NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S BAROGRAPHS AND _THERMOGRAPHS. The Bee is fitted in a Mahogany Case with Glass Front, as shown above The Ther. .4raph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass Front, for either indvor or outdvor use. The above give continuous records on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to invalids and others who are unable to take daily readings of the ordinary instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NeGRETTI & ZAMBRA, ScIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS TO THE QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C, Branches—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. t exlvi NATURE [Marcu 11, 1897 BOROUGH OF BRIGHTON. MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL. APPOINTMENT OF HEAD MASTER. The Council of the Borough of Brighton invite Applications for the post of Head Master at their New Technical School, Richmond Terrace, Brighton. Salary, 4350 per annum. Duties to commence on May 3 next. ¥ i : f Particulars of the Qualifications required, the Duties to be performed, and the Conditions upon which the appointment will be made, together with printed Forms of Application, may be obtained on application at my Office at the Town Hall, Brighton. é Applications for the Appointment must be made upon the Form supplied, and must reach my Office before 10 o'clock in the forenoon of Friday, March 10, 1897- FRANCIS J. TILLSTONE, Town Clerk. Town Hall, Brighton, February 24, 1897- BIRKBECK INSTITUTION, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, E.C. Day CLASSES. LONDON UNIVERSITY and SCHOLARSHIP EXAMINATIONS. BIOLOGY.-MATHEMATICS.—PHYSICS. CLASSES are held daidy in the above Subjects, conducted by experienced Teachers and Graduates. Particulars on application. A PROFESSOR of NATURAL SCIENCE is required for the Thomason Engineering College, Rurki, in the North-West Provinces of India. He should be a practical Electrical Engineer, and qualified to lecture in and teach Electricity, Magnetism, Heat, Sound, Light, and the Elements of Chemistry, Geology, and Mineralogy. He should understand Telegraph Engineering. The Salary will be Rupees 500a month in the first year, rising by Rs. 50 a year to Rs. joo. If retained on termination of five years’ agreement, Salary Rs. 750 a month, rising to Rs. 1000, with benefit of Leave and Pension Rules from date of first appointment. Applications should be addressed to the SECRETARY Judicial and Public Department, India Office, London, not later than the end of March. A. GODLEY, Under Secretary of State for India. India Office, February 25, 1897- TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, 1897-—CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.— Application Forms for the Examinations in Technology to be held on April 24, May 1, 3, 4) 5) 6) 7, 85 &c., can be obtained by applying, not later than March 22, to the Examinations Department, City and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, S.W. TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, 1897,—-CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.— Candidates in Technology not being students of any registered class, desirous of sitting for the Institute's Examinations, should apply at once to the Secretary of the nearest Technical or Science School. Failing to arrange with any Local Secretary, Candidates should apply, not later than April 17, to the Examinations Department, City and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, S.W. LONDON SCHOOL OF MEDICINE FOR WOMEN, HANDEL STREET, BRUNSWICK SQUARE, W.C. trato The Salary is Applications should be sent to the SECRETARY before The post of Demonstrator of Physiology is now Vacant. 430 per annum. the 23rd inst. LONDON MATRIC. INTER. SC. AND B.Sc. CLASSES AND TUITION, Practical and Theoretical Work. Special HONOURS CLASS IN BOTANY for the Inter. Sc. and B.Sc.—Apply, R. Kerin, B.A. London (First First-Class Hons. Classics), Carlyon College, 55 and 56 Chancery Lane, W.C. WANTED, a Position as ASSISTANT in a Laboratory, to a Scientific Lecturer, or in a Private Workshop, by a young man of mechanical skill, with a knowledge of Electricity and Experimental Work. High-class Testimonials.—‘*A. R. L.,” c/o Nature, 29 Bedford Street, Strand, W.C. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London Catalogues Free. | Sale by Huction. MONDAY NEXT. THE VALUABLE COLLECTION OF SHELLS FORMED BY THE LATE REGINALD CHOLMONDELEY, ESQ., REMOVED FROM CONDOVER HALL, SHREWSBURY, INCLUDING MANY FINE AND RARE SPECIES, ESPECIALLY IN MUREX, CONUS, VOLUTA, PECTEN, AND SPONDYLUS, &e ALSO THE BEAUTIFUL EBONIZED PLATE-GLASS CASES IN WHICH THEY ARE CONTAINED. MR. J .C. STEVENS has received Instruc- tions to Sell the above by Auction at his Great Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent*Garden, on MONDAY, MARCH 15, at Half-past 12 o'clock precisely. On view the Saturday prior, 12 till 3, and Morning of Sale, and Catalogues had. WATKINS & DONCASTER, NATURALISTS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF ENTOMOLOGICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC APPLIANCES AND CABINETS. © Plain Ring Nets, wire or cane, including Stick, rs. 3¢., 2s., 25. 6d. Fold- ing Nets, 3s. 6d., 4s. Pocket Boxes, 6d., gd., 15., 15. 6d. Zinc relaxing Boxes, od., 15., 1s. 6d., 2s. Store Boxes, 2s. 6d., 45.,55., 6s. Setting Boards, flat or oval, from sd. to 1s. 8d. Setting Houses, os. 6d., 115. 6d., 145. Breeding Cage, 2s. 6d., 4s., 5s., 75: 6d. Botanical Cases, japanned double tin, 1s. 6d., 25. gd., 38. 6d., 45. 6d., 7s. 6d. Botanical Paper, from 1s. 14. to 2s 2d. per quire. Insect Cases, 2s. 6d. to 11s. Forceps for removing Insects, 1. 6¢., 2s., 2s. 6d. per pair. Cabinet Cork, 7 by 34, 1s., 1s. 4d. per doz. Nested Willow-chip Boxes, 4 doz. 8¢.—Our new Label List of British Micro-lepidoptera, with English and Latin names, rs. 6¢. Improved Pocket Pupa-Digger in leather sheath, rs. 9¢@. Taxidermists’ Companion, contain- ing most necessary implements for skinning, ros. 6d. ; Scalpels, with ebony handles, rs. 3¢.; Fine Pointed Scissors, 2s. per pair; Egg Drills 2d., 3¢., ts.; Brass Blowpipes, 4d., 6d. A large stock of British, European, and Exotic Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Birds’ Eggs —Entomological Pins of every kind.—Benzoline and Oil Lanterns for sugaring, &c. (new and improved pattern), 2s. 6d. and 5s. each. A LARGE STOCK OF INSECTS AND BIRDS' EGGS. Cabinets.—Special Show Room. For Particulars and Measurements see our Catalogue (66 pp.), which will be sent post free on application. Birds, Mammals, &c., Preserved and Mounted by First-class Workmen 36 STRAND LONDON W.C. (Five doors from Charing Cross.) PROF. A, LOISETTE’S ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY SYSTEM. The last, most complete and perfect edition. SPEAKING WITHOUT NOTES, MIND WANDERING CURED. Indispensable in Preparing for Examinations. Handsomely bound, with portrait and autograph. Price $2.50 American, tos. 6d. English. Prospectus with opinions of Educators, Scientific, Professional, and Business Men all over the world FREE. Address, A. LOISETTE, 237 Fifth Avenue, New York or 200 Regent Street, London. Not sold elsewhere. PHCENIX FIRE OFFICE, 19 LOMBARD ST., E.C.,and 57 CHARING CROSS, S. W. ESTABLISHED 1782. MODERATE RATES. ABSOLUTE SECURITY. ELECTRIC LIGHTING RULES SUPPLIED. LIBERAL LOSS SETTLEMENTS. PROMPT PAYMENT OF CLAIMS. SEcRETARIES—W. C. MACDONALD and F. B. MACDONALD. LOSSES PAID OVER £20,000,000. MAURITZ KARTEVOLD, SANDNES, NORWAY. From a Mine recently discovered in Ryfylke, Norway, various Minerals, containing rare Earths, have been obtained. The Minerals can be sold at the following prices :— CLEVEITE... es op 38 £2 per kilo. ALVITE Be 15s. ,, MONAZITE os on : 10s. ,, Professor Ramsay permits M. KarTevotp to state that his Cleveite yields from 1°5 to 2 cub. cents. per gram of Helium. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, Spectrometers, Benches, &c., &c. own designs, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients’ Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. PeNvE Lh KLY ILEUS TRAD “To the the soli O, Nature trusts mind which burlds D JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 7 ground Sor aye.”—WORDSWORTH. No. 1429, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, M ARCH 18, 1897. [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.) [All Rights are Reserved. LANTERN SLIDES NANSEN'S P POLAR EXPEDITION NEWTON & CO., ov 3 FLEET STREET, E.C., Have obtained the sole Ae to manufacture and sell Lantern Slides of Dr. NANSEN’s Pictures in «“PRPARTHEST NORTH.” Price 2S, each. List post free. The Slides are printed from the same Negatives as those used by Dr. Nansen at his own Lectures, which were made | for him by Newron & Co. As the demand for these will probably be large, early | application is advisable. ‘A series of singularly beautiful photographic illustra- tions.” — Zhe Times, ey g, 1897. X-RAY COMPLETE SETS. Ser A. Including 3-inch Coil, our own make, Batteries, Focus Tube, Jule Holder, Barium-Platino-Cyanide Screen, 7in. X si ; £13 0 0 SET *B. lacie 6-inch Coil, Batteries, r r Foc us is Tube, Tube Holder, Barium- Platino- Cyanide Screen, 9fin. x 7in. £23 10 0 BARIUM-PLATINO-CYANIDE SCREENS. EXCELLENT FLUORESCENCE, in neat Frames with Handles. 7 in. X 5 in., 218.3 gh in. x 7 in., 325. 6¢. ; 11} in. X of in., 555. JOHN J: GRIFFIN & SONS, LC 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. NALDER BROS. & CO. | 16 RED LION STREET, LONDON, E.C. | — | | | my ay TPT TITY 8 7 [Exrows beeen |THE NG. 8. PATTERN OF THE TROTTER BAR PHOTOMETER This was the Instrument selected by the General Post Office for their tests on Incandescent Lamps. (See Electrician, October 2, 1896, p. 738-) Much easier to read than either the shadow or grease-spot instrument. Complete with Scale mounted on Bar, and 100 Volt Standardised Lamp. Price ‘59. WRITE FoR Cat ALOGUE. Cable Address, “SEcoum, Lonpon. No Agents, U.S.A. This Instrument delivered anywhere in U.S.A., but with unmounted scale, for $54. NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S BAROGRAPHS AND THERMOGRAPHS. : The Barone is fitted i in a eteeee Ges with Glass Front, as shown above. The Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass Front, for either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to valids and others who are unable to’ take daily readings of the ordinary asia Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, ScIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS TO THE QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. cliv NATURE [Marcu 18, 1897 ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. Professor W. Boyp Dawkins... M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., will, on THURS- | DAY MARCH 2s, at Three o'clock, beg a Course of Three Lectures on ‘THE RELATION OF GEOLOGY TO HISTORY.” (1) The Incoming of Man. (2) The Frontier of History in Britain. Roman Britain. next, Subscription to this Course, Half-a-Guinea; to all the Courses in the | Season, Two Guineas. BIRKBECK INSTITUTION, BREAM’S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, E.C. Day CLASSES. LONDON UNIVERSITY and SCHOLARSHIP EXAMINATIONS. BIOLOGY.—MATHEMATICS.—PHYSICS. CLASSES are held dai/y in the above Subjects, conducted by experienced Teachers and Graduates. Particulars on application. TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, | 1897.-CITY AND Application Forms for the E GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.— ninations in Technology to be held on April 24, May 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , can be obtained by applying, not later than March to the Examinations Department, City and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, S.W. TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, 1897,—CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.— Candidates in ‘Technology not being students of any registered class, desirous of sitting for the Institute's Examinations, should apply at once to the Secretary of the nearest Technical or Science School. Failing to arrange with any Local Secretary, Candidates should apply, not later than April 17, to the Examinations Department, City and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, S.W. PROFESSOR of NATURAL SCIENCE is required for the Thomason Engineering College, Rurki, in the North-West Provinces of India. He should be a practical Electrical Engineer, and qualified to lecture in and teach Electricity, Magnetism, Heat, Sound, Light, and the Elements of Chemistry, Geology, and Mineralogy. He should understand Telegraph Engineering. The Salary will be Rupees 500 a month in the first year, rising by Rs. 50 a year to Rs. 700. If retained on termination of five years’ agreement, Salary Rs. 750 a month, rising to Rs. rooo, with benefit of Leave and Pension Rules from date of first appointment. Applications should be addressed to the Secrerary Judicial and Public Department, India Office, London, not later than the end of March. A. GODLEY, Under Secretary of State for India. India Office, February 25, 1897. INSTRUCTION IN PURE CULTIVATION OF YEAST, According to HANSEN'S Methods. Courses for Beginners, as well as for Advanced Students, in Physiology and Technology of Fermentations—Biological Analysis of Yeast. Manuals:—E. Chr. Hansen: ‘‘ Practical Studies in Fermentation.” London (Spon), T8096. Ifred Jérgensen; ‘* Micro-organisms and Fermen- tation.” London(F. W. Lyon), 1893. Further Particulars on Application to the Director, ALFRED JORGENSEN, The Laboratory, Copenhagen, V. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. PrincipaLt—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. Senror-Instructor—C, CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.1I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineers, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. 93 MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. (3) | Sale bp Huction. MONDAY NEXT. VALUABLE BRITISH AND EXOTIC LEPIDOPTERA | MR. J. C. STEVENS will Sell by Auction at his Great Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, on MONDAY next, MARCH 22, at Half-past 12 precisely, a choice Collection of TROPICAL BUTTERFLIES, the property of a gentleman going | abroad; also Collections of BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA, including many Rarities, Cabinets, &e. On view the Saturday prior, 12 till 3, and Morning of Sale, and Catalogues had. THE ELECTRICAL G0., Lo. COMPLETE OUTFITS FOR RADIOGRAPHY. Specially suitable for Scientific Men, Surgeons and Physicians, Direct Investigations, or Photography. RONTGEN TUBES, with 3 Electrodes, available for any length of Spark, 20s. each. COILS. TRANSFORMERS. | FLUORESCENT SCREENS, Double Coated Platino- Cyanide of Barium. ACCUMULATORS. CELLS. Acknowledged by all who have tried them to be unsurpassed for effect. Inspection invited of Apparatus at work at 122-124 CHARING CROSS ROAD, LONDON, W.C. az Send for Complete Priced Catalogue. JAMES WOOLLEY, SONS & CO., LTD. Manufacturers and Dealers in every Description of CHEMICAL AND J PHYSICAL APPARATUS : a > 3 = = ol - il 8 Le ane PECIAL TERMS TO TECHNICAL A BOARD SCHOOLS. MANCHESTER, Ee WEEKLY Heaileus Of Nature trusts the mind which STRATED JOURNAL OF “To the solid ¢ SCIENCE. yound bucks for aye.”—WoORDSWORTH. No. 1430, VOL. 55] TP AIUIRES DAW Er MARCH 25, [RICE SIXPENCE Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] (All Rights are Reserved. INDUCTION COILS. BROWNING’S PLATYSCOPIC LENS. APPS! PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured | With Larger Angles, Increased Field, and Improved [efinition eoncurrently by NEWTON & CO:, 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. | Ri : a , FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 68s. and 90s. Complete Apparatus for Rontgen ‘‘ X”’ Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. HiGkthewway ALITY ONLY. Detailed List on Application. No Scientific Man should be without a FRENA CAMERA, Full particulars free on application. R.& J, BECK, Ltd., 68 Cornhill, London, E.C. raved Real Size. AN ACHROMATIC COMBINATION, COMBINING THE DEFINITION OF A MICROSCOPE WITH THE PORTABILITY OF A POCKET LENS. “If you carry a small Platyscopic Pc ycket Lens (which every observer of Nature oug 1 to a o)."—GranTt ALLEN in Kno The Platys ns is invaluable to bo ) uses about three time ar_from the objec This allows opaque « ts to be examined ens is'made of four degrees-of power, J 20, and 30 diams. ; the lowest power, haying field, is the best adapted for general use. The Lense e set in Ebonite Cells, and mounted in Tortoiseshell Frames. Price of the Platyscopic Lens, mounted in Tortotseshell, magni- fying etther 10, 15, 20, or 30 déamelers, 18s. 6d. each power. Illustrated description sent free. nists, mineralog zists, or e JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND. LONDON, W.C. NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S BAROGRAPHS AND_THERMOGRAPHS. The Baga is fitted in a Mahogany Case with Glass Front, as shown above. The Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass Front, for either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to invalids and others whoare unable to take daily readings of the ordinary instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS TO THE QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Briaches—45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET- clxil ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, ALBERT EMBANKMENT, S.E. The SUMMER SESSION will commence on MONDAY, May 3. Students entering in he Summer are eligible to cc aaa te for the Science nd £60 awarded in October. , open to University Students, and other Prizes and Scholarships of the value of 4500, are offered for annual competition. All Appointments are open to Students without extra payment. Special Classes for the Examfnations of the held throughout the year. Tutorial Classes are held prior to the Second and Final Examinations of Conjoint Board in January, April, and July A Register of approved lodgings and of private families receiving Boarders is kept in Secretary's Office. Excellent Day Club accommodation is provided in the School Building. Prospectuses and all particulars may be obtained from the Medical Secretary, Mr. G. RENDLE. H. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. FACULTY OF MEDICINE. The SUMMER SESSION begins on MAY The work is arranged so that a Student may advantag reously begin his Medical curriculum then. Full information may »btained from either of the undersigned. A. E. BARKER, F.R.C.S., J. M. HORSBURGH, TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, 1897--CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON Application Forms for the Examinations in Technology to be held on April 24, May 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 7, 8, & can be obtained by applying, not later than March 22, to the Examinations Department, City and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, S.W. TECHNOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS, 1897,—_CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.— Candidates in Vechnology not being students of any registered class, desirous of sitting for the Institute’s Examinations, should apply at once to the Secretary of the nearest Technical or Science School. Failing to arrange with any Local Secretary, Candidates should apply, not later than April 17, to the Examinations Department, City and Guilds of London Institute, Exhibition Road, London, S.W. ‘QUEEN’ s COLLEGE (FOR LADIES), 43 AND 45 HARLEY STREET. The ARNOTT PROFESSORSHIP OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY will shortly be VACANT. Applications to be sent, before the 29th, to the Lapy RE SIDENT. Scholarships of 4r A Scholarship of 4 the C P. HAWKINS, M.A., M.D., Oxon., Dean. Dean of the Faculty. M.A , Secretary. MERTHYR TYDFIL COUNTY SCHOOL. WANTED, early in May, MATHEMATICAL teach Welsh. Salary, 4120. ; Applications, with pne copy of Testimonials, to be sent before April 8, to CHARLES OWEN, M.A,., Head Master. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients, owndesigns. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT BRos.), 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. MASTER, able to MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. Catalogues Free. 2) j, N TO SCIENCE LECTURERS. THE CINEMATOGRAPH FOR LIVING PHOTOGRAPHS. See Mr. HUGHES'S PATENT COMBINATION OPTICAL LANTERN, used by late W. Lant-CarPenTER, Esq., Prof. Fores, &c. Miniature Triple Lantern constructed for B. J. MALDEN, Esq.; great success. New Oxyhydrogen Microscope. Science Lanterns for Class Demonstration. _ Magnificent Results. Docwra Triple, Prize Medal, Highest Award. Supplied to the Royal Polytechnic Instituticn, Dr. H. Grat- TAN Guinness, Madame ApeELina Patti, &c., &c. Patent Pamphengos Science Lanterns. The Universal Lantern 4-inch Condensers, 4-wick Lamp, Portrait Combination front Lenses, 18s. 6¢@., Marvellous value. Science Lecture Sets. Novelties. The Lantern Kaleidoscope. Cheapest Lantern Outfits in the World. Grandly Illustrated Catalogue, over 180 choice En- gravings, 6d. ; Postage, 3@. List of 300 Lecture Sets, Science Subjects, Vi "6d. ; Postage, 2d.. Pamphlets Free.—W. C. HUGHES, SPECIA LIST, Brewster House, 82 Mortimer Road, Kingsland, N. ws, &c University of London are | INSTITUTE.— | Weal RE [Marci 25, or 1, FREDK, JACKSON & Go, z | [CROSS STREET, MANCHESTER = | LABORATORY FURNISHERS, Importers, Manufacturers, and Dealers in CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL APPARATUS Of every Description. Fine Chemicals, Volumetric Solutions, Plain and Stoppered Bottles, AND EVERY LABORATORY REQUIREMENT. Illustrated Catalogue of Apparatus, with Price List of Chemicals, free on application. Telegraphic Address—‘‘ APPARATUS, MANCHESTER. Telephone Number— 2038. W. G. PYE, waren OF PHYSICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. ARAR Apparatus for estimation of sulphur in spent oxide. 30 ST. ANDREW'S STREET, CAMBRIDGE, Special Apparatus as used at the CAVENDISH LABORATORY, Cambridge. IMPROVED REFLECTING GALVANOMETERS, from £3. TANGENT ditto, from £2 os. X-RAY TUBES. TUBES SHOWING DIFFERENT DEGREES OF VACUA, ACTUAL MAKER, Tubes containing Specimens oF Hier escent an hosphorescent inerals, 67 FARRINGDON Salts, Crystals: Rubies, &c. ROAD, E.C. FLUORESCENT SCREENS, MERCURY PUMPS, COILS, ACCUMULATORS, TRANSFORMERS. INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LAMPS. EXPERIMENTAL AND _ SCIENTIFIC GLASS - BLOWING. (ESTABLISHED 1862), CHENIES STREET, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD. A. CAPLAT2I Imports, Makes, Buys, Sells, Lets, Values, and Exchanges all_kinds of Apparatus connected with Electricity, Optics, Mechanies, Physies, Chemistry, Engineering, Surveying, &c., on his own and Com- mission account. Rare Bargains of deceased Scientific Men generally on hand. College Students and Lecturers supplied. Catalogues 2d. each. PROF. A, LOISETTE’S ASSIMILATIVE MEMORY SYSTEM. The last, most complete and perfect edition. SPEAKING WITHOUT NOTES, MIND WANDERING CURED. Indispensable in Preparing for Examinations. Handsomely bound, with portra‘t and autograph Price $2.50 American, ros. 6¢. English. Prospectus with opinions of Educators, Scientific, Professional, and Business Men all over the world FREE. Address, A LOISETTE, 237 Fifth Avenue, New York or 200 Regent Street, London. Not sold elsewhere. ESTABLISHED 1851. BIRKBECK BANK. Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London. TWO-AND-A-HALF per CENT. INTEREST allowed on DEPOSITS, repayable on demand. TWO per CENT. on CURRENT ACCOUNTS, on the Minimum monthly balances, when not drawn below £100. STOCKS and SHARES purchased and sold. The BIRKBECK ALMANACK, with full particulars, post free. FRANCIS RAVENSCROFT Manager. 137 Mev LY ILSUStTRALED JOURNALMOF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—Worpswortu ad No. 1431, VOL. 55] THURSDAYS APRIL 1, 1897 [PRICE SIXPENCE. Registered as 2 Newspaper at the General Post Office.] {All Rights are Reserved INDUCTION COILS. | NALDER BROS. & CO. PPS’ PATENTED HERIUTION EDLs are now manufactured 16 RE concurrently by D LION ST VTEWTON & CO.,3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. | One REET LONa eo — i — —— = = ‘ A i =i 3 Ai t { 8X |THE N.C.S. PATTERN OF THE TROTTER BAR PHOTOMETER. This was the Instrument selected by the General Post Office for their | tests on Incandescent Lamps. (See Electvician, October 2, 1896, p. 738-) Much easier to read than either the shadow or grease-spot instrument. Complete with Scale mounted on Bar, and roo Volt Standardised Lamp. “X" RAY “FOCUS” TUBES, 25s. FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 63s. and 90s. tomplete Apparatus for R6ntgen “X” Rays, with Coils Price £9. iu aot ec base nee: | ne s OR CaTALoGuE. Cable Address, “' Secoum, Lonpon.” Dam Application. iar Coe ae ee er aaa HEAT INDICATING SCREENS. pee ee ND THERMOGRAPT ik | R ND_THERMOGRAPHS. The Double JODIDE for preparing the above, mall ; 9/6 per 02. NVALUABLE TO LECTURERS AND SCIENCE | : DEMONSTRATORS. WRITE FOR PARTICULARS AND INSTRUCTIONS, and aaanaile = also for CATALOGUE of aaeaatil | a X-RAY APPARATUS, a fae INCLUDING NDUCTION COILS, TESLA COILS, Sa TU BES, SCREEN S, BATTERIES, The Barograph is fitted in a Mahogany Case with Glass Front, as shown WIMSHURST MACHINES above. The Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass os Front, for either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records &c., Ke. on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to — invalids and others who are unable to take daily readings of the ordinary \LL KINDS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL | instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. APPARATUS manufactured by NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN, JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, E 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. 12 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. ’ NATURE [APRIL 1, 1897 CENTRAL WELSH BOARD FOR INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION. NATION OF SCHOOLS, 1897. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF EXAMINERS. The Executive Committee of the Central Welsh Board will shortly proceed to the appointment of Five Chief Examiners. Candidates must have special knowledge of at least one of the following departments EXAMIN ri Gunes 5. History. 2. MATHEMATICS. 6. MoperN LANGUAGES. 3. EnGuisH LANGUAGE AND pacts LITERATURE. Lee ‘ 4. WELSH LANGUAGE AND 8. CHEMISTRY. LITERATURE. Borany. Candidates are requested to send in their Applications not later than the soth day of April next, to the undersigned, from whom further particulars may be obtained. 9. OWEN OWEN, Chief Inspector. Oswestry, March 25, 1897. THE LONDON HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE. The SUMMER SESSION commences on May 1. The Hospital is the largest in the kingdom; nearly constant use. APPOINTMENTS.—House Physicians, ‘ these Appointments are made annually. Dressers, Clinical Clerks, &c., appointed every three months. All are free to Students of the College. Holders of Resident Appointments have Free Board. SCHOLARSHIPS AND Pxrizes.—Twenty-seven Scholarships and Prizes are given annually. Students entering in May can compete for the Entrance Scholarships in September. Special arrangements have been made to enable Students entering in May to present themselves for Examination in C hemistry, , in July Special Classes are held for the University of London Examinations. Special entries for Medical and Surgical Practice can be made. A reduction of 15 guineas is made to the Sons of Members of the Pro- fession. y The Metropolitan and other Railwayshave Stations close to the Hospital and College. For further information apply, personally or by letter, to Mile End, E. MUNRO SCOTT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. FACULTY OF MEDICINE. The SUMMER SESSION begins on MAY 3. The work is arranged so that a Student may advantageously begin his Medical curriculum then. Full information may be obtained from either of the undersigned. 800 beds are in House Surgeons, &c.—Sixty of Warden. A. E. BARKER, F.R.C.S., Dean of the Faculty. J. M. HORSBURGH, M.A,, Secretary. THE ELECTRICAL AND GENERAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE, AND SCHOOL OF SCIENCE. PENYWERN HOUSE, 2 and 4, PENYWERN ROAD, EARL’S COURT, S.W. PrincipAaL—G. W. pE TUNZELMANN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E. SEenror-INstrRucTOoR—C. CAPITO, M.I.E.E., M.I.M E. Laboratories, Dynamo Room, Steam Engine, Engineering Workshop with Machine Tools, Pattern Shop, &c. The College provides a Training for Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, and Mining Engineeis, for Science Students in Mathematics, Physics, Chem- istry, Biology, Geology, and Mineralogy, and Preliminary Training for Students entering Cooper's Hill and the Central Institution. MERTHYR TYDFIL COUNTY SCHOOL. WANTED, early in May, MATHEMATICAL MASTER teach Welsh. Salary, £120. Applications, with one copy of Testimonials, to be sent before April 8, to CHARLES OWEN, M.A., Head Master. LONDON MATRIC. INTER. SC. AND B.Sc. CLASSES AND TUITION, Practical and Theoretical Work. 5 1 HONOURS CLASS IN BOTANY for the Inter. Sc. and -—Apply, R., Kerr, B.A. London (First First-Class Hons. Classics), Carlyon College, 55 and 56 Chancery Lane, W.C. WANTED, a Position as ASSISTANT in a Laboratory, toa Science Lecturer, or in a Private Workshop, by a Pong: man of mechanical skill, with a knowledge of Electricity and xperimental Work. High- class Testimonials.—‘*A. R. L.,” ‘c/o NaTuRE, 29 Bedford Street, Strand, W.C, , able to JAMES WOOLLEY, SONS & C0. LtD. Manufacturers and Dealers in every Description of CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL APPARATUS on Application, IVH EV BOARD SCHOOLS. SPECIAL TERMS TO TECHNICAL AND VICTORIA 1 BRIDGE, MANCHESTER. JEHORNTON-PICKARD CAMERAS, ‘*AMBER” AND TRUBS’ For HAND or STAND With Time and In- stantaneous Sg Catalogue Free Srom THORNTON-PICKARD, L1b., ALTRINCHAM. Mathematical Instrument Mannfacturer to H. M. Government, Council of India, Science and Art Department, Admiralty, &c. Drawing, and Surveying Instruments of every description Of the Highest Quality and Finish, at most Moderate Prices. Illustrated Price List Post Free. S. obtained the only Medal in the Great Exhibition of 1862 for Mathematical, W. F. Excellence of Construction of Mathematical Instruments, and the only GoLD MepAt in the International Inventions Exhibition 1885 for Mathematical Work. Silver Medal, Architects’ Exhibition, 1886. Address :—GREAT WIENS IN 91 HOL THORENS LONDON, W.C. W. Gi PYE, 30 ST. ANDREW'S STREET, CAMBRIDGE, Rigen OF PHYSICAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. Special Apparatus as used at the CAVENDISH LABORATORY, Cambridge. from £3. IMPROVED REFLECTING GALVANOMETERS, t () Ss 0 TUBES SHOWING DIFFERENT ACTUAL MAKER, Tubes containing Specimens of Fluor- escent and Phosphorescent Minerals, ROAD, E.C. FLUORESCENT SCREENS, MERCURY PUMPS, COILS, ACCUMULATORS, TRANSFORMERS. EXPERIMENTAL AND BSCIENMELC GLASS - BLOWING. TANGENT ditto, from £2 10S. DEGREES OF VACUA. 67 FARRINGDON Salts, Crystals, Rubies, &c. INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LAMPS. /, ] YY N MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, Londor. Catalogues Free. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WorDSWoRTH. No. 1432, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1897. [PRICE SIXP ENCE. Registéred as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] INDUCTION COILS. APPS’ PATENTED INDUCTION COILS are now manufactured eoncurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. | f encnm “xX” RAY ‘*FOCUS” FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 68s. and 90s. Complete Apparatus for Réntgen ‘‘X”’ Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. HIGHES® (QUALITY ONLY: Detailed List on Application. BECK’S MICROSCOPES. No. 25.—THIS MODEL, with r-in. and 4-in. Object Glasses, in Polished Mahogany Case, £6 10s. .—THIS MODEL, with .and }-in. Object Glasses, 3- Two Eyepieces, and packed in Polished Mahogany Case, £7 5s. No. 298.—The addition of Abbe Condenser to 258 with Iris Diaphragm and Swinging Adjustments, £8 15s. and_ Focussing STAND No. 25. FULL PARTICULARS FREE on APPLICATION to RB. & J. BECK, LTD., 68 CORNHILL, LONDON, £.C. Two Eyepieces, and packed | {All Rights are Reserved. BROWNINGS PLATYSCOPIC LENS. With Larger Angles, Increased Field, and Improved Definition. Engraved Real Size. AN ACHROMATIC COMBINATION, COMBINING THE DEFINITION OF A MICROSCOPE WITH THE PORTABILITY OF A POCKET LENS. ““Tf you Carry a small Platyscopic Pocket Lens (which every observer off Nature ought to-do).”"—GranT-ALLEN in Anow/ledge. The Platyscopic Lens is invaluable to botanists, mineralogists, or ento- mologists, as it focuses about three times as far from the object aS the Coddington Lenses. This allows opaque objects to be examined easily. The Platyscopic Lens is made of four degrees of power, magnifying: respectively 10, 15, 20, and 30 diams. ; the lowest power, having the largest | field, is the best adapted for general use. The Lenses are set in Ebonite Cells, and mounted in Tortoiseshell Frames. Price of the Platyscopic Lens, mounted in Tortotseshell, magni= fying etther 10, 15, 20, or 30 dzamelers, 18s. 6d. each power. Illustrated description sent free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND. LONDON, W.C. | NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S BAROGRAPHS A aph is fitted in a Mahogany with Glass Front, as shown Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records , which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to nd others who are unable to take daily readings of the ordinary instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN, 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. CIXNVIIIL MAO RE [Apriz 8, 1897 GUY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL. The SUMMER SESSION will begin on May 3, and Students then entering will be eligible to compete for Entrance Scholarships of the com- bined value of £360 in the following September, as well as for the numerous Medals, Scholarships and Prizes, awarded during the period of Studentship. H.R.H. Tue Prince or Wa tes has intimated his intention of formally opening early in the Session the recently erected Laboratories, Lecture Theatre, and Class Rooms, which will form a most valuable addition to the teaching resources of the School. The number of Patients treated in the Wards during last year exceeded 6000, and the Governors have announced that between 30 and 4o additional Beds will be immediately provided for the reception of Maternity Cases, and of Patients suffering from Diseases peculiar to Women. The Appointments tenable by Students have recently been increased by more than 150 a year chiefly by the addition of Clerkship and Dresserships in the departments of Ophthalmolegy, Gynecology, and Otology. To augment the teaching of special subjects, Registrars and Lutors have been appointed in the Ophthalmic and Obstetric Departments. All Hospital Appointments are open to Students without charge, and the holders of Resident Appointments are provided with board and lodging. The College accommodates 60 Students, under the supervision of a Resident Warden. The Dental School provides the full Curriculum required for the L.D.S. England. The Clubs Union Athletic Ground is easily accessible. A Handbook of Information for those about to enter the Medical Pro- fession will be forwarded on application. For the Prospectus of the School, containing full particulars as to Fees, ‘Course of Study advised, Regulations for residence inthe College, &c., apply, personally or by letter, to the Dean, Guy’s Hospital, London Bridge, S.E. THE LONDON HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE. The SUMMER SESSION commences on May 1. The Hospital is the largest in the kingdom; nearly 800 beds are in constant use. AppoINTMENTS.—House Physicians, House Surgeons, &c.—Sixty of these Appointments are made annually. Dressers, Clinical Clerks, &c., appointed every three months. . All are free to Students of the College. Holders of Resident Appointments haye Free Board. SCHOLARSHIPS AND Priggs.—Twenty-seven Scholarships. and Prizes are given annually. Students ehtering in May can compete for the Entrance Scholarships in September. Special arrangements haye been made to enable Studentsentering in May to present themselves for Examination in Chemistry, &c., in July. Special Classes are held for the University of London Examinations. Special entries for Medical and Surgical Practice can be made. A reduction of 15 guineas is made to the Sons of Members of the Pro- fession. The Metropolitan and other Railwayshave Stations close to the Hospital and College. For further information apply, personally or by letter, to Mile End, E. MUNRO SCOTT, Warden. ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, ALBERT EMBANKMENT, S.E. The SUMMER SESSION will commence on MONDAY, May 3. Students entering in the Summer are eligible to compete for the Science Scholarships of £150 and £60 awarded in October. A Scholarship of £50, open to University Students, and other Prizes and Scholarships ot the value of 4500, are offered for annual competition. All Appointments are open to Students without extra payment. Special Classes for the Examinations of the University of London are held throughout the year. Tutorial Classes are held prior to the Second and Final Examinations of the Conjoint Board in January, April, and July. A Register of approved lodgings and of private families receiving Boarders ‘is kept in Secretary's Office. Excellent Day Club accommodation is provided in the School Building. Prospectuses and all particulars may be obtained from the Medical Secretary, Mr. G. RENDLE. H. P. HAWKINS, M.A., M.D., Oxon., Dean. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. FACULTY OF MEDICINE. he SUMMER SESSION begins on MAY 3. The work is arranged so that a Student may advantageously begin his Medical curriculum then. Full infor mation may be obtained from either of the undersigned. A. E. BARKER, F.R.C.S., Dean of the Faculty. J. M. HORSBURGH, M.A., Secretary. LONDON MATRIC. INTER. SC. AND B.Sc. CLASSES AND TUITION, Practical and Theoretical Work. Special HONOURS CLASS IN BOTANY for the Inter. Sc. and B.Sc.—Apply, R. Keri, B.A. London (First First-Class Hons. Classics), Carlyon College, 55 and 56 Chancery Lane, W.C. MANUFACTURER OF ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL INSTRUMENTS, 44 Hatton Garden, London. N Catalogues Free. Sale by Huction. TUESDAY NEXT. A FURTHER PORTION OF THE COLLECTION OF BIRDS’ EGGS FORMED BY LEOPOLD FIELD, ESQ., AND THE COLLECTION OF EGGS MADE BY THE LATE REV. GREGORY SMART; ALSO A FINE EGG OF THE GREAT AUK. CABINETS, CASES, &c. MR. J. C. STEVENS will Sell the above by Auction at his Great Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, on TUESDAY NEXT, APRIL 13, at Half-past 12 precisely. On view the Day prior, 12 till 4, and Morning of Sale, and Catalogues had. THE DAVY FARADAY RESEARCH LABORATORY OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. DIRECTORS : The Right. Hon. LORD RAYLEIGH, M.A., D.€.L., LEDS EARS. Professor DEWAR, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LABORATORY: Dr. ALEXANDER SCOTT, M.A., D.Sc. This Laboratory, which has been founded by Dr. Ludwig Mond, F-.R.S., as a Memorial of Davy and Faraday ‘‘for the purpose of promoting original research in Pure and Physical Chemistry,” is now open. The next Term begins on May 3, 1897. Under the Deed of Trust, workers in the Laboratory are entitled, free of charge, to Gas, Electricity and Water, as far as available, and, at the discretion of the Directors, to the use of the apparatus belonging to the Laboratory, together with such materials and chemicals as may be authorised. All-persons desiring to be admitted as workers, must send evidence of. scientific training, qualification, and previous experience in original research, along with a statement of the nature of the investigation they propose to undertake. Further information, together with forms of Appli- cation, can be had from the Assistant SECRETARY, Royal Institution. CENTRAL WELSH BOARD FOR INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION. EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLS, 1897. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF EXAMINERS. The Executive Committee of the Central Welsh Board will shortly proceed to the appointment of Five Chief Examiners. Candidates must have special knowledge of at least one of the following Departments :— “1. Crassics. 2. MATHEMATICS. 3. ENGLIsH LANGUAGE AND . History. . MoperRN LANGUAGES. OW OM LiTERATURE. PHYSICS. 4. WeLsH LANGUAGE AND CHEMISTRY. LITERATURE. 9. Botany. Candidates are requested to send in their Applications not later than the 3oth day of April next, to the undersigned, from whom further particulars may be obtained. OWEN OWEN, Chief Inspector. Oswestry, March 25, 1897. GOVERNMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Applications are invited for'the Position of ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST, at a Salary of £300 per annum, and actual travelling and incidental expenses incurred. The Applications, accompanied by Testimonials (copies in the first in- stance), and an account ot the Candidate's experience in Geology and Mining, to be lodged with the undersigned not later than June 30, 1897. WENRY C. PRINSEP, Under Secretary for Mines. Department of Mines, Perth, February 24, 1897. BEDFORD COLLEGE, LONDON, FOR WOMEN. YORK PLACE, BAKER STREET, W. Principal : Miss EMILY PENROSE. The Easter Term, 1897, begins on Thursday, April 29. Special Classes for Students who matriculated in January. : Dr. DryspaLe will begin a Course on Bacteriology. Two Entrance Scholarships will be offered for competition in June. LUCY J. RUSSELL, Honorary Secretary. SITUATION WANTED.—- Herbarium, Diagram, and Microscopical Work; 1st Adv. Botany S.K.—F. M. Roginson, 22 Paget Road, West Dulwich, S.E. A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. ee “To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which buzlds for aye.”—WordswortH No. 1433, VOL. 55] THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1807. [PRICE SIXPENCE. concurrently by NEWTON & CO., 3 FLEET STREET, LONDON. oh eae Sa ae FLUORESCENT SCREENS, 63s. and 90s. Complete Apparatus for Réntgen ‘“‘ X”’ Rays, with Coils and Fluorescent Screens, &c. | Hicks t QUALITY ONLY. Detatled List on Application. HEAT INDICATING SCREENS. The Double IODIDE for preparing the above, 9/6 per 02. TO LECTURERS AND SCIENCE | DEMONSTRATORS. WRITE FOR PARTICULARS AND INSTRUCTIONS, and also for CATALOGUE of : | X-RAY APPARATUS, “INCLUDING INDUCTION COILS, TESLA COILS, TUBES, SCREENS, BATTERIES, WIMSHURST MACHINES, &c., &c. INVALUABLE ALL KINDS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL APPARATUS manufactured by JOHN J. GRIFFIN & SONS, E 22 GARRICK STREET, LONDON, W.C. 16 RED LION ST Bees [All Rights are Reserved. NALDER BROS. & CO. aes AYRTON-MATHER UNIVERSAL SHUNT BOX. Does not need adjusting for each Instrument, but can be used indis- oriminately for Galvanometers of any resistance. No plugs ronmersloces Multiplying powers -—1, 3, 10, 30, 100, 300, 1000. a Ss This Instrument also makes a convenient form of Potentiometer. » Price £3 15s. WRITE FOR CATALOGUE. Cable Address, “SEcoHmM, Lonpon.” No Agents, U.S-A. This Instrument delivered anywhere in U.S.A. for $24, NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S BAROGRAPHS AND THERMOGRAPHS. The Barograph is fitted in a Mahogany Case with Glass Front, as shown above. The Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass Front, for either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and are invaluable to invalids and others who are unable to take daily readings of the ordinary instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUHEN 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches: 45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. REET, LONDON, E.C. clxxxvi NAROR [ApRIL 15, 1897 ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. LECTURE ARRANGEMENTS AFTER EASTER, 1897. Lecture Hour, 3 O'CLOCK P.M. Tempest ANDERSON, M.D., B.Sc. Four Lectures on “‘ Volcanoes.” [All Rights are Reserved. B Re@OaW. NeirNaGeasS COU RU SHY os E4, microscope Is a superior instrument, well it is made entirely of Brass, and perfectly fitted ; it has a sliding body, drawer tube, fine adjust- ment, A eyepiece, and § in. and 4 in. objectives. £6 2s. 6d. Tllustrated Catalogue past free. JOHN BROWNING, 63 STRAND, | L OOU PQs W.C. . Das NEGRETTI AND ZAMBRA’S THERMOGRAPHS, PRICE AEGRETT! &ZAM BRAY is fitted in a Mahogany Case with Glass Front, as show! above. The Thermograph is mounted in a japanned Metal Case with Glass Front, for either indoor or outdoor use. The above give continuous records on Charts, which only require changing once a week, and _ are invaluable to invalids and others who are unable to take daily readings of the ordinary instruments. Price of each, with supply of Charts for one year, £6 10s. NEGRETTI & ZAMBRA, SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT MAKERS to the QUEEN. 38 HOLBORN VIADUCT, E.C. Branches : 45 CORNHILL, and 122 REGENT STREET. The Barograph CXCiV NATURE [AprIL 22, 1897 —— GUY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL. The SUMMER SESSION will begin on May 3, and Students then entering will be eligible to compete for Entrance Scholarships of the com- bined value of £360 in the following September, as well as for the numerous Medals, Scholarships and Prizes, awarded during the period of Studentship. H.R.H. Tue Prince of Wa tes has intimated his intention of formally opening early in the Session the recently erected Laboratories, Lecture ‘Yheatre, and Class Rooms, which will form a most valuable addition to the teaching resources of the School. The number of Patients treated in the Wards during last year exceeded 6000, and the Governors have announced that between 30 and 40 additional Beds will be immediately provided for the reception of Maternity Cases, and of Patients suffering from Diseases peculiar to Women. The Appointments tenable by Students have recently been increased by more than 150 a year chiefly by the addition of Clerkship and Dresserships in the departments of Ophthalmology, Gynzcology, and Otology. To augment the teaching of special subjects, Registrars and ‘l'utors have been appointed in the Ophthalmic and Obstetric Departments, All Hospital Appointments are open to Students without charge, and the holders of Resident Appointments are provided with board and lodging. The College accommodates 60 Students, under the supervision of a Resident Warden. The Dental School England. The Clubs Union Athletic Ground is easily accessible. A Handbook of Information for those about to enter the Medical Pro- fession will be forwarded on application. For the Prospectus of the School, containing full particulars as to Fees, Course of Study advised, Regulations for residence in the College, &c., apply, personally or by letter, to the Dean, Guy's Hospital, London Bridge, S.E ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, ALBERT EMBANKMENT, S.E. The SUMMER SESSION will commence on MONDAY, May 3. Students entering in the Summer are eligible to compete for the Science Scholarships of £150 and £60 awarded in October. A Scholarship of £50, open to University Students, and other Prizes and Scholarships ot the value of £500, are offered for annual competition. All Appointments are open to Students without extra payment. Special Classes for the Examinations of the University of London are held throughout the year. Tutorial Classes are held prior to the Second and Final Examinations of the Conjoint Board in January, April, and July. A Register of approved lodgings and of private families receiving Boarders is kept in Secretary’s Office. Excellent Day Club accommodation is provided in the School Building. Prospectuses and all particulars may be obtained from the Medical Secretary, Mr. G. RENDLE. H. P. HAWKINS, M.A., M.D., Oxon., Dean. LONDON HOSPITAL MEDICAL COLLEGE. The SUMMER SESSION Commertes on May r. Students entering then are eligible to compete for the Entrance Scholar- ships in September and October. Twenty-seven Scholarships and Prizes are offered annually. Special arrangements are made to meet the requirements of Students entering in the Summer Session. A reduction of 15 Guineas is allowed to the Sons of Members of the Pro- fession. For Prospectus and full particulars apply to MUNRO SCOTT, Warden. provides the full Curriculum required for the L.D.S. Mile End, E. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. FACULTY OF MEDICINE. The SUMMER SESSION begins on MAY 3. The work is arranged so that a Student may advantageously begin his Medical curriculum then, Full information may be obtained from either of the undersigned, A. E. BARKER, F.R.C.S., Dean of the Faculty. J- M. HORSBURGH, M.A., Secretary. CITY OF BIRMINGHAM MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL. The Corporation of Birmingham require the services, in September next, of a HEAD MASTER for the New ‘Yecknical Day School. Salary, £300 per annum. Full particulars of the Post will be forwarded on receipt of a stamped addressed foolscap envelope. Personal Canvassing of Members of the Committee by Applicants or their friends will be a disqualification. . GEO. MELLOR, Secretary. Offices of the School, Suffolk Street, April 12, 1897. MERTHYR TYDFIL COUNTY SCHOOL. MATHEMATICAL MASTER, able to teach Welsh, Wanted early in’ May. Salary, £130. Application, with one copy of Testimonials, to be sent before 28th inst, to CHARLES OWEN, M.A., Head Master, CENTRAL WELSH BOARD FOR INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION. EXAMINATION OF SCHOOLS, 1807. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF EXAMINERS. The Executive Committee of the Central Welsh Board will shortly proceed to the appointment of Five Chief Kxaminers. Candidates must have special knowledge of at least one of the following Departments :— 1. CLAsSsICs. 5. History. 2. MATHEMATICS. 3 6. MopERN LaNGuAGEs. 3. EnGiisH LancuaGE AND pane - _LiveraTure. | 7. Puysics. 4. WELSH LANGUAGE AND | 8. CHEMISTRY. LITERATURE. 9. Botany. Candidates are requested to send in their pplications not later than the 3oth day of April next, to the undersigned, from whom further Particulars may be obtained. OWEN OWEN, Chief Inspector. Oswestry, March 25, 1897. ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN, ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, w. Tuesday next (April 27), at Three o'clock : TemPest ANDERSON, M.D. B.Sc., first of Four Lectures on “ Volcanoes" (the Tyndall Lectures) Half-a-Guinea the Course. e Thursday (April 29), at Three o'clock : The Rev. Canon AINGER, M.A., LL.D. : First of Four Lectures on “Some Leaders in the Poetic Revival ot 1760-1820—Cowper, Burns, Wordsworth, Scott.” Half-a-Guinea. Saturday (May 1), at Three o'clock: The Rev. J.P. Mauarry, D.D. : First of Three Lectures on ‘The Greek Theatre according to Recent Discoveries.” Half-a-Guinea. Subscription to all the Courses in the Season, Two Guineas. Friday evening (April 30), at Nine o'clock, Prof. J. J. Tuomson, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., on *‘ Cathode Rays.” To these Meetings Members and their Friends only are admitted. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. A Course of Ten. Popular Lectures on Birds will be delivered in the Lecture-room in the Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, on Thursdays, at 5, P-m., commencing May 6, by Mr, F. E. BeppArp, M.A, EARes., Prosector to the Society. Tickets for the whole Course, including Entrance to the Gardens, ros. each, or rs. each Lecture, not including Entrance, to be obtained at the Society's Office, 3 Hanover Square, W. Fellows admitted free, : ‘GOVERNMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Applications are invited for the Position of ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST, at a Salary of £300 per annum, and actual travelling and incidental expenses incurred. The Applications, accompanied by Testimonials (copies in the first in- stance), and an account ot the Candidate's experience in Geology and Mining, to be lodged with the undersigned not later than June 30, 1897. HE NRY C. PRINSEP, Under Secretary for Mines. Department of Mines, Perth, February 24, 1897. LONDON MATRIC. INTER. SC. AND B.Sc. CLASSES AND TUITION, Practical and Theoretical Work. Special HONOURS CLASS IN BOTANY for the Inter. Sc. and B.Sc.—Apply, R. Kertx, B.A, London (First. First-Class Hons. Classics), Carlyon College, 55 and 56 Chancery Lane, W.C. OPTICAL & SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, Spectrometers, Spectroscopes, Goniometers, Cathetometers, Optical Benches, &c., &c. Instruments for special purposes constructed to Clients own designs. Price List on application. W. WILSON (formerly Foreman at Messrs. ELLIOTT Bros.) 56 Crogsland Road, Chalk Farm, London, N.W. MANUFACTURER OF } i ELECTRICAL & PHYSICAL ; y INSTRUMENTS, ‘ 44 Hatton Garden, London. =r Catalogues Free. M, Eom THE ALBION S.S. COMPANY, LIMITED. BALTIC AND NORTH CAPE CRUISES. Steam Yacht VORSE KING, 3254 tons, 4000 h.p. MAY 22.—BALTIC, visiting STOCKHOLM (for Exhibition), CHRIST ANIA, ST. PETERSBURG, BALTIC CANAL, &c. Fares from 22 Guineas. JUNE 23.—NORTH CAPE and NORWEGIAN FJORDS Fares from 18 Guineas. ne dea s apply Baltic Chambers, Newcastle-on-Tyne, sro > "WLLL 3 9088 013